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Take It Or Leave, Dennis Stays But You The Us Party May Go!

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – St. Maarten was not surprised at all when the UP party told their coalition partner the US party of MP Frans Richardson to take a hike but Dennis stays.

The US party should have drawn their conclusion from the statement made by the honorable Prime Minister that Minister Richardson isn't going anywhere.

According to the Prime Minister if Minister Richardson goes, then the entire cabinet is going and the Prime Minister would then have no choice but to dissolve the parliament of St Read more

Insulted daughter-in-law

Dear Queenie,

My father-in-law is always making remarks about how one of our children doesn’t look anything like my husband. He seems to think that means the boy isn’t really my husband’s son.

The fact of the matter is that the boy looks a lot like my husband’s mother, but my father-in-law hasn’t noticed that, or if he has he never says anything about it. Instead he keeps saying things that imply that I cheated on my husband, which never happened.

Queenie, how can I shut him up?—Insulted daughter-in-law

Dear Insulted,

It is nearly impossible to shut up someone like that, but if your mother-in-law is ever around when Mr Read more

What’s is in it for me? Gearing up to a new era of colonialism and nepotism

Dear Editor,

Lately, our representatives seem to worry a lot, and sometimes rightly so, about the Dutch (post) colonial powers. Some of our MP's are calling for independence while presenting themselves as the last of the Mohicans. So far, the apogee of this independence rhetoric came to light when an MP was quoted as saying that he rather "die on his feet than live on his knees." The MP was quick to forget that Dutch PM Rutte already indicated that independence is just a phone call away (i).

So why so much noise? It is nothing more than putting up smokescreens in order to dr0ive the attention from the real problem, namely the new era of (corporate) colonialism and nepotism which is upon us Read more

Dispute regulation top priority for St. Maarten

WILLEMSTAD--Establishing a dispute regulation (geschillenregeling) for the Kingdom will be the number one topic for the St. Maarten delegation today, Tuesday, at the Kingdom Conference in Curaçao, said St. Maarten Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs on Monday.

"We think that the agreement that the Parliaments of the Kingdom reached on the dispute regulation during the Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultations IPKO in The Hague last month was a good agreement and we hope that all parties at the Kingdom Conference will be ready and willing to reach a final settlement," Gumbs told The Daily Herald.

According to Gumbs, it was time for the Netherlands to show the willingness to work with the three other countries in the Kingdom, Aruba, Curaçao and St Read more

style="text-align: center;">Is it really the signing of the Integrity protocol why Minister Richardson must go!
I can imagine all of those voters of last election holding their head and bawling with shame knowing that they put this government in place. Don’t blame the politicians, blame yourself. You knew that if you put the same leaders back in office you could not have expected different results than what we are getting today.

Philipsburg:--- Many persons have not being paying much attention to the back and forth discussion regarding the establishment of an Integrity Chamber, especially not those ordinary citizens who are unemployed and those others who can’t make ends meet because of the high cost of living Read more

Lorenzo cuts Rossi's MotoGP lead to one

BARCELONA-- Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo slashed team mate Valentino Rossi's championship lead to a single point on Sunday with his fourth win in a row at an eventful Catalan Grand Prix.
  The victory on a scorching afternoon also handed the Spaniard a MotoGP record with 103 successive laps led, breaking Australian Casey Stoner's previous benchmark of 88.
  Rossi completed a one-two finish for Yamaha, the team's second of the season, while Honda's Dani Pedrosa was third.
  "The conditions were difficult as it was very hot," Lorenzo told reporters Read more

India's economic data bring cheer

NEW DELHI--India's industrial production output grew more than expected in April, reaching a two-month high, and retail inflation edged up in May, easing concern over an economy facing the worst drought since 2009.
  Output at factories, mines and utilities grew at an annual rate of 4.1 percent in April, the fastest pace since February. That was higher than March's 2.5 percent growth and the 1.6 percent economists forecast in a Reuters poll.
  Consumer inflation in May rose to 5.01 percent from 4.87 percent in the previous month on higher energy costs Read more

‘Excusez-moi?’ – Muppet time for Astrid on Statia

Dear Editor,

"Statia needs me and I am now heading home!" With these words, Statia Commissioner of Finance Astrid McKenzie-Tatem stormed out of her meeting with the Dutch Government because of the imposition of higher financial supervision. It was all rather reminiscent of a Miss Piggy fight with Kermit the frog!

However, whereas the Muppets are puppets and we expect them to behave like puppets, politicians are not. But they do have a political stage. How you say something and how you do something is just as important as what you say and what you do.

In the case of our new Commissioner of Finance, she has done very little Read more

Saba wants to host summit for Caribbean Netherlands

THE HAGUE--Saba has offered to host a political summit of the Caribbean Netherlands and the Netherlands in January 2016 to discuss the future of the islands, their relation with the Netherlands and how to achieve more self-reliance.

Saba Commissioner of Constitutional Affairs Chris Johnson launched his proposal for a summit which might be held in January 2016 after the completion of the evaluation during a meeting of the Executive Councils of Bonaire and St. Eustatius with the Second Chamber’s Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations on Thursday.

Saba, but also Bonaire, wants to become more self-reliant and be more in charge of its own affairs Read more

>Since the beginning of this week, military personnel has arrived on the islands of Sint Maarten, Saba and Statia. They are preparing for the annual hurricane relief exercise. Yesterday, the Commander Netherlands Forces in the Caribbean, commodore Hans Lodder, visited the support ship HNLMS Pelikaan and the operations room in the Asha Stevens Hillside Christian School.

Cooperation
“The military troops are here to support local authority in case of a hurricane passage or another disaster Read more

New NAPB President pledges to do utmost to represent members

~ New board, congress sworn in ~

PHILIPSBURG--Newly elected President of the Nationale Algemene Politie Bond (NAPB) St. Maarten police union Jeanine Peterson pledged to do her utmost to tackle the many issues affecting members.

Peterson made the statements shortly after being sworn in during a ceremony at the John Larmonie Center on Wednesday. Also sworn in were members of the union’s Board and Congress Read more

The International Floralies of Martinique, «Caribbean Bouquet »: the first Caribbean project with a promising future.

>Martinique:--- From June 17th to 21st 2015, Martinique will host the fourth edition of the International Floralies in Trois- Ilets, as part of an innovative concept called «Caribbean Bouquet».

Twenty (20) Caribbean countries including Barbados, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Trinidad & Tobago, French Guiana, Suriname, Brazil, St. Martin, St. Vincent, Guyana, St. Kitts, Grenada, Montserrat and Haiti, will take part in the «grand eco-cultural flourishing garden» to be presented to the Martinican public at the site of the historical La Pagerie Floral Park.

The Floralies Park of Trois-Ilets, dedicated to this vocation since 1979, is spread over three hectares and is located on a portion of the former «Domaine de la Pagerie», property of the family of Empress Joséphine Read more

Cuba Inc. open to foreign capitalists, but within limits

HAVANA--Communist Cuba's newfound interest in foreign capital has its limits, as Philippe Pouletty found out.
  A French doctor, venture capitalist and founder of biotech company Abivax, Pouletty is working with Cuba's Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology to develop a therapeutic vaccine to treat chronic Hepatitis B that could be on the Asian market in two years and in Europe after that Read more

Former model wrestles personal demons to the mat in yoga book

NEW YORK--A former model uses tales of sex, drugs and rock and roll in a book hitting stores on Monday to introduce the healing power of yoga sequences and demonstrate how the ancient practice of breath and meditation can fortify the mind as well as the body.
  In "Yoga for Life: A Journey to Peace and Freedom," Colleen Saidman Yee, a former fashion model turned yoga teacher, recounts how yoga helped her battle a heroin habit, epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after she was injured in a car accident when she was 15 years old Read more

Kurdish party thwarts Erdogan's ambitions with election advance

ANKARA--Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's hopes of assuming greater powers suffered a major setback on Sunday when the ruling AK Party he founded failed to win an outright majority in a parliamentary election for the first time.

Erdogan, Turkey's most popular modern leader but also its most divisive, had hoped a crushing victory for the AKP would allow it to change the constitution and create a more powerful U.S.-style presidency. To do that, it would have needed to win two-thirds of the seats in parliament.

Instead, it has been left unable to govern alone for the first time since it came to power almost 13 years ago Read more

Minister Of Education And Youth Affairs Bourne-Gumbs Reports On Child Rights In Geneva

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – On May 27, 2015, the Committee on the Rights of the Child considered the fourth periodic report of the Netherlands on its implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its initial report under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

Due to the absence of Dutch State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport Hon. Martin van Rijn as delegation leader, Sint Maarten's Minister of Education, Culture, Youth & Sports Affairs Hon Read more

Editorial - Not allowed

The new Penal Code that went into effect June 1 (see related story) contains some important matters of which the general public should be aware. For one thing, the sale and serving of alcoholic beverages to minors under the age of 18 is now officially prohibited, with a maximum penalty of six months in prison or a NAf. 7,500 fine.

However, the National Licence Ordinance still has 16 as the minimum drinking age, a discrepancy the local Lions Club recently requested that Parliament eliminate Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---  A delegation from Sint Maarten's Parliament is currently in Aruba attending the Health Care Conference Aruba (HCCA) which is being held from June 1-3 at the Renaissance Convention Center.

President of Parliament Hon. Dr. Lloyd Richardson, Vice President MP Hon. Cornelius de Weever, MP Hon Read more

Mps Representing Sint Maarten At Health Care Conference Aruba

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – A delegation from Sint Maarten's Parliament is currently in Aruba attending the Health Care Conference Aruba (HCCA) which is being held from June 1-3 at the Renaissance Convention Center.

President of Parliament Hon. Dr. Lloyd Richardson, Vice President MP Hon. Cornelius de Weever, MP Hon Read more

MPs have not yet received harbour security answers

PHILIPSBURG—Members of Parliament (MPs) have not yet received the "sensitive answers" about the St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies' security contract, despite the receipt of these by Parliament's Secretariat since May 26. The delay in the dissemination is due to "administrative reasons," according to Democratic Party (DP) leader MP Sarah Wescot-Williams.

Speaking at a DP press conference in Parliament House on Monday, Wescot-Williams said she is patiently awaiting the answers to see if they satisfy her burning questions Read more

Editorial - Status quo

Readers may have been surprised to note in Monday's paper that Government as sole shareholder of water and electricity company GEBE had rejected a request by the Supervisory Board not to extend the contract of Chief Operations Officer and Managing Board Chairman Romelio Maduro. After all, government-owned companies were put "at arms' length" in the first place to prevent political meddling.

Moreover, a Corporate Governance Code was introduced by law to stipulate rules on how to deal with these public entities operating in the private sector and a council with the same name has been established to regulate such Read more

Lee midway through CHTA tenure, outlines changes

DAWN BEACH--The first St. Maarten person to be elected to Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association's (CHTA's) highest post of President Emil Lee is approaching the halfway-mark of his two-year tenure, and says that he is happy to see the association moving in the right direction on a number of fronts.

In an interview with The Daily Herald he outlined both recent and on-going changes within the CHTA at varying stages of implementation, marking its move towards becoming more efficient and a transparent facilitator and thought leader, as well as his hopes for the future.

Lee first shared that what many people don't realise is that he had been elected for the post a year before starting in July 2014 Read more

With tough words for Wall Street, O'Malley launches White House bid

BALTIMORE, Maryland--Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley blasted social injustice and Wall Street excesses as he launched a White House bid on Saturday, casting himself as a younger, more liberal alternative to Democratic Party frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
  "Powerful, wealthy special interests here at home have used our government to create, in our own country, an economy that is leaving a majority of our people behind," said O'Malley, opening his 2016 presidential campaign with a rally at a waterfront park in downtown Baltimore.
  O'Malley, who has aggressively courted his party's liberal wing, began his political career in Baltimore, first as a member of city council and then as mayor.
  Decrying big banks as having been behind the financial crisis of 2008, O'Malley singled out Goldman Sachs for particular criticism Read more

Editorial - Final obstacles

What was billed as the first-ever budgetary retreat in St. Maarten (see Saturday paper) seems like a good idea. Synchronisation among the seven ministries in that sense is certainly always desirable for obvious reasons.

Recent experience has shown it's also good to begin preparations well ahead of time and the meeting was about the 2016 budget. However, taking into account that the draft is supposed to be presented to Parliament at the start of September, it's actually not so early.

Of course, there are more immediate concerns, including remaining issues with the 2015 version, almost halfway into the year Read more