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Gumbs stressed need for good relations during visit

THE HAGUE--St. Maarten Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs is satisfied with his first working visit to the Netherlands. “I got the message clearly across to the ministers that we want good relations and that the attitude of the Netherlands is not conducive to solid relations in the Kingdom.”

Gumbs’ main reason for paying an official visit to the Netherlands for the first time since his appointment in December 2014 was the invitation to attend final event of the 200th anniversary of the Dutch Kingdom which took place in Amsterdam on Saturday.

While in the Netherlands, Gumbs also made use of the opportunity to have a meeting with several of the Dutch Ministers, the Council of State and the Presidents of the First and Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament.

“It was a good week with good meetings,” he told The Daily Herald on Saturday, one day before travelling on to New York where he will join the Kingdom delegation for the United Nations’ General Assembly.

Gumbs said that he had made clear from the moment the current government took office that St Read more

Brilliant move by Heyliger & Marlin

Dear Editor,

There was a call by the leaders of the largest political parties in Parliament for independence. As could be expected, very little was carried on the subject in the local press, but be that as it may for us as a budding nation we have finally garnered enough courage to say we stand ready to do it for ourselves. However, this is but a small step, we would hope that all factions in Parliament would come together and approve a referendum in the coming year, where the people can give their blessings to the desire to make use of our right to self-determination, and put an end to the many colonial dictates insults and disrespect.

People choose for varying political systems depending on how they see their own development and their ability to govern themselves rather than be governed by anyone else Read more

Marriage problems of the Kingdom focus of debate

AMSTERDAM--A forced marriage, a marriage of convenience, a one-parent family or a combined family with children of different fathers: These were some of the terms used to describe the difficult aspects of the relations within the Dutch Kingdom during a debate on Friday.

The debate, which was organised by InterExpo and producer/debate leader Tanja Fraai as the last event of the 20th Trade Mission in Amsterdam, served to evaluate the new constitutional relations that went into effect on October 10, 2010.

Representatives of the governments and private sector of the Dutch Caribbean took part in the debate, as did Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party and host of the debate Chairman of the Second Chamber’s Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations Jeroen Recourt, the only Dutch politicians who were present.

Recourt painted a picture wherein the countries in the Kingdom are having relational issues and challenged the audience to give their view Read more

Maduro Donates Bulletproof Vests

MP Franklin Meyers wears a bulletproof vest, surrounded by representatives of Maduro and Sons and the two Chief Inspectors. Photo contributed

St. Maarten – S.E.L. Maduro and Sons donated ten bulletproof vests to Chief Inspectors Rudolf Bloeiman and Ricardo Henson. The vests are for members of the bike patrol who are considered the ambassadors of St Read more

More than 700 pilgrims die in crush in worst haj disaster for 25 years

MINA, Saudi Arabia--At least 717 pilgrims from around the world were killed on Thursday in a crush outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi authorities said, in the worst disaster to strike the annual haj pilgrimage for 25 years.
  At least 863 others were injured. Saudi King Salman said he had ordered a review of haj plans after the disaster, in which two large groups of pilgrims arrived together at a crossroads in Mina, a few kilometres east of Mecca, on their way to performing the "stoning of the devil" ritual at Jamarat.
  Thursday's disaster was the worst to occur at the pilgrimage since July 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims suffocated in a tunnel near Mecca Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the Democratic Party and Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Wlliams said in a press release that she took note of the presentation to government of the initial report by the tripartite group, consisting of VSA ministry, St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) and SZV. This report is in keeping with the protocol signed by these entities in March 2015, the basis of this protocol being to put SMMC back on a solid footing Read more

S.E.L. Maduro & Sons Donates Bullet Proof Vests To The Police

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - In the aftermath of Police Bike Patrol Officer Gamali Benjamin’s tragic demise, S.E.L. Maduro & Sons, in keeping with its pledge to the Police Force, has donated 10 bulletproof vests to Chief Inspector Rudolph C. Bloeiman and Chief Inspector Ricardo V. Henson.

The vests are specifically for the Bike Patrol unit who are considered “Ambassadors” of St. Maarten.

Raquel Coupland Wathey, General Manager of S.E.L. Maduro and Sons, said: “The safety of our officers is very important to us as a business and members of the community Read more

Minister to answer MPs’ dump questions by Friday

PHILIPSBURG--New Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Claret Connor has confirmed with Parliament that answers to the pertinent questions about the landfill, as discussed in the urgent plenary session on Friday, can be expected on Friday, September 25.

Therefore, another follow-up plenary session scheduled tentatively for Thursday, October 1, depending on the status of these answers, should be able to go forward as planned Read more

NATO say Russia must withdraw heavy weapons from Ukraine

LVIV, Ukraine--NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday an ebb in violence in eastern Ukraine was not enough to bring peace and demanded Russia withdraw heavy weapons the alliance accuses it of providing in support of separatists.
  Ukrainian diplomats said Stoltenberg's two-day visit, his first to Ukraine as NATO Secretary-General, held strong symbolic importance for the country in its drive for Western integration in the face of a pro-Russian rebellion in eastern territories.
  With a troubled peace plan for the Ukrainian conflict nearing its year-end deadline, Stoltenberg said the drop in fighting since the start of September was encouraging but called it fragile and far from sufficient Read more

Your reputation is on the line

Dear Editor,

Permit me to express a word of caution to our new Minister of VROMI, Claret Connor. I write this article with such a heavy heart, because I know that you are not in the right place but as much as I would like the situation to be different, only you have the authority to choose the direction of your life. However, it is the prerogative of any individual to make comments that could generate further thought Read more

Pope meets Fidel Castro, warns against ideology on Cuba trip

HAVANA--Pope Francis met Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Sunday hours after warning Cubans to beware the dangers of ideology and the lure of selfishness as their country enters a new era of closer ties with the United States.
  Latin America's first pope and Castro, the region's last surviving leftist icon of the 20th century, discussed religion and world affairs at the home of the 89-year-old retired president for about 40 minutes Read more

Statia takes its cause to the UN

THE HAGUE/ORANJESTAD--A four-member Statia delegation will be meeting with the United Nations’ Decolonisation Committee this week in an effort to seek the support of international organisations such as the UN to intervene on the island’s behalf in the struggle with the Dutch Government for more autonomy and the right of self-determination.

Commissioner of Constitutional Affairs Reginald Zaandam was very clear as he was about to leave for New York on Saturday: The Netherlands, as Statia’s mother country has a responsibility and duty to work with St Read more

Dutch Representative Screens Troonrede In Holland House: “We Have Shared Interests”

Dutch representative Gert Versluis (left) and Milton Peters College Director Wim de Visser at the presentation of the Troonrede by King Willem Alexander at Holland House. Photo Today / Hilbert Haar

St. Maarten – The instruction of the Kingdom government to amend the 2015 budget is a “mega-challenge,” Dutch representative Gert Versluis said yesterday at an informal gathering at Holland House where his office screened the Troonrede of King Willem Alexander. “It is good that we have a very good minister of finance here who is qualified to tackle that problem Read more

Old Soremar building to become shooting range

COLE BAY--Government plans to spend some NAf. 2 million to acquire the old Soremar building in Orange Grove, Cole Bay, to use as a shooting range for police and other armed branches of the justice chain.

The location will be converted into a shooting range, the central dispatch of the police and also the nerve centre for the planned country-wide camera surveillance system, Justice Minister Dennis Richardson told Parliament on Wednesday.

Government has also earmarked some NAf Read more

Sarah: No 'earth-shattering' plans in governor's speech

PHILIPSBURG--There was "nothing earth-shattering" in Governor Eugene Holiday's speech about government's plans for the 2015-2016 parliamentary year, but it was heartening to see that the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet is "making use of the goodwill and leadership" created by the former government in the region and further afield, said Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams on Monday.

The former prime minister and her fraction's advisor Emil Lee called on government at their bi-weekly press briefing to continue with the National Development Plan (NDP) and were happy to note that government, based on the governor's speech, was still keeping the plan for which a lot of time and money has already been invested.

While the governor's speech was "short on specific," Wescot-Williams hopes to gain more insight into the plans for tax reform, when Finance Minister Martin Hassink is in Parliament this week to meet with Parliament's Permanent Committee for Finance.

DP has "ideas for changes" to the tax system, beginning with the often talked about simplification of the tax system, she said.

The party plans to put emphasis on an "economic reform agenda" that is necessary and that is needed to make tax reform workable.

Wescot-Williams expressed satisfaction that Parliament's Permanent Committee for Finance will finally handle the 2013 annual accounts of government-owned companies this week Read more

Richardson to Schram: Prove underworld claims or ‘shut up’

PHILIPSBURG--Justice Minister Dennis Richardson minced no words when he publicly called on Attorney-General Guus Schram to prove his claims about the mixing of the so-called underworld with civil society.

Richardson said in Monday's plenary session of Parliament that Schram should prove his claims or "shut the hell up."

Richardson was reacting to comments made by the Attorney-General on Friday at the swearing-in of a new judge for the Court of First Instance. Schram said, "The Friendly Island has lost its innocence."

He said another threat existed in St Read more

Brazil downgrade leaves little choice but austerity for Rousseff

BRASILIA-- One thing is clear for Brazil's economy after its credit rating was downgraded to junk: political leaders now have little choice but to push ahead with painful austerity measures if they hope to regain market confidence.
  Faced with a growing budget deficit and the worst recession in nearly three decades, senior officials said on Thursday they will double down on austerity to lift revenues, cut spending and balance public finances that went off kilter with a raft of stimulus measures in recent years.
  Finance Minister Joaquim Levy, the face of austerity in President Dilma Rousseff's cabinet, said measures will be taken this month to bridge a shortfall currently projected in next year's budget Read more

Faction leaders outline their achievement and failures during parliamentary year 2014 -2015.

>PHILIPSBURG:---- Faction leader of the United Peoples Party Franklin Meyers in his remarks during the closing of parliamentary year 2014-2015 said that the moment the UPP and MP De Weever formed the coalition that formed the current government they got all sorts of pressure from the Dutch Government (Kingdom Partners) which includes an instruction Read more

Inside Bernie Sanders' strategy to win over organized labour

WASHINGTON--Union activist Cliff Smith once thought of Bernie Sanders as an "obscure" U.S. senator. That changed in August when Smith joined 27,000 people to hear the Democratic White House candidate speak at a Los Angeles sports arena.
  "The other candidates - they talk in these very calculated, milquetoast, vague ways - they just don't come across as human," said Smith, the business manager for Local 36, a branch of a roofers' union. "He just seems like your next-door neighbour."
  Sanders' vow to protect American jobs and rein in big corporations has resonated with union workers such as Smith Read more

Status Quo

Dear Editor,

Another political year comes to an end in Great Bay, and the biggest losers are our people. We would hope that during the meeting closing off the parliamentary year, the fraction leaders can point to something however insignificant they have done to improve the lives of our people. We know for instance that they have not yet dealt with the abuse of the short- term contract. We know that unemployment is out of control and among the youth the word employ does not exist.

We already are aware of Transparency International’s report that states, among other things, that too many high positions in our public sector are headed by outsiders Read more

Group to coordinate elections for representation for Haitians

PHILIPSBURG--A group of St. Maarten-based Haitians who are part of a group called the Permanent Electoral Council (PEC) will be coordinating elections amongst Haitian nationals in the country this October.

Those elected are hoping to represent the interests of Haitian nationals residing in St. Maarten under the auspices of the PEC. Vice President (VP) of the PEC Dominique Vital said Haitians in St. Maarten are dissatisfied with the current Haitian St. Maarten Community Association and stressed that the Association does not represent the interests of Haitians in St Read more

Venice film puts spotlight on Boston's paedophile priests

VENICE--"Spotlight" starring Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo as reporters working on the Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of paedophile Roman Catholic priests deals with just a fraction sexual predation in the Church, its director says.
  Reports of sexual misconduct by the late British entertainer Jimmy Savile and other high profile cases are an indication of the global scope of the problem, and of failures to deal with it, Tom McCarthy said before his film's screening on Thursday at the Venice Film Festival.
  "These moments where we know people have done things wrong and we don't, as a society, we don't stand up to them, it takes years and years and years and the question is why? Why does it take so long?" McCarthy said in an interview on Wednesday.
  The Globe's Spotlight team exposed the attacks over a period of decades by priests in the Boston archdiocese who molested young boys and girls but instead of being reported to the police were given counselling and moved to a different parish Read more

Notices September 4

Friday, September 4

CULTURAL EVENING

Organised by Home Away From Home Senior Citizens Foundation

Place: The Belair Community Centre, in Cay Hill

Time: 7:00pm

Tickets: US$10, Euro 10,or NAf20

NOTICES

Baseball Program

St. Maarten Little League Association informs the general public that their baseball program has resumed. Training takes place at the Little League Stadium on: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 3:00 to 5:00pm for children ages 9 to 12 Read more

India's bulldozer promises to add two percentage points to growth

NAGPUR, India--The man Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tasked with launching a China-style infrastructure boom calls himself a "bulldozer" and promises to add two percentage points to India's economic growth in two years.
  "I am a man of my word," Nitin Gadkari told Reuters on a trip to his home district in Maharashtra, the state where he made a reputation for getting the job done Read more