SXMElections.com

Seniors grateful for GEBE relief

~ Seniors association hopes for other positive developments ~

PHILIPSBURG--President of the St. Maarten Seniors and Pensioners Association (SMSPA) Patricia Flanders has shared that seniors were very thankful for GEBE NV's recently implemented Senior Relief Programme. GEBE bills, she said, were an issue worth tackling for the seniors who are faced with low pensions and high costs of living.

"The seniors were very happy; some did not have to pay a penny." She said that a few came up to her and hugged her, thanking her for pushing the issue.

The programme has had mixed reactions both before and after its implementation, because it does not benefit everyone Read more

Usp-Candidate Leona Marlin-Romeo: “I Am Not Going Anywhere”

St. Maarten – Leona Marlin-Romeo is firmly committed to the United St. Maarten party. During a press conference at the  Parliament building yesterday morning, the party’s number 2-candidate laid to rest rumors triggered by a baseless article that appeared on a notorious local gossip website on Thursday.

The website insinuated that Marlin-Romeo had “jumped ship” and taken money to join the United People’s party to form a government.

Marlin thanked blogger Bibi Shaw for the publicity the story has generated, but the sarcasm was lost on Shaw, who later acknowledged the “compliment.” Marlin-Romeo, however pointed out the obvious: “Before you slander my name and the name of my campaign manager I think you should get your facts straight Read more

Road Closures In Connection With Opening Of New Parliamentary Year

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The Closure of the parliamentary year 2013-2014 will take place on Monday, September 8 at 10.00am in the House of Parliament.

On Monday, September 8, parts of Front Street and Back Street as well as Cannegieter Street, with street connections to the House of Parliament will be closed to motorized traffic.

A dress rehearsal with respect to the official opening on Tuesday, September 9 will be carried out between 4.00pm and 6.00pm.

On Tuesday, September 9 the new parliamentary year 2014-2015 will be opened by the President of Parliament Hon Read more

Minister Lake Says Nv Gebe To Provide Relief Across The Board

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake says he has taken note of Windward Islands Chamber of Labour Unions (WICLU) stance with respect to a reduction in utility bills.

Minister Lake reiterated on Friday that he informed the community more than once that relief will be provided by NV GEBE to household consumers as well as businesses, and that in the meantime a reduction in the utility bills of senior citizens would be implemented first.

"Relief is not just being provided to a select few Read more

Globe-Athon Partners With The Kelaha Projects In Efforts To End Women’S Cancer

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The KeLaHa Projects is now officially listed as a partner of the international organization Globe-athon. Globe-athon To End Women's Cancers.

Globe-athon is the only international movement focused on the prevention and early detection of all gynecological cancers including uterine (endometrial), cervical, ovarian, vaginal and vulvar. The movement to end women's cancers is supported by international gynecologists, gynecological oncologists and doctors, as well as gynecological cancer survivors.September is Gynecologic cancer awareness month and both the KeLaHa Projects and Globe- athon has joined forces to make an even bigger impact internationally to bring more awareness of not only cervical cancers but all below the belt cancers that affects women.One such effort is through The KeLaHa Projects BIKE / WALK –A-Thon on September 7th starting at 5:00AM at the Government parking lot (University/ Telem) in Philipsburg Read more

Us Say's There Is No Alliance With Up Party, Denies Rumors {Updated}

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Many persons are now breathing a sigh of relief, as the United St. Maarten Party held a press conference on Friday to brushed aside what they described as rumors regarding the formation of the next government.

it was on Sunday, three political parties signed an agreement aimed at the formation of the next government for St. Maarten.

The three parties are the National Alliance who received four (4) seats in the parliamentary election, the Democratic Party two (2) seats and the United St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Information reaching SMN News states that the USp number 2 candidate Leona Marlin Romeo is threatening her party to go independent and join the United Peoples Party to form the next government. According to our sources, Leona Marlin wants to appoint her campaign manager Henry Lynch as a Minister.
It is further understood that during the negotiations with the Democratic Party and the National Alliance Marlin Romeo and her party leader Frans Richardson they accepted the Ministry of TEATT and Finance because Marlin was supposed to appoint Lynch as Minister of Finance Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- In an effort to encourage, motivate, and support fathers in their parenting role, the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development, and Labour (VSA) in collaboration with Social Health Insurances (SZV) have centered their 4thAnnual Pregnancy Market's theme on "Pregnancy and Dad's Care: "It's a role we share". The Pregnancy Market kicks off this weekend on Saturday, September 6th 2014 at the National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA) in Cay Hill next to the Asha Stevens Hillside Christian School between 10AM -3PM Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The Chairman of the Central Voting Bureau denied most of the requests submitted to him to do a total recount of all the votes. Leader of the Social Reform Party Jacinto Mock submitted a written request stating that the Central Voting Bureau did not visit all 20 polling stations, that all voters did not receive their voting cards and that some voters did not speak the English language Read more

>AIRPORT:--- The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams bid farewell to local young promising cricketer Shaquille O'Neil Martina at the Princess Juliana International Airport on Wednesday. Martina is on his way to Barbados where he was offered a full-ride scholarship to play on the University of the West Indies' Combined College Campus Team, one of the premier cricket training teams in the world Read more

‘Janchi’ re-elected, in spite of tie with Buncamper-Molanus

PHILIPSBURG--Incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) Johan "Janchi" Leonard (United People's (UP) party) can be considered the big winner after the validation of the votes from the August 29 Parliamentary Elections by the Central Voting Bureau on Wednesday. Leonard was short two votes to be re-elected to Parliament. He received those votes when the bureau reviewed ballots deemed invalid by the polling station on election night.

Leonard (UP #7) is an MP-elect for UP, in spite of the tie with former Minister Maria Buncamper-Molanus (UP #21), because of his placement on the party's list of candidates Read more

Council approves one tablet per child project

PHILIPSBURG--The Council of Ministers has approved the "One tablet per child" project aimed at providing elementary school pupils with a tablet, starting with those in public education which fall directly under the ministry.

A total of NAf. 4,277,775.46 has been secured from the division of assets from the Antillean Bureau of Telecommunications and Post for the initiative. The St. Maarten Development Fund will manage and supervise the disbursement of the funds for the project.

Education Minister Patricia Lourens-Philip said on August 26, she had presented the Council of Ministers with several policy documents to ensure that the project was embedded in an Information Communication Technology (ICT) Policy in Education in general and in particular in an ICT policy for the schools.

"The preparation of this project took several months to be completed because I wanted to ensure that everything would be in place to guarantee the sustainability and continuity of the project after the transition of government," Lourens-Philip said in a press release on Wednesday Read more

Iran, US meet as search for nuclear agreement intensifies

GENEVA--Iran and the United States met in Geneva for bilateral talks on Thursday as international diplomacy intensifies to end a decade-old dispute over Tehran's atomic activities by a new deadline in late November.

The office of European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton confirmed Iran and six world powers would hold their first negotiating round since they failed to meet a July 20 target date for an agreement in New York on Sept. 18. The deadline was extended until Nov. 24 after six months of talks because wide gaps persisted over the future scope of Iran's uranium enrichment programme, which can have both civilian and military applications.

The six powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain - aim to persuade Iran to scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for phasing out sanctions that have severely hurt its oil-dependent economy Read more

Ukraine and rebels back peace plan, ceasefire from Friday

NEWPORT, Wales/DONETSK, Ukraine--Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the main pro-Russian rebel leader said they would both order ceasefires on Friday, provided that an agreement is signed on a new peace plan to end the five-month war in Ukraine's east.

The breakthrough came after a week in which the pro-Moscow separatists scored major victories with what NATO says is the open support of thousands of Russian troops Read more

St. Eustatius mourns former senator and council member

ST. EUSTATIUS--Kenneth "Wompie" van Putten passed away unexpectedly in St. Eustatius on Thursday. He was 77 years old. Residents had heard the wailing of sirens in the lower part of Oranjestad as the ambulance came through, but it was too late for Van Putten.

Van Putten was a Democratic Party member and leader for many years. He worked on the island- and central level of government Read more

NATO, wary of ceasefire talk, lambasts Russia over Ukraine

NEWPORT, Wales--NATO demanded on Thursday that Moscow withdraw its troops from Ukraine as U.S. President Barack Obama and his Western allies vowed to support Kiev and buttress their own defences against Russia in the biggest strategic shift since the Cold War.

NATO leaders made clear at a summit in Wales that their military alliance would not use force to defend Ukraine, which is not a member, but planned tougher economic sanctions to try to change Russian behaviour in the former Soviet republic.

The two-day meeting was marked by the most serious east-west standoff since the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago and the collapse of the Soviet bloc, as well as alarm at territorial gains by Islamist insurgents in Iraq and Syria Read more

Frans and Leona to address ‘rumours’

PHILIPSBURG--United St. Maarten Party leader Member of Parliament Frans Richardson and MP-elect Leona Marlin-Romeo are to hold a press conference at Parliament House today, Friday, at 10:00am "to address the rumours" circulating in the community about Marlin-Romeo leaving the party to go independent.

Richardson told The Daily Herald about the press conference last night Read more

Editorial - Good advice

With all the excitement over the elections, comments in Monday's paper by the St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) on the proposed change in the Civil Code to tackle the abuse of short-term employment contracts should not go unnoticed. SHTA says this will prohibit practically all defined-term contracts and only make the labour market more rigid.

Candidates of various political parties campaigned on the issue, including current Minister of Health, Labour and Social Affairs Cornelius de Weever (DP) Read more

WICLU: GEBE elderly relief is discriminatory

~ Says all consumers deserve relief ~

PHILIPSBURG--Windward Islands Chamber of Labour Unions (WICLU) wants utilities company GEBE to provide non-discriminatory relief across the board to all of its consumers instead of just a select few.

WICLU First Vice-President Claire Elshot said that while the temporary six-month relief GEBE offered qualifying senior citizens was "all good and well," this approach was discriminatory. Elshot contended that GEBE's concession stipulated that it should not have discriminatory practices.

She said many consumers were in need of relief and urged GEBE to extend non-discriminatory relief to all workers, who are also consumers Read more

Editorial - No-brainer

Several votes registered as invalid in Friday’s election were declared valid on closer examination Wednesday. It directly impacted the final outcome, as Johan “Janchi” Leonard ended up with two more votes and tied Maria Buncamper with 204 votes, but because he was higher on the UP list (#7), he now will go to Parliament instead of her, as she was #21.

Candidates of all parties except OSPP had requested recounts during the Main Voting Bureau’s public meeting, to verify the results, but it was decided to review only the invalid votes Read more

Delinquency among several topics discussed by Préfet

MARIGOT--Préfet Philippe Chopin, at a press conference Wednesday, disclosed an inspection mission had been requested through the Préfète of Guadeloupe Marcelle Pierrot and the prosecution service to study St. Martin's effectiveness in fighting delinquency, to evaluate policies for combating delinquency, and evaluate the extent of the circulation of weapons.

The mission comprised eight persons: two from Inspection Générale de L'Administration (IGA) from the Ministry of the Interior; two from Inspection Générale of the Gendarmerie Nationale (IGGN); one from Inspection Générale de la Police Nationale (IGPN); two from Inspection Générale des Services Judiciares (IGSJ), and a Préfet from the Cabinet of the Prime Minister specialised in delinquency prevention.

Although a meeting was held in the Préfecture with the delegation on Monday, September 1, it was not clear how long the mission had been in St Read more

Johan Leonard Squeezes Past Buncamper-Molanus Into Parliament

“Mister 7-UP” sends rival home

St. Maarten – Maria Buncamper-Molanus will not become a member of the new Parliament after all. After the Central Voting Bureau had scrutinized yesterday all the ballots the twenty polling stations had deemed invalid, it found two valid votes that went to Johan Leonard Read more

Central Voting Bureau Meets, Friday's Invalid Votes Recounted

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Main Voting Bureau meet on Wednesday morning at the Government Administration Building to conduct an analysis of Friday's voting exercise.

The members of the Bureau recounted the votes cast on Friday during the first Parliamentary Election for Country St. Maarten.

This was based on numerous complaints filed by candidates of the various political parties that took part in the Parliamentary elections with the exception of the OSPP party.

MP Johan "Janchie" Leornard of the UP party and Jacinto Mock of the Social Reform Party, filed official complaints with the Central Voting Bureau.

During the recount session on Wednesday there was a fierce race between former Minister Maria Buncamper Molanus and MP Johan "Janchie" Leonard Read more

Nia Set To Open School Year With New Classes

PHILPSBURG, St. Maarten — The National institute of Arts (NIA) reopened for the 2014-2015 school year on Monday, September 1 with a full roster of established and new classes at the John Larmonie Center.

Classes being offered for the new school year include Ballet, Modern, Creative, Jazz, Musical Theatre, Afro-Caribbean, African, Folk Dance, Hip Hop, Modern, Brain Dance, Yoga, Pilates, Conditioning, Bharatanayam, Belly Dance, Capoeira, Zumba ,Sound Engineering, Art of Laughter, Performance Skills, Drummer, and Choir Read more