GREAT BAY – The government has appointed former vice Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson (see photo) as a change manager at the Postal Services. “The Postal services inherited a staff of 34 from the Netherlands Antilles and it does not need all those people to operate,” Prime Minister William Marlin said yesterday. “It is doomed to bankruptcy if it does not generate enough funds to cover the costs of its operations.” Richardson is expected to make recommendations about the downsizing of the staff at the Postal Services. Many of them have 30 years or more in government…
Author: The Publisher
GREAT BAY – With a turnout of 90.4 percent, the 167 eligible voters in St. Maarten showed a keen interest in the Dutch parliamentary elections yesterday. Of the 151 valid votes cast, the majority went to D66 (42; 36.5 percent) followed by the VVD with 31 (26.9 percent), GreenLeft (21; 13.9 percent) and, rather surprisingly, the PvdA with 18 (11.9 percent). Most likely new cabinet: VVD-D66-CDA-PvdA All other parties won fewer than ten votes: CDA 9, Socialist Party 7, PVV 6, Party for animals and Article 1 4, Christian Union 3, Forum for Democracy 2 and SGP, 50Plus, Geen Peil…
Dutch voters seem to have come to their senses by not letting Geert Wilders‘ populist PVV party even come close to the winner of yesterday’s elections. Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s VVD emerged the clear winner and long before the final results it was clear that he will continue as the country’s leader. The most likely coalition for the next government is a combination of the VVD with the CDA, D66 and the PvdA. As things stood last night at press time, this combination will hold 80 seats in Parliament – a comfortable majority for Dutch standards. Whatever that new coalition…
GREAT BAY – Law enforcement is having a field day this week with the arrest of Unites St. Maarten party MP Chanel Brownbill (see photo) and police officer Akeem A. in connection with the Emerald-investigation and immigration employee Brunella M.B. as the umpteenth suspect in the Ostrich-case. A third person, identified as S.W. has also been arrested as a suspect in the Emerald-probe. Add to that the fatal shooting on Arch Road on Tuesday evening that killed Nino Thewet and left another victim seriously injured and it becomes clear that the men and women in blue are working overtime right…
GREAT BAY — Due to a shortage of our newsprint paper, the Wednesday, March 15th, 2017, edition of the TODAY newspaper is available online today. Click here to download and read the complete version digitally in PDF format. DOWNLOAD COMPLETE DIGITAL VERSION HERE
GREAT BAY – The public prosecutor painted a bleak picture yesterday of what it is like to work in a brothel like Casablanca. The girls have to pay $60 per day for a small room that they share with a second girl. “Casablanca received almost $2,000 per month per girl,” the prosecutor said. “That is almost $4,000 for a shared small room. For that money you get on this island a royal villa with four bedrooms, four bathrooms and a swimming pool.” Attorney Ritch Kock, who handled the fiscal part of the trial for the Casablanca suspects, noted that the…
GREAT BAY – Port St. Maarten officials left over the weekend for Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to attend Seatrade Cruise Global at the Broward County Convention Center until tomorrow. Yesterday’s State of the Global Cruise Industry keynote at Seatrade Cruise Global is a highlight on the calendar for all executives in the maritime world. The 2017 State of the Global Cruise Industry once again set the course for the cruise industry’s premier global business-to-business event. The panel comprised of Frank Del Rio, President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.; Arnold Donald, President & CEO, Carnival Corporation &…
GREAT BAY – A referendum for independence is not a priority for the Democratic Party at this moment,” party leader Sarah Wescot-Williams said yesterday at a press conference she gave in her role as president of Parliament. Wescot-Williams said that there is a lot of legislation that needs the urgent attention of government and Parliament, She once more explained why the petitions committee of Parliament that handled last week a request by the Independence for St. Martin Foundation to hold a constitutional referendum, moved said request onwards to the central committee of Parliament. “The petitions committee is a place where…
Dear Editor, The matter of meeting (or not) with the quartermaster recently gained some traction again. The Chairlady of Parliament in responding to the question whether she met with the Quartermaster during his visit to St. Maarten in February, explained: Yes, an invitation to meet was extended to me via the Representative of the Dutch Government in Philipsburg. I politely, yet resolutely declined due to the fact that a few days before Mr. Leijtens came to St. Maarten, I was co-signatory to a unanimous motion of Parliament, condemning the way this appointment came about and furthermore urging our government to…
The prosecutor’s office is coming down hard on the suspects in the Casablanca human trafficking case with an 8-year prison sentence demand for the company’s director. It is certainly another wake up call for the prostitution sector on the island. It has struggled with changed rules the government has implemented but those same rules could now work in favor of the industry’s main players. The labor department no longer grants work permits for sex workers, as it likes to call prostitutes; instead it issues work permits for exotic dancers. That should take the heat of the government as an accomplice…
