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French prime minister slaps down call for change of course

PARIS--French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Sunday slapped down rebels of his ruling Socialist party, branding their calls to support the low paid instead of reducing tax for business irresponsible and saying a change of course was out of the question.

The French government wants to cut the deficit and reduce the tax burden on companies by making 50 billion euros ($67 billion) of savings on public sector costs. "Yes the policy that the President of the Republic has put in place will take time to produce results," he said in an newspaper interview after last week's news that economic growth in France was zero for the second quarter in a row.

"But a change is out of the question," he told the Journal de Dimanche.

Valls criticised "those on the left who have made irresponsible propositions" and said the policy of reducing the tax burden on companies and paying for it with public sector cost savings was going to work Read more

Editorial - The people’s business

The Central Committee meeting to handle amendments to the 2014 budget cancelled on June 30 due to lack of a quorum has not yet been reconvened. That's regrettable, because Parliament's Rules of Order state this should take place within four times 24 hours.

What's more, it involves essential matters, including the formalisation of Central Bank bond loans for capital investments this year to purchase Emilio Wilson Estate (EWE), complete the buyout of the new Administration Building and make a first payment for the Vorst family land in Cay Hill, among other things Read more

Phenomenal Women Political Debate Moderators

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – With the date of St. Maarten's parliamentary elections drawing near, several female candidates contesting the elections will be engaged in the Phenomenal Women Political Debate on August 20, 2014.

This major event, presented by the University of St. Martin (USM) in collaboration with the "Woman 2 Woman, Phenomenal Women" radio program, will be held at the University of St. Martin lecture hall from 6:00-9:00 pm, and promises to be a night filled with lively discussions from the female perspective.

To ensure the objectivity of this Debate, two phenomenal women were invited to participate as moderators Read more

Na Concerned About Errors By Notaries

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The National Alliance has expressed concern about what appears to be a growing number of errors being made by notaries practising in the country.

Leader of the NA Member of Parliament William Marlin said whether the errors were an oversight or were being done deliberately, they should not occur as they can have serious consequences.

Marlin alluded to two recent cases brought before the court which found that errors had been made by notaries in the respective sales of Caravanserai Resort and in the former Pelican Resort Read more

Upnext Youth Stand Up & Speak Up Panel Discussion Hailed A Success

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – UPNext, the youth movement of the United People (UP) party, hosted a youth panel discussion on Saturday, August 16 entitled, "Youth Stand UP & Read more

William: Lake Caught Lying Again About Plans For Vorst Land, Tells Mps One Thing, Public Another

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Leader of the National Alliance William Marlin says UP's VROMI Minister Maurice Lake has been caught lying again noting that Lake told parliament one thing about his Vorst Estate land deal in Cay Hill weeks ago and is now saying something completely different in his statement to the public last week.

Marlin said this was not just another desperate attempt by Lake to blindfold the people of St Read more

President Arrindell Meets French Cardinal Barbarin And Bishop Riocreux

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – President of Parliament Hon. Gracita Arrindell had the honour of meeting Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese in France Cardinal Archbishop Philippe Barbarin.

The Cardinal was accompanied by Bishop of Basse Terre & Pointe a Pitre in Guadeloupe Jean-Yves Riocreux.

President Arrindell was invited to form part of the welcoming delegation which included Prefet Philippe Chopin, Madame President of the Collectivite Aline Hanson as well as Father Bob Johnson.

The Cardinal and Bishop arrived last week Wednesday at Grand Case Airport from Guadeloupe.

"The Cardinal expressed his sincere gratitude for the warm welcome he received from the dignitaries from both sides of the island Read more

Minister Lake Meets With South Reward Community Council

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake was invited by the South Reward Community Council (SRCC) to a recent informative meeting.

"I was very impressed with the organization and content of the meeting, and it was a pleasure as well to sit with the council and other invitees," Minister Hon Read more

Minister Lake in New Governing Period Monies Need to be reserved for Job Creation.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake says the nation's youth need a 'kick-start' program and for the new governing term of four years, he will pursue such a program that entails creating jobs for the nation's youth.

"Why we can't put money on our budget for economic job creation for our young people to educate and train them to be local entrepreneurs? If we can put Naf Read more

End of the Wirtschaftswunder? Germany's sudden slowdown

BERLIN--The German soccer team's romp to victory in last month's World Cup was hailed at home as a symbol of the country's emergence as a confident global economic power.

But in an ironic twist, the feel-good triumph in Brazil may have come at a time when Germany's new "Wirtschaftswunder", or economic miracle, is coming to an end. In recent weeks, the economy that proud German politicians have taken to describing as a "growth locomotive" and "stability anchor" for Europe, has been hit by a barrage of bad news that has surprised even the most ardent Germany sceptics.

The big shocker came on Thursday, when the Federal Statistics Office revealed that gross domestic product (GDP) had contracted by 0.2 percent in the second quarter Read more

Coast Guard ceremony as Poema changes command

SIMPSON BAY--Sadness and joy were the two keywords at a Coast Guard ceremony yesterday as Commander of the Poema Aart-Henk Goossens said goodbye to the Coast Guard and St. Maarten, and new commander Humberto Alberts was welcomed.

The event, which took place in front of the brightly decorated Poema, was attended by various dignitaries including President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell and Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson Read more

Large cross section of community bids farewell to Patricia Pantophlet

PHILIPSBURG--A large number of persons from the community bade farewell to veteran trade unionist Patricia Pantophlet, who was laid to rest during a ceremony at the Philipsburg Methodist Church, where she was a congressional steward, on Friday.

Pantophlet (57) passed away in Bogota, Colombia, on Friday, August 1, after a period of illness. She had been a very vocal trade union leader who championed the rights of workers in St. Maarten for many years. She had been battling lupus for some time Read more

EWE owners question when amendment will be handled

CUL DE SAC--The owners of Industry and Golden Rock Plantations, commonly called Emilio Wilson Estate (EWE), want to know from Parliament, in particular the United People's (UP) party, when the amendments to the 2014 budget that includes the funds to purchase a significant portion of EWE will be handled by Parliament.

Owners met with the Council of Ministers on July 10 and agreed they would still consider the payback of US $1.5 million to government from the sale price for community projects, if the budget amendment were passed through Parliament by today, August 15.

The amendment originally was scheduled for handling on June 30, but the meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament never took place due to lack of a quorum Read more

Labour Affairs to be accepting permit renewals as of Monday

~ Normal opening hours resume ~

PHILIPSBURG--The Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour VSA has engaged in a re-writing of its procedures to facilitate the manual intake of employment permit requests at the Department of Labour Affairs.

The ministry said this was being done due to "the continued ICT [Information Communications Technology – Ed.] challenges experienced at the department. The servers at the department went down about a month ago due to a power surge.

The Department of Labour Affairs will start with the manual intake of employment permit applications as of Monday, August 18, but only those permits up for renewal, it was stated in a press release issued by the Cabinet of Labour Minister Cornelius de Weever.

Vacancy registrations, unemployment registrations and labour registrations also will be offered and rendered by the department manually Read more

Plasterk regrets Statia objections to Isabella

THE HAGUE--Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk stated on Thursday that he is "disappointed" about the objections of St. Eustatius to the appointment of Gilbert Isabella as the new National Government Representative ("Rijksvertegenwoordiger").

"I regret that the Island Council of St. Eustatius beforehand has reservations about the suitability of Isabella as National Government Representative," Plasterk stated in response to written questions separately posed by Sietse Fritsma and Geert Wilders of the Party for Freedom PVV and Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP).

Fritsma, Wilders and Van Raak, all Members of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament, sought clarity on the July 4 decision of the Council of Ministers to appoint Isabella and the subsequent motion unanimously adopted by Statia's Island Council in which it expressed a lack of confidence in Curaçao-born Isabella, who has no ties with the Windward Islands.

In his response, Minister Plasterk indicated that he was hopeful that the matter with Statia's Island Council would be resolved once the island politicians would meet and get to work with Isabella Read more

Hanson: ‘Transmit values, morals to your children’

MARIGOT--"School is for instruction, but education starts at home."

Those were the words of President of the Territorial Council Aline Hanson in her address at a low-key Sandy Ground Fête on Friday as she unsurprisingly focused on the youth in a district close to her heart for over two decades.

Noting that she is due to retire in September as principal of the Sandy Ground Elementary School after 23 years, Hanson said she was concerned about road safety and the "extremely worrying death toll" among the youth since the beginning of the year.

"I would like the young people and the parents to pay keen attention to this issue where consequences can be tragic Read more

National Mental Health Plan 2014 Presented To Health Minister, Plight Of Seniors Addressed

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The National Mental Health Plan 2014 – 2018 was presented to the Minister with the responsibility for Health Social Affairs and Labor, the Honorable Cornelius de Weever.

The plan was presented by head of Collective Prevention Services, Dr. Virginia Asin Oostberg during a press conference on Wednesday.

An action plan for the same period was also presented Read more

style="text-align: center;">Supports Abolishing of Turn Over Tax

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Democratic Party on Thursday highlighted its Fiscal Policy as part of its 2014 Party Platform for the upcoming Parliamentary Elections. The Party Platform highlights the simplification and harmonizing of the tax system and the preference for indirect taxation, which would include the abolishing of the Turn over Tax in Favor of a Value Added Tax; "The DP believes that political parties should present their vision to the electorate Read more

>GREAT BAY:--- Parliamentarians should be great champions of our nation's culture," said educator and author Dr. Rhoda Arrindell.
"Having a modern Performing Arts Center for our culture to be presented in creative and dynamic ways or on a grand scale by our singers, kaisonians, musicians, dancers, gymnasts, capoeiria and other martial arts students and masters, as well as by our playwrights, actors, painters and plastic artists, moviemakers and videographers, poets, rappers, and other spoken word artists, and for the enjoyment and inspiration of our people and our visitors, is definitely an area that I would champion in Parliament," said Arrindell.
"The Performing Arts Center illustration that the UP party has made public, is a ready part of the vision of my party leader Theo Heyliger, which I wholeheartedly subscribe to," said Arrindell, who is the #14 UP candidate for the parliamentary election of August 29, 2014.
"Part of the parliamentarian's job is to do his or her part for that vision to become a reality, by passing the laws that would translate election promises into reality in the form of buildings, jobs and new career and business opportunities, and in services with dignity for our people," said Arrindell.
Arrindell was herself successful with two cornerstone nation-building legislations in the areas of culture and education during her term as the UP Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs between October 2010 and May 2012.
"It took both leadership and team work within the ministry, the Council of Ministers and Parliament, with researchers, legal people, labor leaders, cultural workers, educators and administrators, and a range of other stakeholders, to make July 1 Emancipation Day a public holiday and to secure St Read more

Minister Lake applauds NV GEBE for Providing Relief to seniors.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake, applauds NV GEBE for remaining on track and providing seniors of the country who qualified relief which should be seen in their monthly utility bills.
Minister Lake took note of a NV GEBE press release announcing the news this week.
"NV GEBE has kept its promise to the seniors in our community Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Health Cornelius de Weever told members of the media on Wednesday at the Council of Ministers press briefing that he must bring clarity on the situation at the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC).
Minister De Weever said now that politics is in the air there are politicians that are paying as much as $1000.00 for advertising regarding the SMMC to repeat the very things he has said on a number occasions Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake says in order for the country to move forward, one has to have a vision.

On Wednesday Minister Lake released an illustration of his vision for the Vorst property in Cay Hill. It includes public housing for young professionals who are studying abroad and would like to return home to work; and a commercial job creation center that would create jobs for the unemployed and those seeking work.

The commercial center includes a sewing center that could create 100+ jobs Read more

Presentation National Mental Health Plan “Half Of Mental Disorders Begin Before The Age Of Fourteen”

St. Maarten – “There will be no more budget cuts to the subsidy for the Mental Health Foundation,” Public Health Minister Cornelius de Weever said yesterday in answer to a question from this newspaper at a press conference where Virginia Asin-Oostburg, head of Collective Prevention Services (CPS) presented the National Mental Health Plan 2014-2018.

Last year, the Mental Health Foundation lost around 200,000 guilders of its annual subsidy, while the government increased the subsidy for the rehab center Turning Point Read more

Minister Lake Reveals Plans For Vorst Estate

CAY HILL – Vromi Minister Maurice Lake revealed yesterday in a press release an image of what he envisions could be built on the Vorst property in Cay Hill. “In order for the country to move forward, one has to have a vision,” he said.

The plans include public housing for young professionals who are studying abroad and would like to return home to work; and a commercial job creation center that would create jobs for the unemployed, and those seeking work, the Minister said.

The commercial center includes a sewing center that could create 100+ jobs Read more