~ New loans of NAf. 145M pending ~ THE HAGUE--St. Maarten has a total debt to the Netherlands of NAf. 321 million, while requests have been filed in 2014 to borrow another NAf. 145 million. The total amount for Curaçao is much higher with more than NAf. 1.7 billion, and a request to borrow NAf. 250 million this year. Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk stated this...
PHILIPSBURG--Members of the first ever Kingdom Youth Parliament (KYP) and National Committee got acquainted on Monday, May 19, and shared more about their aims and objectives prior to the official start of debates today. Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrix is set to open the KYP this morning at the University of St. Martin. Five teams of ten youths, who have been preparing for three months, will engage...
PHILIPSBURG--The Central Police dispatch received a call from Trendy Shop on Back Street on Friday, May 16, at approximately 7:00pm stating that an armed robbery had just taken place at the establishment. Police officers were immediately sent to the scene to investigate what had taken place. At the scene, the investigating officers encountered the victim who had been tied up by the suspects with tie-straps...
ROTTERDAM--Nine candidates for the May 22 elections of a new European Parliament tried to convince the Dutch Caribbean voters of their importance during a debate in Rotterdam on Saturday. Candidates present were Maruschka Gijsbertha of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats/PvdA, Marc Frans of the European People's Party/ CDA), Raoul Boucke of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in...
PHILIPSBURG--Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams and the board of the Democratic Party have expressed deep concern about the recent spate of violence in the community late last week. She was at a meeting in Montserrat when the shootings and the brutal of beating of a child took place. The prime minister and DP expressed sympathy and hope for strength to survivors and to the affected families. "I...
PHILIPSBURG--The 31st International AIDS Candlelight Memorial was observed at the Philipsburg Cultural Community Centre on May 18, with the theme "Keep the light on HIV." The evening attracted a smaller crowd than expected, but attendees were moved by the event which focused on keeping Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) on the agenda and reminded the audience of the goal of "zero transmissions, zero...
PHILIPSBURG--Government will be able to purchase and complete the government administration building on Pond Island once the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS) issues a bond of NAf. 40 million on Monday, June 2. The government building bond is part of a package of three bonds the Central Bank will issue for government on that day totalling NAf. 145 million. The bond issuance comes with...
THE HAGUE--Bonaire and St. Eustatius are most welcome to organise a constitutional referendum, but the options that will be put forward to the people have to be realistic, according to Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk. The minister repeated his earlier assurances that the two public entities, part of the Netherlands since October 10, 2010, were free to hold a referendum...
PHILIPSBURG--The man suspected of beating the young girl in South Reward, who has been identified only by his last initial P., will not be released after three days as family members of the girl say they were told. Prosecutor Tineke Kamps told The Daily Herald on Friday, that his pre-trial detention will be extended by eight days, at which point it will be decided what is to be done next. Normally,...
By Michael R. Granger MAHO--CEO and President of the Maho Group Saro Spadaro says the new Ocean Point at Maho Development, a five-star luxury development, will be “an epic change for tourism in St. Maarten" which will demonstrate that the principals at the flagship resort still believe in St. Maarten after four decades. Sonesta St Maarten all-inclusive Resorts, which includes Sonesta Great...
WILLEMSTAD--Inmates Liomar Winklaar (26) and Eni Carmelia (23) fled from Curaçao's SDKK prison Thursday morning after abducting two guards. A large-scale search operation on land, at sea and in the air was initiated immediately. The duo beat the guards, choked them until they lost consciousness, tied them up and covered their faces. The escapees had been in the prison workshop for their carpentry...
MARIGOT--The owner/manager of Zack Shawarma in French Quarter was shot dead in a robbery attempt on his premises Wednesday around 11:30pm to midnight. Gendarmerie spokesman Capitaine Sylvain Jouault confirmed Thursday that a man had been shot dead and another individual who had been shot, reportedly in the chest and leg, had to be transported to a Martinique hospital, where he is currently being kept...
SOUTH REWARD--A nine-year-old girl was attacked by a neighbour in South Reward on the morning of Thursday, May 15. The girl was walking on the road when the man, whom witnesses recognised, but whose name they did not know, allegedly attacked her and tied a rope around her neck. He then dragged her on the pavement by the rope, kicked and hit her multiple times before neighbours could help. The girl's...
~ On Haitian celebration ~ MARIGOT--Territorial Council President Aline Hanson condemned on Wednesday what she described as "xenophobic and discriminatory" remarks made by certain groups reacting to the planned celebration of the Haitian flag this Sunday. "In response to the open letter by the Collective of Natives and Friends of St. Martin asking me to cancel the celebration of the Haitian Flag event,...
~ Payment expected mid-June ~ PHILIPSBURG--Social and Health Care Insurance SZV will be paying out more than NAf. 1 million in cessantia (severance) pay to former Pelican Resort workers who went on the breadline some three years ago when the company changed hands. The cessantia payment is expected to be made in mid-June. A total of 139 workers applied for the severance payment. Of this number 118...
PHILIPSBURG--The advisory body for matters concerning civil servants GOA has given the government the green light to increase the pension age for civil servants from 60 to 62, Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams said. She told reporters at the Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday that the GOA gave a positive advice on the request in late April. Wescot-Williams said government's Personnel...
ANSE MARCEL--SMART 2014 delegates enjoyed a welcoming cocktail party at Radisson Blu Resort, Marina and Spa on Wednesday night, before the serious business of trading and networking starts in earnest today and Friday. Delegates mingled around the resort's pool, sipping champagne and nibbling on canapés as Carnival dancers and a singer entertained them. St. Maarten Minister of Tourism Ted Richardson...
MARIGOT--The Collectivité has come under fire for allowing a planned celebration of the Haitian Flag to take place this coming Sunday reportedly in the Marigot ball park with at least two organizations viewing the event as a "provocation" and lack of respect for St. Martiners. They have demanded the event be cancelled, not least because it clashes with the annual St. Louis/Freetown Fête scheduled...
THE HAGUE--Nineteen researchers of renowned Dutch institutions will engage in nine new research projects in the Dutch Caribbean in the areas of biodiversity, geology and society. The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science OCW is making 12.5 million euros available for this large, multi-disciplinary programme of the Netherlands Scientific Organisation NWO. Two of the nine researchers are...
ST. EUSTATIUS--Statia Island Council Member Elvin Henriquez of the United People's Coalition (UPC) recently wrote a letter to Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk to express his disappointment regarding the appointment of the new National Government Representative for Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. In the letter Henriquez accused the minister of "serious discrimination"...