News

From Saturday, July 25, up until and including Sunday, August 2, Saba will be celebrating 40 years of Carnival under the slogan “40 years long, still jamming strong.” writes The Daily Herald. Starting with Saturday’s Calypso Showdown and running up to the Second Day Parade of Sunday, August 2, Sabans …

The Daily Herald reported that Statia’s Island Council has released the objection letter, signed by Chairman Rueben Merkman and sent to Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk in the Netherlands, dated July 17, in response to his call for the island to be placed under higher financial …

The Daily Herald writes that high school students in St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius will have easy access to a range of useful data, inspirational stories and lots of space to note down their important school related information and reminders in the 2015-2016 HYPE Agendas, coordinators said on Wednesday …

In early May, the Dutch Caribbean Police Force (KPCN) together with the Labour Inspectorate of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour (SZW) and the Belastingdienst Caribisch Nederland (B/CN) carried out controls on labour by foreigners. The checks focused on the detection of illegal employment of foreigners and the conditions …

The Multi-Annual Plan that you find below can also be downloaded here as a pdf file. Multi-Annual Program Caribbean Netherlands 2015-2018 The Public Entity of Saba has indicated during the CN Week that, as for matters relating to content which specifically concern Saba, the Multi-Annual program (MAP) underlines the importance …

The Daily Herald writes: The renovations of Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport on Saba are going as planned, said project manager of the renovation of the airports of the Caribbean Netherlands Ton Franssen. The experienced engineer, working for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, and his team of experts have been …

The “Days of Slavery on St. Eustatius” exhibition, put together by St. Eustatius Historical Foundation (SEHF) and St. Eustatius Centre for Archaeology (SECAR) for the Historical Museum, is travelling to St. Maarten and Saba, writes The Daily Herald. A scaled-down travelling version of the exhibition will be on show, first …

The Daily Herald reports that the St. Eustatius Utility Company STUCO signed a contract Wednesday, with Sunshine Real Estate for the engineering, procurement and commissioning of a two-megawatt solar park. For this project Sunshine partnered with ECO Energy, SMA and Schletter to deliver a turnkey project. “With this project STUCO …

Commissioner of Youth Affairs, Chris Johnson, met with representatives of Lipscomb University from Nashville, Tennessee this week to discuss opportunities to strengthen and expand the relationship between the university and Saba. Since 2003 Lipscomb University has been visiting Saba every year and organizes a full program of activities for the …

Based on the request of the Executive Council of The Public Entity Saba and economic stakeholders from both public and private sectors, State Secretary of Security and Justice, Klaas Dijkhoff, has decided to lower the tariff for work permits on the Saba, St. Eustatius and Bonaire, as of October 1st …

According to figures released today by Statistics Netherlands, inflation according to the consumer price index (CPI) on all three islands of Caribbean Netherlands was down further in the second quarter of 2015. On Bonaire and St Eustatius inflation was actually negative for the second quarter in a row. On Bonaire …

The Daily Herald writes that the pension fund for the public, education and health care sectors in the Caribbean Netherlands PCN has taken measures to secure its financial position as much as possible under difficult circumstances. Due to the low funding ratio the outlook for indexation of pensions in the …

Fourth Progress Report 2014 concerning the public entities Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba in the Dutch Caribbean G.P. Isabella Kingdom Representative Introduction Before you is the fourth progress report of the Kingdom Representative for the public entities Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. This report discusses the developments that took place …

Three Saban students have formed a support group in particular for students from Saba who are already studying in Holland or are planning to go there shortly. One of the founders is Nataly Linzey. In 2011 she went to Netherlands all by herself. “As a ‘free-mover’ I understand now how …

The independent evaluation committee that implemented the evaluation on the effects of the new constitutional structure since 10-10-10 on Bonaire, Statia and Saba, would like to thank everyone that have already participated in the evaluation, for their time and effort. Mrs. Spies, the Chairwoman of the Evaluation Committee: “Thanks to …

The Daily Herald writes that the recycling plant in Fort Bay harbour area on Saba was opened Friday, February 27. From that moment Saba was the first of the three Dutch Caribbean islands to recycle waste material. Four months later The Daily Herald met with Government Information Service Officer Vito …

Island Council Member Monique Wilson and Pamela Meijvogel organised a “Students First” informational conference on Wednesday at Eugenius Johnson Centre in Windwardside, writes The Daily Herald. The event was sponsored and hosted by Saba Labour Party (SLP), although it did not have any political motive. Goal of the event was …

Kingdom Representative Mr. Gilbert Isabella, in accordance with the instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations, hosted the second meeting of the Steering Committee on Thursday July 9th on St. Eustatius. The primary task of the Steering Committee is to prepare a plan of action to help …

The Unified St. Maarten Connection, USC, has announced the launch of the 2015 USC Student Manual, a redesigned website and specific changes to their event structure. All this before the organisation goes on break for the remaining summer month, and reconvenes in August, when the new batch of students arrives …

Last week, the Minister for the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Plasterk, replied to questions of the Christian Union related to domestic violence in the Dutch Caribbean. An article in the Amigoe led to the questions. In this article, Chris Palm, Director of the Center for youth and family on Bonaire, suggested …

The Daily Herald writes that the second baby born on Saba in 2015 is named Nolan Samuel Johnson. On Tuesday, proud parents Island Governor Jonathan Johnson and Rosalyn Johnson Hassell went to the Government Building in The Bottom to register their new-born son. Nolan was born on Saturday, July 4, …

Employment Opportunities Saba (EOS) handed out certificates of completion for the Basic Technical Maintenance Assistant course, writes The Daily Herald. Acting Island Governor Franklin Wilson handed out certificates to five graduates on Tuesday. During five months, from February 2 to June 24, the five received training required to certify them …

In a letter to the Executive Council of Statia, the Democratic Party of Statia has expressed their serious concerns about the economic developments on the island. The document reads as follows: While St. Eustatius is strongly divided on the issue of our constitutional future, the island is lagging further and …

From the 6th until the 8th of July  prospective students, who are going to study abroad, attended the VOBESS course (VOBESS stands for Preparation BES students). This course, which is organized annually by RCN Studiefinanciering, consists of two parts: the orientation and self-reliance course. During the orientation course attention is …

Since its initial warning of a renewed influx of Sargassum Seaweed in May 2014, the St. Maarten Nature Foundation is again warning of a significant influx of the invasive seaweed in the coming weeks: “We have been coordinating our monitoring efforts with our partners in the region and based on …

The news site NOS reports that spending time in a cold environment brings considerable improvement in patients with type 2 diabetes, researchers have discovered. Researchers at Maastricht university put eight patients in a temperature of 14 to 15 degrees for several hours a day. Their muscles reacted much better to …

Because the Antilles were dismantled as a separate country, agreements were made on the abolishment of all internet domain names with extension .AN (Antilles). Initially this was going to take into effect by October 31st , 2014. At the request of stakeholders that date was postponed to July 31st , …

From now on, students from the Dutch Caribbean, who who are studying in the European Netherlands, will be insured under the general old-age insurance Law BES (AOV). This is decided as a result of an initiative of State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment, Klijnsma. In the past, students originating …

The Daily Herald writes that the Centre for Visual Arts CBK in Rotterdam is paying tribute this month to painter and graphic artist Ro Heilbron, who passed away in 2014. In commemoration of Heilbron, who is considered one of the most important and renowned visual artists from his native Suriname, …

Students of Samford University, Alabama, just finished a one-month study programme for research on the options of starting a coral nursery on Saba, writes The Daily Herald. Their hope is to establish such a nursery as soon as possible. The students discovered that a coral nursery is not so different …

The Daily Herald writes that Saba Health Care Foundation (SHCF) donated a vehicle Friday to Saba Lions Club (SLC) for its Meals on Wheels project. Recently, SHCF purchased a new fleet which consists of four new vehicles. These are mainly for the Home Health Department, which provides district nursing to …

The Executive Council of The Public Entity Saba has hired seven students to work for the organization during the summer break. The students are all returning from overseas for the summer holiday and sent in applications while at school seeking employment when they returned home. The island government decided that …

The National ombudsman has started a formal investigation into the public entity Bonaire’s handling of five separate complaints because of its slow handling of grievances made known by the public and its repeated failure to respond to requests. The ombudsman takes the view that services to the public are being …

Disaster teams of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba were trained by the Dutch national road and waterways management organisation Rijkswaterstaat to broaden their knowledge and experience in the field of disaster and crisis management in maritime incidents reports The Daily Herald. The crisis-management workshop was held Wednesday and Thursday at …

Dear reader, As Kingdom Representative for Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba I would like to herewith provide an update on the developments following the June 10th instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations to place St. Eustatius under administrative supervision. The instruction is to draw up an …

The Daily Herald writes that six young ladies of the six Dutch Caribbean islands will vie for the title of Miss Dutch Caribbean Islands Queen at Festival Village in The Bottom on Thursday, July 30, starting at 8:00pm. Representing Saba will be Charvella Wilson. She will be competing against D’shnay …

A line of natural food products was introduced on Wednesday at Breadline Plaza in Windwardside, writes The Daily Herald. They are sold under the company name “Small Batch,” and thus far include products, such as roasted garlic aioli, mammy apple hot sauce and “Ruba- dub” rib rub meat spices. Brand-new …

Dutch News reports that Aruban holidaymaker Mitch Henriquez, who died in police custody at the weekend, was probably killed by a lack of oxygen and this was most likely caused by the police, the public prosecution department said on Wednesday afternoon. The Hague’s prosecution chief, Kitty Nooy, said in a …

By setting up and implementing a balanced and organized budgetary process, Saba is able to control its public finances. This can be concluded from the first execution report and the budget amendment. The execution of the 2015 budget is going according to plan. On June 26th, 2015, the Board of …

The students from form 4 at Saba Comprehensive School’s prom committee would like to express our sincere gratitude for the assistance that you provided to us in the form of donations, gifts or time spent on the evening of SCS Prom 2015. Without your support, our Winter Wonderland prom would …