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Lake urges stakeholders to work out waste-to-energy plant project

PHILIPSBURG--United People’s (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake has issued a public call to all stakeholders involved in the stagnated waste-to-energy plant to get to work.

His call comes after Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs said last week that getting the project moving had encountered some difficulties Read more

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Japan student group injects new exuberance into anti-war protests

TOKYO--Wearing shorts and a baggy T-shirt and clutching a microphone, Aki Okuda stands before a crowd, the pyramid-shaped roof of Japan's parliament lit up against the night sky behind him. "No War", "Protect the Constitution", "Abe - Quit!", he chants in a hip-hop rhythm, echoed by the crowd.

Okuda, 23, is a founding member of a group of students that has become a fresh face of protest against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to enact a more robust defence policy - steps critics say violate the pacifist constitution and could ensnare Japan in U.S.-led wars.

Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy (SEALDs) is also denting the image of Japanese students as either apolitical introverts, who left protests to their elders, or rightwing geeks Read more

D66 wants clarity on dispatch of Dutch police to St. Maarten

THE HAGUE--Members of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament of Democratic Party D66 Wassila Hachchi and Magda Berndsen-Jansen want clarity on the reports that 55 Dutch police officers and detectives will be sent to St. Maarten early next year to tackle crime and corruption.

Hachchi and Berndsen-Jansen sent a set of written questions to Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk and his colleague of Security and Justice Ard van der Steur earlier this week following reports in the Dutch media that Dutch National Police Chief Gerard Bouman did not want to work together with the St Read more

US Senate Democrats stake out both sides of Iran deal

WASHINGTON--Senator Robert Menendez blasted the U.S.-led international nuclear deal with Iran on Tuesday, vowing to oppose it in defiance of President Barack Obama, who picked up much-needed support for the deal from two other Senate Democrats.
  As September voting on the agreement in the U.S. Congress neared, Menendez, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, became the second senior lawmaker from Obama's own party to announce he would vote to kill the pact with Tehran.
  "I will vote to disapprove the agreement and, if called upon, would vote to override a veto" by the president, Menendez said in a speech in his home state of New Jersey.
  Shortly later, Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both of Rhode Island, announced that they would support the agreement Read more

US civil rights leader Julian Bond dies at 75

WASHINGTON--U.S. civil rights leader and former head of the NAACP Julian Bond, who emerged as one of the pre-eminent student activists in America's turbulent 1960s, died on Saturday aged 75.

Bond died in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, the Southern Poverty Law Center said in a statement, without giving the cause of death. Bond was the civil rights organization's first president.

"The country has lost one of its most passionate and eloquent voices for the cause of justice," said Morris Dees, the founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Bond was president of the SPLC from 1971 to 1979 Read more

DP: Govt misleading MPs, public on pension age hike

PHILIPSBURG--The Democratic Party (DP) has sent a letter to Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs on the increase of the pension age to 62.

In a press release on Wednesday, DP Leader Sarah Wescot-Williams said the party believes government is misleading parliament and the people of St Read more

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Bouterse sworn in for second term as Suriname’s president

PARAMARIBO--President Desi Bouterse was sworn in for a second term in office on Wednesday. Shortly after accepting the presidential sash from National Assembly chair Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, the president swore in his fifteen-man team of Ministers. “For the first time in our political history, the people of Suriname have given Government to a political belief that considers ethnicity as a source of wealth and not as the basis for disparity and powerlessness,” the President said in his maiden speech afterward Read more

Harper unaware of payment made to quiet ethics scandal

OTTAWA--Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not know that in order to quiet an ethics scandal his former chief of staff had secretly repaid expenses claimed by the senator at the heart of the affair, the ex-aide testified on Wednesday.
  The trial of Conservative Senator Mike Duffy, who is accused of receiving a bribe and abusing expense claims, comes as Harper campaigns ahead of Canada's Oct. 19 election. Opposition parties say the affair shows voters should end the Conservatives' near 10-year grip on power.
  Nigel Wright, Harper's former chief of staff, told an Ottawa courtroom that he decided in early 2013 that the only way to kill a raging scandal about Duffy's expense claims was to secretly give the senator his own personal check for C$90,000 ($69,400) so Duffy could repay the money Read more

DP and NA say meeting on crime should not have been closed door

~ Concerned about financing for proposals ~

PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) and the Democratic Party (DP) said in a joint statement on Tuesday that the information shared during Monday’s urgent meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on crime did not warrant a closed-door session.

NA and DP said they had not immediately protested the calling of the meeting in a closed door session to give Government “the benefit of the doubt” as it pertains to the sensitivity of the information being shared and possible ramifications it might have on the outcome of the case.

The parties noted that the “information shared by the Council of Ministers, however, was not such that the public needed to be sheltered from the reality.”

The two parties said there had been repeated calls on Government for open communication with the public to put an end to speculation Read more

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DP supports call for statue of slain cop

~ Weighs in on crime ~

PHILIPSBURG--The Democratic Party (DP) supports a call made by the general police union NAPB for a statue to be erected of bike patrol officer Gamali “Benji” Benjamin, who was gunned down at the scene of a robbery at a Front Street jewellery store on Wednesday, August 5 Read more

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Sarah raises concerns about Tourism Authority

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams has raised concerns about Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Claret Connor’s apparent plans to disband the existing foundation governing the St Read more

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NA, DP call on Government to rework Governing Programme

PHILIPSBURG--Opposition National Alliance (NA) and Democratic Party (DP) have called on Government to rework the “Ready to Work for You” Governing Programme of the United People’s (UP) party-led coalition into “an executable and accountable programme.”

Debating the Governing Programme in Parliament would “inevitably lead to much rhetoric, but little substance,” said the two parties Read more

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After Trump and Bush's stumbles, will Fiorina ride to the rescue?

CLEVELAND--Donald Trump's caustic confrontation with Fox News Channel presenter Megyn Kelly at Thursday's Republican presidential debate couldn't have come at a less opportune time for a party trying to increase its appeal to women voters.

Kelly, a debate moderator, grilled Trump on his history of debasing statements about women. Trump appeared unapologetic, dismissing the critique as "political correctness," and accused Kelly of mistreating him.

Democrats were quick to try and seize advantage Read more

Biden, aides talking about possible presidential run

WASHINGTON--Vice President Joe Biden, inspired in part by his late son, has been holding meetings at his Washington home to discuss challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
  Biden has said publicly he would make a decision at the end of the summer but the Times said the vice president and his associates were actively exploring getting in the race.
  The Times, citing several people who have spoken with him and his advisers, said the Biden camp was contacting Democratic leaders and donors who have not firmly committed to Clinton, the clear leader among the five Democrats who have entered the race, or might be concerned about her prospects Read more