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New Kenya security law approved despite disruptions in parliament

NAIROBI--Kenya's parliament approved new anti-terrorism laws on Thursday after chaotic scenes in which opposition legislators, citing a threat to civil liberties and free speech, threw books at the Speaker, shouted, chanted and sprinkled water over his deputy. Television footage showed legislators exchanging blows in the public gallery before the vote.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has faced mounting pressure to boost security since a 2013 attack by Somali al Shabaab rebels on a Nairobi mall that killed 67 people Read more

Minister Of Culture Lourens-Philip Invites Public To Sunday Christmas Celebration

GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – The Minister of Education, Culture, Youth & Sports Hon. Patricia Lourens-Philip is inviting the public to come out on Sunday December 14, 2014 at 4:00 pm where the streets of Philipsburg will come alive with sounds of music, laughter, joy, hope and good will to all mankind.

At center of the parade is compassion and joyfulness- what Christmas means to each of us Read more

China ready to cut rates again on fears of deflation

BEIJING--China's leadership and central bank are ready to cut interest rates again and also loosen lending restrictions, concerned that falling prices could trigger a surge in debt defaults, business failures and job losses, said sources involved in policy-making.

Friday's surprise cut in rates, the first in more than two years, reflects a change of course by Beijing and the central bank, which had persisted with modest stimulus measures before finally deciding last week that a bold monetary policy step was required to stabilise the world's second-largest economy.

Economic growth has slowed to 7.3 percent in the third quarter and policymakers feared it was on the verge of dipping below 7 percent - a rate not seen since the global financial crisis Read more

Acs And Celac Present Initiatives At Meeting Of Regional Tourism Agencies

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago - On November 10th 2014 the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), on behalf of the Community of Latin America and Caribbean States (CELAC), hosted a meeting of Regional Tourism Agencies at its headquarters in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

The meeting was themed "Sustainable Tourism: Building Bridges for Co-operation and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean Promoting Community- based Tourism for Diversification and Competitiveness."

Mrs Read more

Some 1,400 pupils participate in public schools’ ‘Unity Walk’

PHILIPSBURG--An estimated 1,411 pupils and 145 teachers, primarily dressed in the colours of the St. Maarten Flag, participated in a vibrant walk through Philipsburg on Friday, as part of the annual pre-St. Martin/St. Maarten Day Unity Walk.

Pupils and their teachers snaked through the streets of Philipsburg in their colourful attire, adding a dash of colour to the streets as they walked. Persons stopped along the route to watch the youngsters walk and the island prepare to celebrate St Read more

Mussington: ‘Taxes hurting the small man, unemployed’

MARIGOT--President of Movement for Advancement of the People (MAP) Louis Mussington said Tuesday he condemned the "hurried" decision made by the Territorial Council last week to introduce three new tax measures, the controversial 30-per-cent Revenu Solidarité Active (RSA) levy for one, saying this will again "hurt the small man, the unemployed and those in despair, who are already suffering."

He said since the Collectivité had the competence in 2007 to write its own fiscal policy, it has failed to come up with a tax policy that's fair.

"Every time there is an increase in public charges, we rush through new measures, as in this case, and it always hurts the small man," he said Read more

UK ends Afghan combat role, last US Marines hand over base

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan--British troops ended their combat operations in Afghanistan on Sunday as they and U.S. Marines handed over two huge adjacent bases to the Afghan military, 13 years after a U.S.-led invasion launched the long and costly war against the Taliban.

Their coming departure leaves Afghanistan and its newly installed president, Ashraf Ghani, to deal almost unaided with an emboldened Taliban insurgency after the last foreign combat troops withdraw by year-end.

At the U.S Read more

Population Ageing Trends High on the Agenda for Social Development.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The Symposium on Ageing held last week Wednesday acted as the first step in spreading the awareness about the challenges of an ageing population and letting the public know that this issue is high on the agenda of the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development, and Labour (VSA). Based on the feedback from the audience at the symposium, Social Development is headed in the right direction when it comes to identifying the key priority areas St. Maarten is dealing with due to an increase in the ageing population Read more

Global seafloor map reveals details of Earth's depths

WASHINGTON-- Scientists have devised a new map of the Earth's seafloor using satellite data, revealing massive underwater scars and thousands of previously uncharted sea mountains residing in some of the deepest, most remote reaches of the world's oceans.

The researchers said on Thursday they used gravity measurements of the seafloor from radar equipment aboard the European Space Agency's CryoSat-2 satellite and NASA's Jason-1 satellite to capture underwater geological features in unprecedented detail.

"The pull of gravity reflects the topography and tectonics of the seafloor," said David Sandwell, a geophysicist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego who led the study.

University of Sydney geophysicist Dietmar Müller, another of the researchers, said about 71 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by water and roughly 90 percent of the seafloor is uncharted by survey ships that employ acoustic beams to map the depths.

"We know much more about the topography of Mars than we know about Earth's seafloor," Müller said Read more

Acs Drives Regional Approach To Disaster Risk Reduction

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago - The crippling effects of Natural Disasters on Small Island Development States (SIDS) has increased the need for Disaster Risk Reduction strategies as it becomes an important asset in the future of Sustainable Development.

The Association of Caribbean States (ACS) in its overall aim of promoting Sustainable Development for the Greater Caribbean, through its Directorate of Disaster Risk Reduction, continues to improve and increase its initiatives in the area of Disaster Risk Reduction as reflected in the 22nd Meeting of the Special Committee for Disaster Risk Reduction.

In his opening remarks, Minister of Planning and Sustainable Development of Trinidad and Tobago, Senator the Honourable Bhoendradatt Tewarie, identified Caribbean SIDS as the most vulnerable in relation to the intensity and frequency of natural hazards.

As a result, disaster risk reduction becomes "a powerful tool for development as it allows communities to continue their progress in spite of hazards."

Minister Tewarie, also identified Microzonation Studies as a Disaster Risk Reduction project currently being carried out in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Microzonation map of Port of Spain, expected to be completed in December 2014, is a process of generating detailed earthquake hazard maps for a small area such as a city as opposed to a whole country.

Further to this, sites are subdivided into zones based upon the identification of seismic hazards such as ground shaking, liquefaction susceptibility, landslide and rock fall hazard.

H.E Read more

New Parliamentary Year Opens Tuesday, Governor Outlines Possibilities

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The new parliamentary year 2014/2015 was officially declared open during a solemn ceremony held at the House of Parliament Tuesday morning.

On hand for the occasion were among other invited guests, representatives of the Collectivite, the Judiciary as well as the Council of Ministers.

Speaking on the floor of parliament, and in delivering his traditional speech, His Excellency Governor Eugene Holiday, presented the policy plans of government for the coming year.

Since 10-10-10, it was the 5th time that the Governor was presenting such a map Read more

Police Gives Info On How To Detect Possible Stolen Cars

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - On August 21st 2014 the Police Department published some very important information regarding the purchasing of used or second hand vehicles.

These vehicles are most probably stolen.

The information also included what the buyer should request from the owner and what he or she should look-out for to detect if the vehicle they intend to purchase is stolen or not.

Attached is a document called FOTOMAP VIN.. Read more

Ukraine accuses Russia of new troops incursion

KIEV/DONETSK, Ukraine--Ukraine accused Russia of launching a new military incursion across its eastern border on Wednesday, as hopes quickly faded that Tuesday's talks between their two presidents might mark a turning point in a five-month-old crisis.

Accusations of direct Russian support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine have prompted Western governments to impose sanctions on Moscow, despite its denials, and fanned tensions with NATO to levels not seen since the Cold War.

Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said a group of Russian soldiers had crossed the border in armoured infantry carriers and a truck and entered the town of Amvrosiyivka, not far from where Ukraine detained 10 Russian soldiers on Monday.

Ukraine's Security Services also said in a statement it had detained another Russian soldier in the east of the country who has confessed his unit provided military support to separatist rebels.

Lysenko said fighting in two other towns, Horlivka and Ilovaysk, had killed about 200 pro-Russian rebels and destroyed tanks and missile systems Read more

Poroshenko to seek ceasefire after "very tough" talks with Putin

MINSK--Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised after late-night negotiations with Russia's Vladimir Putin to work on an urgent ceasefire plan to defuse the separatist conflict in the east of his former Soviet republic.

The first talks between the two leaders since June were described by Putin as positive, but he said it was not for Russia to get into the details of truce terms between the Kiev government and two rebel eastern regions.

"We didn't substantively discuss that, and we, Russia, can't substantively discuss conditions of a ceasefire, of agreements between Kiev, Donetsk and Luhansk Read more

Heel Prick Screening Feasibility Study Report Presented to Minister De Weever.

>GREAT BAY:--- Minister Cornelius de Weever thanked Collective Prevention Services for the report of the feasibility for the introduction and sustained implementation of the heel prick screening for new born on St. Maarten.
Discussions on heel prick screening for St. Maarten have been going on for years but were intensified in 2012 after a presentation and discussion of a recent case of a child with a metabolic disorder that was born on St Read more

Reggae making a revival in Jamaica, recalling golden era of '70s

KINGSTON--The main event at fight night in Kingston, a popular boxing showcase, was hours away, but the crowd at the National Stadium's indoor arena, from the young and hip to the elderly, was already pumped. When reggae artist Tarrus Riley entered the stage, the screams of the full house were deafening, and the fervour persisted throughout his performance.

A musical and social roots movement called "Reggae Revival" is on the rise in Jamaica, where the raunchier dancehall genre has been king for the last two decades 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