News

The draft 2014-2017 Multi-annual budget is available for public inspection at the Government Administration Building for a period of fourteen days. This is in accordance with the Finance Law for Public Entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba FINBES. “It is anticipated that the Island Council will debate the concept Budget …

The Daily Herald writes about the Sea&Learn presentation by Sönke Johnsen as follows. Bioluminescence, marine-life optic illusions and camouflage abilities made a comeback this year after their big visual splash in last year’s Sea and Learn Saba season. Saba discovered its night-time marine bioluminescent “string of pearls” phenomenon last year, …

The Daily Herald writes about the Sea & learn evening of last Saturday. Saba Banks, the 4th largest atoll in the world, a cradle of marine biodiversity and a bellwether for Caribbean ecosystems, was at the heart of this year’s Sea and Learn lectures. Wageningen University fisheries management expert Dr. …

The westerly movement of the North American plate was the main cause of the major earthquake that hit Haiti in January 2010. This is revealed in an article in the Daily Herald. The fault zone of the tectonic plates in the Caribbean makes Haiti, but also the Windward Islands vulnerable …

Several leading marine ecology researchers met on Saba this month, writes The Daily Herald,  each presenting their work in public “Sea and Learn” lectures on marine diversity while also conducting research activities with interested participant groups. Biodiversity scientist Dr. Seabird McKeon held an entertaining and informative lecture on “Crabs and …

The Daily Herald reports that the first Lions Zone Advisory Meeting of Zone 2B was hosted in Saba by the Saba Lions Club on Saturday, October 12. Lion Franklin Wilson is this Lionistic Year Zone Chairman and the club was proud once again to have one of its members hold …

Windward Islands Airways International Winair cancelled flights to St. Eustatius, Saba, St. Barths and St. Kitts and Nevis on Monday afternoon due to heavy rain, thunder and lightning. This writes The Daily Herald. Additional flights were carried out Tuesday morning to accommodate passengers travelling to and from those islands who …

In the Daily Herald was written that in its efforts to improve customers’ experience using Chippie mobile service, UTS has made a number of changes to benefit Chippie post-paid customers when travelling abroad. Post-paid customers can continue to use Chippie service on the network of another mobile provider when travelling, …

The Daily Herald writes that Commissioner Bruce Zagers gave an extensive presentation on the draft 2014-2017 multi-annual budget to the Central Committee of the Island Council on Friday. The budget was compiled under the guidelines of the Committee for Financial Supervision (CFT) in conformity with the Decree Budget and Accountability …

The agreement reached between Minister of Telecommunication Ted Richardson and Government Service Caribbean Netherlands RCN for a fibre optic cable from St. Maarten to Saba and Statia has raised a number of questions, specifically regarding the benefit to the three islands and redundancy. Details of the agreement are yet to …

The Daily Herald reports that Roman Catholic parishioners led by resident Father Danilo Pastor welcomed Bishop Luis Antonio Secco together with the entire clergy of the Diocese of Willemstad on their flash visit to Saba Wednesday afternoon. The priests from the six Dutch Caribbean islands arrived on Saba at noontime …

The United Nations high commissioner on human rights is looking into whether Zwarte Piet, considered an essential part of the Sinterklaas festivities, is a racist stereotype, the NRC reports. In a letter to the Dutch government in January, the body states that according to information it has received ‘the character …

The Second Chance Education SKJ program implemented by Foundation Social Workplace Saba (FSWS) has relocated from the former Adult Continuing Education Center in The Bottom to the newly upgraded Eugenius Johnson Center in Windwardside. This writes the Daily Herald in the Weekender. In September, the overhauled program received a positive …

The Centraal Bureau voor Statistiek, CBS, reports that on 1 January 2013, the Caribbean Netherlands was home to more than 23 thousand people. Since 1 January 2010, the population has grown by 2.4 thousand. Immigrants almost entirely account for the population growth. Most substantial population growth on Bonaire On 1 …

On October 17th, 2013 , the Minister of Tourism, Economics, Transport and Telecommunications of St. Maarten, Mr. Ted Richardson and the Director of Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland (RCN), Mr. Sybren van Dam agreed to authorize the connection of the fiber optic ​​cable from Saba and St. Eustatius to St. Maarten. In …

His Majesty King Willem-Alexander and Her Majesty Queen Máxima will visit  all six islands of the Caribbean part of The Kingdom from November 12th till November 21st. On November 14th they will visit Saba, on November 15th St. Eustatius and on November 16th Bonaire. Starting point of the visit is …

The King and Queen are planning a short introductory visit to Colombia on November 22 and to Venezuela on November 23, following their nine-day tour of all six Dutch Caribbean islands, which starts in St. Maarten on November 12. The Daily herald reports that the Prime Ministers of Aruba, Curaçao …

The experience gained in drafting budgets over the previous years has made the process of drafting the 2014 budget an efficient one, in the view of Commissioner of Finance Bruce Zagers. The 2014 budget is US $10,144,000, some US $869,000 more than the current budget. The draft budget, which has …

The Daily Herald writes that island’s light pollution-free night sky may become a niche tourism asset attracting astronomers and people passionate about the wonders of the night dome. Sea and Learn Saba lecturer, astronomer Stephan Martin, ignited interest in the nocturnal skies with his presentation on the link between astronomy …

The island recently received a modern sweeper truck that will be used to make the island’s cleaning efforts more efficient, writes The Daily Herald. The primary purpose of the vehicle, which was purchased as part of the Airport Improvement Plan, is to sweep the surface of the runway at Juancho …

Sea and Learn Saba guest lecturer James “Jim” Ackerman gave an expert presentation on the orchids of Saba and the limited impact of invasive species Sunday, at Brigadoon restaurant in Windwardside, writes The Daily Herald. The orchid research appears to have prompted an Island Government pledge to address the perennial …

The Daily Herald writes that Roman Catholic priest Father Danilo “Dan” Pastor announced the upcoming visit to Saba of Bishop Luis Antonio Secco, accompanied by all clergymen of the Diocese of Willemstad, on Wednesday. The parish priests of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten and Saba are gathering this …

Foundation Social Workplace Saba (FSWS) hosts an intern of Wageningen University agriculture researching the potential to develop mushroom farming on Saba, writes The Daily Herald. Agriculture student Giuseppe “Peppe” Alessandrello is finishing his master’s studies at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, holding a bachelor’s degree in plant sciences from University …

Just 2,200 girls under the age of 20 gave birth to a baby last year in the Netherlands, the lowest level ever, according to new figures from the national statistics office CBS.This means less than 1.5% of live births in the Netherlands are to a teenage mother. In 1970, the …

The majority of the bottled water brands sold on St. Maarten are “non-compliant,” Inspector General Dr. Earl Best said last night. This was reported by The Daily Herald. Samples of different brands of bottled water were collected on March 25, August 7 and September 30, and analysed to determine the …

The Daily Herald writes that Pension Fund Caribbean Netherlands PCN representatives Ingra Bennett and Monique Sambo visited Saba on Saturday to meet with Head of the Personnel Affairs Department Marva Donker and pensioners. Bennett will be visiting Saba in the last week of every month, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, to …

Dutch News reports that on Friday evening, the three opposition parties have agreed to support the cabinet’s austerity drive, giving the coalition an essential but narrow majority of just one in the upper house of parliament. The D66 Liberal democrats and minor Christian parties ChristenUnie and SGP finalised their deal …

The Daily Herald writes that following a EUROTAST symposium hosted by St. Maarten Archaeological Centre Simarc Foundation in February, a larger EUROTAST conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in September. EUROTAST is a European Union-sponsored Marie Curie programme for the investigation of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. St. Maarten/Simarc and Leiden …

The United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF office in the Netherlands sent a letter to various Dutch ministries on Thursday to remind them of the urgent need to improve children’s rights in the Dutch Caribbean. In the letter, Karin Kloosterboer and Marc Mark Wijne of UNICEF Nederland urged the Ministries of …

The Daily Herald presents RS Accounting and Consulting that will provide a St. Maarten-based notary and lawyer for legal services on Saba. Since about one year legal services were scarcely available to Saba residents, with attorneys often meeting their clients in person only during court-day sessions. Businesses and individuals had …

Akilah Levenstone received the formal endorsement and appointment as Island Registrar of the Public Entity Saba. Chairman of the Central Committee and fraction leader of the governing Windward Islands People’s Movement (WIPM) Rolando Wilson said the Presidium of the Public Entity Saba, comprising Island Governor Jonathan Johnson, opposition leader Ishmael …

Hilbert Haar drafted in Today a summary of three years of Country Staus of St. Maarten: To stumble: to miss one’s step in walking or running; trip and almost fall. This characterizes the first three years of St. Maarten’s adventure as an autonomous country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. …

The Daily Herald writes that the Dutch Caribbean Police Force KPCN together with the Dutch Royal Constabulary KMAR celebrated three years of existence marking the 10-10-10 constitutional transition that transformed the island into a Public Entity of the Netherlands. The only event marking the historic moment was a poorly attended …

The Daily Herald reports that according to the overview in the 2014 draft budget of the BES Fund from which the Dutch public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba are paid to cover their operational cost, the three public entities together should collect more than US $8.9 million in local …

The newspaper Today reported on October 9, that  Patricia Hough, according to her lawyers, is an altruistic psychiatrist who helped her husband build two Caribbean medical schools. To prosecutors, she is a tax cheat who used offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes on millions of dollars from the schools’ sale, …

Inflation up on Bonaire and Saba In the third quarter of 2013, inflation was 1.8 percent on Bonaire and 1.4 percent on Saba. These rates were higher than in the previous quarter. On St Eustatius, inflation was down slightly, at 1.7 percent. Inflation rises to 1.8 percent on Bonaire On …

The coordination of the Dutch Government on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will be one of the topics during the so-called Caribbean Netherlands Week in The Hague from October 28 to November 1, writes The Daily Herald. Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk stated this in …

The Daily Herald has been informed that the total tax revenues for 2014 in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba have been calculated at 109 million euros, which is two million more than the estimated 107 million euros that will be collected in 2013. The draft 2014 budget of the Dutch …

The acting Island registrar, Mrs.A. M. Levenstone, announced that the Central Committee of the Public Entity of Saba will meet on Friday October 18, 2013 at 9:00am at the Government Administration Building. The agenda for said meeting is as follows: 1. Opening 2. Approval of the agenda 3. Approval of …

The Daily Herald writes that Judge Koen Luijks presided over a court session at the Government Building on Tuesday morning. The case against a 60 year old U.S. resident accused of attacking police officers was suspended to allow additional hearing of the officers who made the arrest. Following a closed-door …