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Dennis says decision is being prepared on political situation

PHILIPSBURG--Deputy Prime Minister Dennis Richardson said on Tuesday that a decision is being prepared on the current political situation.

Richardson was acting in that capacity yesterday as Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs was ill at home. Richardson declined to divulge details of the decision being prepared, but he said Gumbs was “very clear” on his position about not resigning and about wanting new elections to be held.

Richardson said also that the Council of Ministers had received a second advice on the matter, but he declined to say from whom the advice had been received and what the conclusions of the advice were Read more

Conference on driving OCT innovation starts

DAWN BEACH--A three-day conference focused on brainstorming and finding solutions towards diversifying economies with innovation, part of an EU-funded project called "Territorial Strategies for Innovation," kicked off on Tuesday morning with a full audience of private and public stakeholders, as well as a host of international attendees from the European Union's (EU) Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs).

The solutions will be geared towards boosting sustainable development and regional/global competitiveness, spearheaded by OCT Association (OCTA) based in Brussels, Belgium Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The NIACA Festival is a platform to celebrate the St.Maarten Story as told by the people who live and work here as artist. The showcase celebrates both our traditional cultural heritage, as well as the contemporary works created by the artist of now. The National Institute of Arts has selected October 10th for the NIACA Festival, as we feel that the transition to Country Status is the appropriate occasion to celebrate all things St.Maarten. Our past, our present, and visions of our future Read more

>CAY HILL: --- Security guards at the PANAM head office in Cay Hill managed to shoot two of three robbers who tried to rob the money courier service shortly after 8am Tuesday morning.
According to information provided to SMN News two of the culprits were shot dead and was on the ground in the vicinity of PANAM head office in Cay Hill while the third suspect managed to escape in a  red unmarked vehicle that heavily tinted.
Chief of Police Peter de Witte confirmed that two men were shot dead by PANAM office while one of the suspects escaped.The top cop said police were busy combing the island in search of the getaway car and suspect.

Eyewitnesses identified one of the dead men as Elton  Richardson aka "Salti" whom they said committed several gruesome robberies, including a bank robbery Read more

Invest Caribbean Now 2015 Makes Splashy Opening In Terres Basses, St. Martin

NEW YORK, NY - Invest Caribbean Now 2015 entered its fifth year last night with a splashy opening ceremony at the prestigious Villa Mes Aimes in Terres Basses area of Saint Martin, West Indies.

Top government and local VIPS joined 41 Chinese delegates and several other overseas delegates for the opening reception and dinner which also included the presentation of the ICN 2015 Leadership Award.

A St. Martin tourism pioneer who was attracted to the sector at age 12 and went on to serve the island as a deputy mayor and creator of the Syndicat d’Initiatives, the precursor to the current Saint Martin Office of Tourism, was the ICN 2015 Leadership Award winner.
Romeo Fleming, head of the Romeo Fleming Group of Companies, which includes the current Hertz Rent a Car on St Read more

Green Light For New Government, But Pm Gumbs Disagrees: “Even The Governor Can Make A Mistake”

St. Maarten – Governor Drs. Eugene Holiday has given the green light to the National Alliance-led coalition to form a new government. There will therefore be no elections on December 8, as would have been the case if the governor had ratified the national decree the cabinet sent to his office to dissolve the parliament and to call new elections.

Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs “absolutely disagrees” with the decision and his cabinet does not intend to make its positions available Read more

Thesis About Fraud And Corruption In The Netherlands: “No Major Interest In Fighting Corruption”

St. Maarten /By Hilbert Haar – “Dutch citizens consider themselves as the inhabitants of the least corrupt country in the world, while the many scandals show that this impression is not consistent with reality,” Jacqueline Bos writes in her doctoral thesis ‘Corruption in the Netherlands and Germany: Incidental or Embedded?’

Bos graduated at the Open University in Maastricht on Friday. Her thesis reads like a John Grisham novel and makes clear that the Netherlands is anything but free from corruption Read more

Prof. Van Rijn In 2012: “The Wish Of Parliament Prevails”

St. Maarten – Prof. Arjen van Rijn offered a different opinion about the position of parliament and government in an article in the Nederlands Juristenblad of December 7, 2012 that shows that constitutional law is not black and white. While Van Rijn advised the Marcel Gumbs cabinet this past weekend that its right to dissolve the parliament is autonomous and cannot be limited by parliament, in 2012 he wrote “If there is a serious clash between parliament and government and the tensions need to find a way out, then the wish of the parliament obviously prevails as the body with the most direct democratic legitimacy.”

Van Rijn refers in this article also to the situation in Curacao, where the majority of parliament sent home the Schotte-cabinet immediately Read more

Holiday: ‘No basis not to form new govt. based on new majority’

HARBOUR VIEW--A new Government can be formed in St. Maarten based on the new majority in Parliament.

This is the position of Governor Eugene Holiday, conveyed in a press release on Monday, after having concluded his consultations with parties on the recent political developments.

Holiday said that, having reviewed the correspondence received and following completion of the consultations regarding the current political developments, he had informed parties that “there is no basis not to form a new Government based on the new majority in Parliament.”

Holiday said members of the Gumbs cabinet had not yet made their positions available Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---- In order to have a good functioning parliament, there must be a good functioning organizational secretariat of the Parliament of Sint Maarten, which is a department within Parliament that provides legal, administrative, and logistic support to the Members of Parliament (MPs) as a whole.
Back in June 2015, the Central Committee of Parliament discussed the “Function Book” of the Parliament Secretariat, and agreed to the content. A Plenary session of the House was held on August 6 and in that session the “Function Book” for the secretariat was approved.
Effective September 1st, 2015, the “Function Book” is being used to guide the daily running of the secretariat of the House of Parliament, and the previous document from October 10, 2010 is no longer in use.
Prior to Sint Maarten becoming a country in 2010, a number of organizational resolutions for different sectors within Government were established based on the Organizational Ordinance Island Territory Sint Maarten.
As of October 10, 2010, the legal basis was turned into a National Ordinance and sectors became ministries Read more

Observatory Certifies Eighty Interviewers

From left: Fenna Arnell, Joy Arnell, Ramona Connor, Minister Rafael Boasman, Rosette Gumbs-Lake, Dr. Louis Jeffry, and Valerie Giterson-Pantophlet Read more

Upnext Shares Info Via Facebook

St. Maarten – UPNext, the youth arm of the United People party (UP) will launch its latest initiative today on Facebook. The group of young people has chosen to share vital information with their peers as well as the general social media community on three days of the week, each day with its own name Read more

Rotary Donates Big To Third Digikidz School

From left to right: Jeffery Sochrin, José Sommers, and Danny Ramchandani. Photo contributed

St. Maarten – After a recent car raffle the Rotary Club St. Maarten has pledged $15,000 towards the DigiKidz Project of the Foresee Foundation. The money will be used to equip a classroom at Helmich Snijders Christian School with technology devices and contribute in the installation of a full wireless network infrastructure with Wifi in all classrooms and offices.

Teachers will be trained in the use of Skoolcontrol, the school’s new management platform, and the use of the Promethean digital boards.

Danny Ramchandani, past president of the Rotary said that he was impressed by the project and likes the fact that the effect of these donations can be seen physically in the school Read more

Late delay as Pacific trade talks near landmark deal

ATLANTA--A dozen Pacific nations closed in on a sweeping free-trade pact on Sunday in Atlanta but failed to finalize terms on the fifth day of round-the-clock talks, dashing hopes raised by an earlier breakthrough on protections for new biotech drugs.
  U.S. officials, who are hosting the meeting, delayed a planned joint news conference until early Monday. That pushed a resolution of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks beyond the deadline set by Japan's economy minister Akira Amari Read more

Editorial - Wishful thinking

The question whether to allow the NA/DP/USP/Matser/Lake majority that passed a motion of no confidence against the Gumbs cabinet to form a new government, or to dissolve Parliament and call snap elections as the Council of Ministers has decided, was the “talk of the town” over the weekend Read more

Sarah: Refusing to resign is breach of country’s constitutional legal system

~ Govt. asked for Van Rijn’s opinion after the fact ~

PHILIPSBURG--The refusal of the Gumbs cabinet members to tender their resignations after no longer enjoying the support of the country’s highest legislative body is a breach of St. Maarten’s constitutional legal system.

This was the firm statement from Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams on Sunday in reaction to statements by Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs that he and the rest of the minister would not resign Read more

Gumbs vows not to resign

PHILIPSBURG--Feeling strengthened by the opinion of constitutional law expert Professor Arjen van Rijn and convinced that the St. Maarten Constitution must be upheld, St. Maarten Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs has decided not to resign, and neither will the rest of the Council of Ministers.

“As Prime Minister I have the responsibility to protect the Constitution and to carry it out the way it was written Read more

Expert says, no objection to dissolving Parliament

PHILIPSBURG--The Council of Minister is within its rights to dissolve Parliament and to call for new elections, Professor Arjen van Rijn of University of Curaçao stated in his advice to Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, which was sent Friday.

Prime Minister Gumbs called for the advice after three Members of Parliament (MPs) withdrew their support for his cabinet and voted for a motion of no confidence on Wednesday together with the opposition Read more

William to meet Governor today

PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) leader Member of Parliament (MP) William Marlin will be meeting with Governor Eugene Holiday today, Monday, on the formation of the new majority coalition in Parliament.

  The meeting is on request of Governor Holiday Read more

St. Maarten hosts event on innovation in the EU’s Overseas Countries and Territories.

>Brussels:---- Anguilla and the Falklands are geographically apart but their representatives are among 15 from the European Union’s Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) gathering in Sint Maarten 5-7 October to brainstorm the same challenge: diversifying economies with innovation. Prime Minister of St Maarten, Marcel F.A. Gumbs, will open the event along with Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunications Ernest Sams.
The three-day workshop is part of the European Union- funded project, ‘Territorial Strategies for Innovation’ (April 2014-April 2018) Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---- After recent successful car raffle fundraiser event, Rotary Club St. Maarten has pledged US$ 15,000 towards the DigiKidz Project of Foresee Foundation. The amount will be used to equip a classroom at Helmich Snijders Christian School with technology devices and contribute in the installation of a full wireless network infrastructure with WIFI in all classrooms and offices.
In addition to that teachers will be trained in the use of Skoolcontrol, the school’s new management platform, and the use of the Promethean digital boards.
Mr Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Leona Marlin-Romeo treated the country’s senior citizens so they could attend an event for International Day of the Older Persons which was recognized and celebrated globally on October 1st.

Senior citizens on Dutch Sint Maarten were able to be transported to a celebration through the giving back to the community program of Independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo.

The sponsorship of a coaster bus was given after Meals on Wheels founder Mary Bryson indicated the areas that needed assistance in order for them to make this event a success.

MP Marlin-Romeo attended the event and thanked the elderly for their contribution to Sint Maarten/St Read more

Governor will not sign Resolution to call new elections --- What type of stand-off do we have now? (UPDATED)

style="text-align: center;">Several Candidates selected to be screened for Ministerial Posts.

PHILIPSBURG:--- According to information provided to SMN News the Governor of St. Maarten drs. Eugene Holiday convoked Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs to his office on Friday where he informed him that he will not be signing the resolution for new elections since there is a majority in Parliament Read more

Upnext To Share Motivational, Fitness, Educational Information Via Facebook

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - UPNext, the youth arm of the United People party (UP) will launch its latest initiative today on Facebook.

The group of young people has chosen to share vital information with their peers as well as the general social media community on three days of the week, each day with its own name Read more