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Guenter Grass, author of The Tin Drum, dies at 87

BERLIN--German novelist Guenter Grass, the Nobel Prize-winning author of "The Tin Drum", an epic treatment of the Nazi era, died on Monday at the age of 87, his publishers said.

A broad-shouldered man with a drooping moustache, Grass spurned the German tradition of keeping a cool intellectual distance, insisting that a writer's duty was to be at the frontline of moral and political debate. For many, he was the voice of a German generation that came of age in World War Two and bore the burden of their parents' guilt for the atrocities of the Nazis.

The independent German Cultural Council called him "more than a writer .. Read more

Rutte, Eman meet with Raúl Castro

THE HAGUE--Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte held talks with Cuba President Raúl Castro and several Latin American leaders of government in Panama City over the weekend.

The meeting between Castro and Rutte, who was accompanied by Aruba's Prime Minister Mike Eman and Curaçao's Minister of Finance José Jardim, on Saturday evening lasted an hour and mostly focused on the historical reconciliation between Cuba and the United States of America and its consequences for the Caribbean.

"Hopefully the reconciliation will result in a more open Cuba, as well as economic growth and democratic development Read more

Nigerians vote for powerful governors in state elections

LAGOS--The final stage of Nigeria's election will begin on Saturday with state governorship polls, two weeks after a presidential vote saw an incumbent leader unseated at the ballot box for the first time.
  The 36 governors are among the most powerful politicians in Africa's biggest oil producer and top economy, controlling budgets larger than those of small African nations and wielding influence that can decide who goes on presidential tickets. Voting starts at 8 a.m.
  With so much at stake, candidates in past polls have often played dirty, snatching ballot boxes, manipulating voter turn-out and engaging in thuggery and intimidation.
  Muhammadu Buhari beat President Goodluck Jonathan last month with 15.4 million votes against 13.3 million, in a vote that was considered free and less violent than past polls Read more

Stephane Earl Duzong ready for Eruption in Paradise

PHILIPSBURG--Stephane Earl Duzong will represent the SXM Rock Boxing Club on the pro-am boxing card Eruption in Paradise at L.B. Scott Sports Auditorium May 30.
    Duzong has been in the sport for one year. He trains with former pro St. Maarten fighter Claudette Alexander.  Eruption in Paradise will be his first fight Read more

MPs share concerns on integrity chamber, but open to discussion

~ Expect more answers on Friday ~

PHILIPSBURG--"Looking forward to further discussion" was the point Members of Parliament (MPs) reached on Wednesday night after hearing answers to shared main points of concern given by Justice Minister Dennis Richardson during a public meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on the draft National Ordinance for the establishment of an Integrity Chamber for St. Maarten.

Although many individual questions had been posed, paired with statements of concern about what the Ordinance will mean for St Read more

style="text-align: center;">Several Financial Statements still not available Corporate Governance Council Rejects candidates proposed by government.

PHILIPSBURG: --- Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs informed Parliament on Tuesday that the government of St. Maarten is currently working on taking the supervisory board of the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) to court in order to obtain two audit reports Read more

Iran president views nuclear deal as start of new relationship with world

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM--Iran's president said on Friday that a framework for a nuclear deal was just the first step toward building a new relationship with the world, after Iranians greeted the announcement of the accord with celebrations in the streets.
  U.S. President Barack Obama also hailed what he called a "historic understanding," although diplomats cautioned that hard work lies ahead to strike a final deal. That work will include efforts by Obama to sell an eventual accord to critics at home, and to close ally Israel, which denounced the interim agreement and pressed for more safeguards in coming negotiations.
  The tentative agreement, struck on Thursday after eight days of talks between Iran and six world powers in Lausanne, Switzerland, clears the way for a settlement to allay Western fears that Iran could build an atomic bomb, with economic sanctions on Tehran being lifted in return 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

Taking Eco-Tourism To The Next Level

ORANJESTAD, St. Eustatius - "Leave nothing but foot-prints" and "Take nothing but pictures" are phrases often heard in eco-tourism.

A group of Dutch eco-tourists, who visited the Windward Islands last week, do take these rules very serious, but have added as an objective that they want to leave the place they visit in a better state than how they found it. This is taking eco-tourism to the next level!

On St. Maarten the group of eco-tourists could be seen hiking along with heavy garbage bags... Read more

French, Dutch delegations on island for Quadri-partite talks

MARIGOT--High level delegations from France and The Netherlands have joined delegations from St. Martin and St. Maarten for the 2nd Quadri-partite Franco-Netherlands meeting held in the Préfecture on Monday.

This is the first time the meeting has been held in St. Martin. The first meeting took place in The Hague in January 21, 2014, and is held once a year.

A welcome reception and opening ceremony for the respective delegates and technicians were held Sunday evening in the Préfecture hosted by Préfet Philippe Chopin.

The heads of the four delegations are President of the Collectivité Aline Hanson, Prime Minister of St Read more

Regional Countries Attend Tos Workshop

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago - As part of the initiative "Interconnectivity Improvement to Trade Facilitation and Short-Distance Maritime Transport in the Greater Caribbean," which seeks to promote trade development in relation to short-distance maritime transport among countries of the Greater Caribbean, the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), with the funding support of the Mexican Government and Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID), hosted two workshops on March 24th and 25th, geared towards capacity building and knowledge exchange within the Port and Maritime Sector: (Workshop on the Exchange of Information to Improve Terminal Operating Systems (TOS) of Ports) and (Workshop on the Facilitation of Maritime Traffic and Loading and Unloading Movements at Ports, based on FAL Convention 65).

The Workshops gathered participants from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Saint Lucia, St Read more

Recycling collection point opened in Tamarind Hill

TAMARIND HILL--A community recycling collection point was opened in Tamarind Hill on Saturday, as an initiative started by Learning Unlimited (LU) Preparatory School eleventh grader Bodine Beentjes.

The student took the initiative to organise the setup of the collection point for Tamarind Hill Estates in the Red Pond area. Beentjes collaborated with Steve Hammond of St. Maarten Recycle and Roy Tempels of Clean St. Maarten. Parties worked out a plan on how the collection area would be built, which garbage materials would be collected separate from the regular household garbage and how and when to pick up these items.

With the support of the Tamarind Hill Homeowners Foundation and the owners of Tamaridge Apartments (who made the land available), a garbage separation area was built.

Clean St Read more

NAPB union top brass believe National Congress too costly

PHILIPSBURG--The presidents of the general police union NAPB for Curaçao and the Caribbean Netherlands (Saba, Statia and Bonaire) believe that another format should be considered for the union's national congress held annually, as holding it on a different island each year is very costly.

President of the NAPB for the Caribbean Netherlands Charles Mercelina told reporters at this year's congress that his union forked out approximately US $15,000 to attend this year's congress in St Read more

EU, Cuba to speed up talks to normalise ties

HAVANA, Cuba--The European Union (EU) says it has agreed with Cuba to expedite the pace of normalising ties with the hope of reaching an accord by the end of the year.

Federica Mogherini, the highest ranking EU official ever to visit Cuba, said the fact that she travelled to Havana so soon after taking up the foreign policy chief job on November 1, 2014, showed how important the relationship was.

"We have decided to speed up the pace of our negotiations, with the hope of signing the framework of our dialogue" by the end of the year, Mogherini said at a press conference here.

The EU said it suspended its relations with Cuba in 2003 over a crackdown on journalists and activists.

But it began talks to restore them again in April 2014, aiming to persuade Havana to improve its human rights record, according to EU Business.

Europe is Cuba's top trade partner after Venezuela, with trade of US $3.6 billion in 2013 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

St. Martin Tourism Office staff on strike

MARIGOT--St. Martin Tourism Office was closed on Thursday as staff staged a walk-out to protest what employees said was disrespect of a long standing Labour Collective Agreement on worker's rights established by the French Government (State).

Labour Collective Agreements were implemented by Government for various institutions, for example for all hotels, tourism offices, car rental companies, and others.

Thursday's strike was the second such protest action in about a month on the same subject.

"The first action was about our rights not being respected," explained Emile Louisy Read more

William: NA leadership transition expected in 2016

PHILIPSBURG--The leadership of the National Alliance (NA) may transition from current party leader Member of Parliament William Marlin to now deputy leader MP Silveria Jacobs at the 2016 NA Party Congress.

Asked at a press conference on Wednesday in Parliament House if discussions on leadership transition have taken place considering the results of the September 2014 Parliamentary Election that saw Jacobs gain more votes than him, Marlin said "absolutely not." There has not been any discussion to that effect.

Marlin said the reason for this is that he told the party congress in 2014 that he was ready for a transition as it is not his intention to remain party leader "for ever and ever."

Jacobs was elected deputy leader of the party at the 2014 congress.

However, it will be "up to the congress" to decide in 2016 "to make the transition," he said.

Marlin claimed it was the indication from him about the desire to transition the leadership of the party that may have reflected in the results of the election Read more

style="text-align: center;">People are fed up and wants to know what the UPP was Ready to do.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The four members of parliament from the National Alliance faction told reporters during a press briefing on Wednesday that they would like to know what the United Peoples Party was ready for when they campaigned in 2014 Parliamentary elections and won seven of the 15 parliamentary seats Read more

Editorial - Stability is the key

If all goes according to plan, a new PLP/UPC government for St. Eustatius will be sworn in on Thursday (see related story). Leaders of the incoming coalition have stated already that it can't be "business as usual."

They want to make a fist against what is considered commanding the island from The Hague. The feeling is that Statia does not receive the same treatment as the European Netherlands and the goal is to put an end to this situation, because colonialism is a thing of the past.

The two parties have emphasised on numerous occasions that St Read more

Lions’ Health Fair reaches hundreds

PHILIPSBURG--Hundreds turned out for the annual Lion Rudy Hoeve Health and Wellness Fair at Festival Village on Saturday. The free event enabled and encouraged to public to familiarise themselves with different healthcare institutions and illnesses, and have free testing for ailments, including high blood pressure, diabetes, sickle cell disease and HIV/AIDS.

Attendees could see for themselves the newly-launched Collective Prevention Services (CPS) Mobile Health Services bus, which contains two spacious rooms for check-ups Read more

Editorial - Think twice

The public learned in Saturday's edition that Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever wears a bulletproof vest and was afforded extra police protection late 2014 at his request. The then-still-caretaker minister had filed a complaint of threats when he broke with the DP to help form a new UP-led coalition instead of the NA/DP/US combination for which the three party leaders had signed an accord immediately following the end of August elections.

This was confirmed in a March 18 letter by Justice Minister Dennis Richardson that featured during De Weever's rectification court case in the Netherlands against Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament Member Andre Bosman Read more

New fire station, control tower in Grand Case Airport plans

MARIGOT--A new fire station building and an extension to the control tower are among projects due to start this year at Grand Case Airport, falling within an approximate 4.5-million-euro budget for improvements that include renovation of the terminal building, the airport's Managing Director Mongi Djouba disclosed Thursday.

The fire station construction is expected to start at the end of April in the same location as the old premises. The control tower will be extended upwards close to 10 metres in height from the present four metres, giving controllers a higher and better view of aircraft movements.

Renovation work to the terminal building will start in phases some time in July for completion in June 2016.

"We will start with the management and administration offices, as that will not disrupt the passenger flow and processes of immigration, check-ins and security," Djouba explained Read more

Marlin-Romeo Calls For Establishment Of Consumer Protection Agency

St. Maarten —The time has come for the establishment of a Consumer Protection Agency locally, independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo opined yesterday, pointing out that consumer protection laws exists locally but there is no body to execute such laws.

The MP noted that statistics continue to show that the island is still considered and favoured as the duty free shopping hub of the Caribbean Read more

Rakitic on target as Barcelona sink City

BARCELONA-- A Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona completely outclassed Manchester City as an Ivan Rakitic strike secured a 1-0 win on Wednesday that sent the Spanish giants into the Champions League quarter-finals 3-1 on aggregate.

Messi has been in blistering form for the Catalan side and he delighted the home fans in a packed Nou Camp as he relentlessly teased the City players with Read more