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>PHILIPSBURG:---- 89 years later the late Albert Claudius Wathey also known as Claude Wathey was honored with a wreath laying ceremony in front of the Government Administration Building on Friday moring.
Family members of the late politician and supporters flocked by his statue to pay tribute to the “ole man” Erno Labega started out the wreath laying session with some words about the late politician.
Al Wathey laid the first wreath along with Michaela Hodge on the part of University of St Read more

Minister Connor Lays Wreath On Behalf Of Com At 89Th Birthday Commemoration Of Dr. A.C. Wathey

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport & Telecommunications Hon. Claret Connor, on behalf of the Council of Ministers, Friday, July 24th 2015, laid a wreath at the statue of Dr. A.C. Wathey in front of the Government Administration Building in commemoration of his 89th birthday.

Wreaths were also placed at the statue by representatives of the Wathey family, the United People's (UP) party, Democratic Party (DP), A.C Read more

Parliament to co-sign letter on shelving of dispute regulation

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten Parliament will be a co-signer along with the legislatures of Curaçao and Aruba on a letter to the First and Second Chambers of the Dutch Parliament, seeking that body’s position on the Dutch Government in effect shelving the establishment of a dispute regulation, and a related body for the kingdom.

The letter, drafted by the Curaçao Parliament, came after last month’s Kingdom Conference -a meeting of the countries of the kingdom- saw the Dutch Government putting up a road block on the issue Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---- The annual wreath laying ceremony, commemorating the life of the late Dr. A. C Wathey will be held on July 24th at his statue in front of the Government Administration building in Philipsburg at 9.00 a.m.
July 24this the birthdate of the “Old Man”, as Claude was affectionally called.
During the short annual ceremony, wreaths are laid by the Government of St. Maarten, the Democratic Party, which he co-founded, the United People’s Party, the University of St Read more

Kurd militants kill two Turkish police to avenge Islamic State bombing

ANKARA--Kurdish militants claimed responsibility for the killing of two Turkish police officers on Wednesday in what they said was retaliation for a suspected Islamic State suicide bombing which killed 32 mostly young students.
  The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said in a statement on one of its websites that the two police officers were killed at around 6 a.m. in the southeastern town of Ceylanpinar for "collaboration with the Daesh (Islamic State) gangs."
  Security sources earlier told Reuters the officers were found dead with bullet wounds to the head in the house they shared in Ceylanpinar, on the border with Syria about 160 km (100 miles) east of Suruc, the site of Monday's suicide bombing.
  Many of Turkey's Kurds and opposition supporters suspect President Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling AK Party of covertly backing Islamic State against Kurdish fighters in Syria, something the government has repeatedly denied Read more

Sarah gets 'favourable reaction' to electoral reform proposal

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams said Sunday that her proposal on electoral reform has met with a "favourable reaction" from the Presidium of Parliament and as a result it will be taken up for discussion in the legislature Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- MP Sarah Wescot Williams said in a press release on behalf of the Democratic Party faction of Parliament that she received a favorable response from the presidium of Parliament ( consisting of the Chairperson and his 2 deputies) Read more

Mp Wescot Receives Favorable Reaction To Her Proposal On Electoral Reform

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - I am pleased to note that the presidium of Parliament ( consisting of the Chairperson and his 2 deputies) has favorably decided on my request to have the proposals regarding electoral reform that I submitted in my capacity as prime minister in 2014, picked up again by Parliament.Given the sentiments of the public and the unanimous motion passed by Parliament in 2013 regarding electoral reform, back then I  had prepared a discussion paper, which I submitted to Parl Read more

Mp Wescot Receives Favorable Reaction To Her Proposal On Electoral Reform

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - I am pleased to note that the presidium of Parliament ( consisting of the Chairperson and his 2 deputies) has favorably decided on my request to have the proposals regarding electoral reform that I submitted in my capacity as prime minister in 2014, picked up again by Parliament.Given the sentiments of the public and the unanimous motion passed by Parliament in 2013 regarding electoral reform, back then I  had prepared a discussion paper, which I submitted to Parl Read more

Only 6 Of 22 Motions Since 2012 Yielded Results: Motions Carry The Day – But Only In Parliament

St. Maarten – The motions Members of Parliament submit during the annual budget debate seldom yield results. This newspaper examined 28 motions a host of parliamentarians tabled since 2012. With 22 of them successive government did absolutely nothing. Six of them yielded (some) results.

When governments fail to execute motions, parliament never retaliates. In the Netherlands, a cabinet that refuses or neglects to execute a motion that is carried by a majority in parliament, could lead to a cabinet crisis Read more

Sarah concerned about Connor’s move from Tourism Ministry

PHILIPSBURG--A pending shuffling of portfolios in the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet, particularly the move of current Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Minister Claret Connor to the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI and the appointment of a new minister in Connor's place, has drawn concern from Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams.

She has termed the pending shuffle as "cabinet shake-up." She based her position on comments made by United People's (UP) party faction leader MP Franklin Meyers recently in a television interview.

Conner's post is tipped to be taken by a minister candidate proposed by coalition member independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo Read more

Shake up in current cabinet – Where does this leave Coalition partner MP Frans Richardson?

>PHILIPSBURG:--- There seems to be an imminent shake up in the current Gumbs cabinet. SMN News wrote various articles mentioning that Minister Claret Connor will be removed from his post as Minister of TEATT and be placed at the Ministry of VROMI. On Wednesday evening the UPP faction leader and deputy leader Franklin Meyers announced that Minister Claret Connor will be moving to the Ministry of VROMI but the UPP deputy leader did not say how soon this will take place Read more

Sarah: Why are changes to the law taking so long?

PHILIPSBURG--How long does it take to make amendments requested by Members of Parliament (MPs) to the draft national ordinance to establish an Integrity Chamber for the country, Democratic Party (DP) leader MP Sarah Wescot-Williams questioned on Wednesday.

Her enquiry follows a statement from Justice Minister Dennis Richardson on Tuesday about the amendments Read more

Court Battle Brewing Between Sneek And Van Putten On Statia

BES Island, Statia - Leader of government on St. Eustatius and Councilman of the PLP, Clyde van Putten has five (5) days to retract his statement of corruption of allegations made again former Commission Nicholas Sneak, or face him in court.

Seemingly, Clyde van Putten is accusing the former Commissioner of embezzling some 80 thousand dollars destined for the Housing Development Foundation on St. Eustatius.

According to the Councilman of the Statia Read more

Koos Sneek files charges against Clyde van Putten

ST. EUSTATIUS--Island Council member and Director of Norako N.V. Nicolaas "Koos" Sneek of the opposition Democratic Party (DP) of St. Eustatius filed a criminal complaint Tuesday against Island Councilman Clyde van Putten of coalition partner Progressive Labour Party (PLP).

Sneek filed a complaint against Van Putten with Acting Prosecutor Jacques van der Horde in connection with defamation, slander and damage to his reputation.

According to a letter sent by Sneek's attorney to Van Putten, the PLP leader allegedly levelled "evidently incorrect and serious allegations" against Sneek during a meeting of members of the Island Council with members of the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT on Friday, June 26.

Van Putten allegedly accused Sneek during this meeting of having defrauded St Read more

Sarah calls for urgent filling of open CFT post

PHILIPSBURG--“Government has really dropped the ball,” says Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams about the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet’s failure to find and appoint candidates to represent St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG: --- Member of Parliament from the Democratic Party faction Sarah Wescot Williams told members of the media that she is quite satisfied with the response she received from government regarding her proposals on what should be changed in the draft law to establish the integrity chamber Read more

>PHILIPSBURG: --- Member of Parliament from the Democratic Party faction Sarah Wescot Williams told members of the media that she is quite satisfied with the response she received from government regarding her proposals on what should be changed in the draft law to establish the integrity chamber Read more

Patrol to Eradicate Paedophilia urges MPs to make law changes

PHILIPSBURG--Change the laws to impose harsher punishment for paedophiles and institute a sex offenders registry were among the calls the group Patrol to Eradicate Paedophilia (PEP) made to the Petitions Committee of Parliament on Thursday.

PEP's request for laws to be changed now heads to the Permanent Committee for Justice. Committee Chairman Member of Parliament (MP) Johan Leonard said he would call the Justice Minister to the committee after Parliament's July recess.

PEP representative Peggy Ann Dros-Richardson urged MPs to have Government boost its assistance to the Mental Health Foundation, to help the foundation increase awareness about paedophilia and have the required treatment for the mental disorder Read more

Ganzevoort new Chairman of Kingdom Relations Committee

THE HAGUE--Member of the First Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Ruard Ganzevoort of the green left party GroenLinks is the new Chairman of the Senate's Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations.

Ganzevoort (50) was recently appointed by the Presidium of the First Chamber for four years. A fair division of the portfolios of the political parties in the Senate was taken into account in this decision of the Presidium.

Ganzevoort, a Member of the Senate since June 2011 and a member of the Kingdom Relations Committee, is replacing Marijke Linthorst who chaired the Kingdom Relations Committee for the last five years and who left the Senate late May this year.

Ganzevoort had indicated that he was interested in becoming the committee's chairman Read more

Plasterk gives details on dispute regulation talks

THE HAGUE--Three aspects of the dispute regulation (geschillenregling) were a source of discussion at last week's Kingdom Conference: the type of organisation that would execute the regulation, the nature of the disputes that would be resorting under the regulation, and the binding character of the ruling.

Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk provided details on the discussions between the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten at the June 16 Kingdom Conference in Curaçao in a letter that he sent to the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday.

Plasterk explained that the Dutch delegation indicated a preference for the Council of State of the Kingdom, and to give this existing entity a major role in the dispute regulation because, according to the Netherlands, this entity was "by far" best equipped to deal with disputes of a constitutional character.

However, the three Dutch Caribbean countries preferred to appoint the Supreme Court as the executive body of the dispute regulation Read more

Parliament wants islands to improve LGBT rights

THE HAGUE--The Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday adopted a motion which called on the Dutch Government to urge the Governments of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten to legalise same sex marriages and to improve the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBTs).

The Parliament approved the motion of the liberal democratic VVD party, the Labour Party PvdA and the Democratic Party D66 Read more

Sarah calls Govt to return law amendment ‘soon as possible’

PHILIPSBURG--Government should “not take its time” in returning to Parliament with amendments to the draft National Ordinance to establish the Integrity Chamber for the country. Rather than wait for Parliament’s return after its July recess, Government should return with the amended law as soon as possible, says Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams.

She is “prepared” to handle the draft law in July even though it is the parliamentary recess Read more

Govt. back to drawing board with Integrity Chamber Law

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament has sent Government back to the drawing board with the controversial draft National Ordinance on the establishment of an Integrity Chamber for the country.

Parliament sending Government back to make changes was not unexpected, as the majority of MPs had voiced their discontent with the draft when it was tabled in the Central Committee of Parliament about two months ago.

The reworking of parts of the law means the deadline of June 30 for Parliament to handle the law as stated in a recent protocol with the Dutch Government will not be met Read more