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Up Mp Lake Addresses Social Media Political Rumours In The House Of Parliament On Tuesday

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Maurice Lake addressed on Tuesday in the House of Parliament social media rumours that he was involved in a plot to throw down government and send home the Cabinet of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs.

"It's good to be back in the House of the People Read more

Firstborn Daughter Of Broadcaster Eddy Williams Speaks Out: “There Is No Excuse For Being A Deadbeat Dad”

By Hilbert Haar

GREAT BAY / COLORADO SPRINGS – It must have been near eight years ago that this newspaper received a letter from a lady in England that complained about how her husband – “a local celebrity in Sint Maarten” – had dumped her. The basic request was to hang him out to dry, but Today passed on the occasion, thinking that marital problems do not belong in the public domain.

Last week, Today received a cry for help and understanding from Louise Carr in Colorado Springs Read more

Buhari wins historic landslide in Nigeria

ABUJA--Three decades after seizing power in a military coup, Muhammadu Buhari became the first Nigerian to oust a president through the ballot box, putting him in charge of Africa's biggest economy and one of its most turbulent democracies.
  As the scale of this weekend's electoral landslide became clear, President Goodluck Jonathan called Buhari on Tuesday to concede defeat to the opposition leader, Buhari's camp said, an unprecedented step that should help to defuse anger among Jonathan's supporters.
  In the religiously mixed northern city of Kaduna, where 800 people were killed in violence after the last elections in 2011, Buhari supporters streamed onto the streets, waving flags, dancing and singing in celebration.
  There was no word from Jonathan himself Read more

Thousands march in Indiana to protest law seen targeting gays

INDIANAPOLIS--Thousands of people marched in Indiana's largest city on Saturday to protest a state law that supporters contend promotes religious freedom but detractors see as a covert move to support discrimination against gay people.
  Waving signs reading "No hate in our state" and carrying rainbow flags, a crowd of at least 2,000 people including Democratic elected officials rallied the same day that business-rating website Angie's List Inc put on hold its plans to expand its Indianapolis operation with new offices, citing the new law.
  The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was passed overwhelmingly by the Republican led-state legislature and signed into law on Thursday by Indiana Governor Mike Pence Read more

Semeleer: Pegged currency system not broken, no need to fix with dollarization

PHILIPSBURG--“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This was the view of Aruba Central Bank President Jeanette Semeleer on discussions about the option of dollarization for St. Maarten. She was speaking at an Advisory Council symposium on the advantages and disadvantages of dollarization, held at University of St. Martin (USM) on Thursday evening.

Semeleer told the audience, which included public and private sector representatives: “Islands [Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten] have done well under the pegged-currency regime” and dollarization is “not one-size-fit-all” option for countries.

A country, such as St Read more

NA calls for a ‘unified approach’ from Govt.

PHILIPSBURG--The United People’s (UP)-led coalition has failed to show exactly what it is ready for, as its election campaign “We Ready” stated, said National Alliance (NA) Members of Parliament on Wednesday. They called on the governing coalition to present a “unified approach,” to table its long-overdue governing programme and appoint the two missing ministers.

NA leader MP William Marlin said at a press conference in Parliament House on Wednesday that UP members had proven only they were ready to take care of themselves and “to cut more deals and use the infrastructure” for their own personal enterprises.

In his estimation, UP is not ready “to bring much needed changes” to the country’s infrastructure and to tackle social ills Read more

Edward Dest gets symbolic sentence

PHILIPSBURG--More than four years after criminal complaints were filed against him in his capacity as former Tourist Bureau Interim Director and Head of Marketing, Edward Dest was found guilty by the court on Wednesday of embezzlement in his capacity as civil servant. However, the court imposed only a largely symbolic sentence of one day suspended, with one day's probation.

The judge found it proven that Dest had misappropriated funds belonging to the St. Maarten Tourist Office in New York NTO for promoting tourism to St Read more

Dumont wins Nagico to Nagico cycle race overall by one second

MARIGOT--VCG's Nicolas Dumont won the Classement General of the 2015 Nagico to Nagico Cycle race by the slimmest of margins, just one second, in 5:34:51, it emerged after the finish of Sunday's last race in Rue de La République, Marigot, in front of the Nagico office.

ASBM's Luis Sablon from Guadeloupe was second overall in the Classement (5:34:52) with USR Vélo's Giovanni Rousseau, also from Guadeloupe, taking third overall (5:35:47).

Sunday's 123K race was won by ASBM's Adam Pierzga in 3:15:7, a clear 41 seconds in front of Luis Sablon, while Miguel Ubeto took third to make it a clean sweep on the podium for ABSM Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- MPs  Silveria Jacobs, Christopher Emmanuel, George Pantophlet and Johan Janchi Read more

Worse than the previous

Dear Editor,

Despite the efforts of this new parliament of trying to convince the public that it has raised the bar to a very high standard, this proclamation continues to be such an uneasy truth. On the contrary, it is by far, worse than the previous. What has become common practice for some parliamentarians is to have speech competitions and to see who can outfox and demean the other. But the public is not interested in such devious minds and childish behaviours.

Elevated representation of the people coincides with the ability to think independently and then proceed expeditiously and consciously to the demands of society and the success of this island Read more

Upgrade Dutch Quarter Delayed, Not Forgotten

European subsidy-millions remain available until December 5

St. Maarten – What happened to the European funds St. Maarten supposedly received for the upgrading of Dutch Quarter? Former Vromi-Minister William Marlin announced at a “simply yet significant signing ceremony” on the De Weever property on June 25, 2012 that the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) had committed €4.75 million ($6.1 million) to the project and the government put up an additional 1,73 million ($2.25 million) Read more

UP Faction and Coalition Partners Boycott Continuation Meeting on SMHDF

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The public meeting called by the Parliament of St. Maarten to further discuss the develepments at the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF)and SOAB saw a boycott from all members of the United Peoples Party faction including their coalition partners. Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever was seen in the House of Parliament before the 10h on Wednesday morning but disappeared when the meeting was about to start while MP Frans Richardson informed the chair of Parliament that he would be late for the meeting Read more

Illidge to sit for bribery, loses right to be elected

PHILIPSBURG--Former independent Member of Parliament (MP)Patrick Illidge (49) was sentenced Friday to eighteen months in prison, six of which were suspended, on two years' probation for bribery. The Judge also revoked Illidge's right to be elected and imposed a ban from holding public office for five years.

During the hearings in this case, which took place February 11-13, the Prosecutor's Office had requested 30 months, 10 of which were to be suspended.

Illidge and Bada Bing brothel owner Jaap van den Heuvel were the main suspects in the so-called Orca investigations Read more

Telecommunication Union Accuses Telem Of Hiring Illegals:  Calls For Resignation Of The Board

St. Maarten – A vote of no confidence in the board of TelEm and the resignation of Raphael Boasman as the head of that board because of a conflict of interest, were among issues cited by the St. Maarten Telecommunication Union during a press conference yesterday.

The union called the press conference to air some of their grievances in the court of public opinion after having received no satisfaction from management and board of TelEm to their issues, chief among which is the employment of a Surinamese company to perform paid employment that the union feels can and should be done by local contractors Read more

Former tourism marketing head facing suspended prison sentence

~ Prosecutor: LaBega not off the hook ~

PHILIPSBURG--More than four years after criminal complaints were filed against him in his capacity as Head of Marketing of the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau Edward Dest finally had his day in court on Wednesday. He is facing charges of embezzlement in his capacity as civil servant.

Prosecutor Nanouk Lemmers found it proven that Dest had embezzled funds belonging to the St. Maarten Tourist Office in New York for promoting tourism to St. Maarten in North America and instead had used the money to pay for airfare, hotel rooms, daily allowances, the Tourist Bureau's Christmas dinner and Boardwalk Mas 2010 expenditures.

For these crimes, which allegedly were committed between June 1, 2009, and August 23, 2010, the Prosecutor requested a suspended sentence of two months, with two years' probation Read more

Samsung unveils sleek new Galaxy S6 phones

SEOUL/BARCELONA--Samsung Electronics Co Ltd unveiled its latest Galaxy S smartphones featuring a slim body made from aircraft-grade metal, in a bid to reclaim the throne of undisputed global smartphone leader from Apple Inc.

Designed from scratch in an operation dubbed "Project Zero", the Galaxy S6 and its curved-edges variant are critical for Samsung's plans to reverse plunging smartphone revenues that led to its first annual earnings fall in three years in 2014.

By some estimates, Apple surpassed Samsung as the world's biggest smartphone maker late last year, selling a record 74.5 million iPhones in the December quarter on the back of the success of its big-screen iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Read more

style="text-align: center;">Leonard was offered Mediator Position at Department of Labor therefore she resigned --- Unconstitutional Election Called.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Several members of the WICSU/PSU union are now asking questions as to where the members of the board disappeared to. According to some of the members who spoke to SMN News on the condition of anonymity said that the President of WICSU/PSU Derie Leonard called an election for March 20th 2015, they said she sent out a notice to all members informing them that persons that are interested in postulating should do so before February 27th 2015 Read more

Integrity’s power grab

Dear Editor,

For many years now, the various governments in The Hague have had concerns and misgivings about the administration in Philipsburg, at least for as long as I can remember. In the nineties, we were placed under Higher Supervision with the collaboration of the then central government, and the same issues we had then are prevalent today. They even promised to implement a counterpart system, so that when they leave, our people could take over the running of the apparatus properly and smoothly Read more

Caravanserai owners unique amongst victims of takeover

BEACON HILL--A California couple who cashed in part of their retirement fund to invest in buying a unit at the former Caravanserai Beach Resort have been thrown into the same basket as approximately 2,200 timeshare owners who had their rights at the same property annulled when it was taken over by Alegria Real Estate BV. The couple received an eviction order earlier this month, after a trial of which they reportedly had not been informed took place.

Chasing ownership

John and Shandrea Degen signed the relevant paperwork with Caravanserai in 2007 Read more

GEBE is a Gentlemen's Club – MP Emmanuel.

style="text-align: left;">PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Christopher Emmanuel described the supervisory board and management team of GEBE as managers of a gentlemen's club and he felt they were disrespectful and ill-prepared when they went to Parliament on Wednesday. MP Emmanuel made clear that all members in managerial positions at GEBE are male and he wants to know when would the management and the supervisory board see it fit to promote some of the women they have working in the organization to managerial positions Read more

Nigerian opposition candidate urges calm after election postponement

ABUJA--Nigerian opposition presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari called for calm in the country and cautioned against any violence following the election postponement, which he said was engineered by the ruling People's Democratic Party.
  Foreign powers are closely following events in Africa's biggest economy and have voiced concerns there could be a repetition of violence that followed 2011 elections when 800 people died and that a delay would stoke unrest in opposition strongholds.
  The poll will pit incumbent Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP against former military ruler Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in what is likely to be the most hotly contested election since the end of military rule in 1999 Read more

Minister Connor: Government Still Committed To Timeshare Consumer Protection

St. Maarten – Government’s goal as it regards timeshare remains to establish timeshare consumer protection and meet the goal of bringing credibility to St. Maarten’s Timeshare product, Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Claret Connor reiterated on Tuesday.

He said government understands, full well, the messages it is receiving from timeshare members Read more

Connor reiterates position on timeshare protection

PHILIPSBURG--Government's position to establish timeshare consumer protection and meet the goal of bringing credibility to St. Maarten's Timeshare product was reiterated by Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Claret Connor via press release on Tuesday.

The Minister said that Government understands full well the messages it is receiving from timeshare members.

"We know that they are immensely frustrated because they feel vulnerable as a result of many questionable actions by multiple timeshare resorts and management companies which are at times against timeshare owner's interest.

"Some members are so disgruntled to the point of feeling abandoned and in a number of cases betrayed," the Minister said.

"As stated in various media reports, the Caravanserai timeshare members have seen millions of dollars of their hard-earned investments in St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Claret Connor on Tuesday reiterated government's position to establish timeshare consumer protection and meet the goal of bringing credibility to St. Maarten's Timeshare product.

He said government understands, full well, the messages it is receiving from timeshare members. "We know that they are immensely frustrated because they feel vulnerable as a result of many questionable actions by multiple timeshare resorts and management companies which are at times against timeshare owner's interest Read more