News

The civil works which recently began at Saba’s airport, the Juancho Yrausquin International Airport, are being executed so that the aviation facility can be upgraded to conform to the minimum safety requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Since the constitutional transition the responsibility for safety on the airports …

On the Friday 22nd of May 2015, the patrol of Dutch Caribbean Police Force (KPCN) on Saba, caught two men on the Paris Hill Road using drugs. The men were controlled by the officers and found to be in possession of illegal drugs. The men C.M.H. 22 F Zions Hill …

Caribisch Netwerk writes, that students of the Saba Comprehensive School (SCS) are about to start their final examinations. They are confident that they now will perform better because they are of the opinion that the new teachers of the school are better. Final exam candidate Jody Morgan: “Initially I thought, …

Medical School won their final two matches of the season to go undefeated, 6-0, in the Saba Volleyball Association competition held in the St John’s Gym Saturday, reports The Daily Herald. Medical School beat Untouchables 3-0 and finished off Rusties 3-0 top claim the Island Championship. Koen van Laar was …

The Health Ministry’s Collective Prevention Services (CPS) Sint Maarten is calling on the population to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds as the region is now a potential risk for the Zika virus, writes The Daily Herald. Eliminating mosquito breeding grounds can stem the spread of mosquitoborne diseases. The Pan American Health …

The Coast Guard confiscated 1,024 kilos of cocaine, 7.5 kilos heroin and 68.5 kilos of marijuana and five firearms in the Dutch Caribbean in 2014, writes The Daily Herald. Five illegals were arrested and the Coast Guard was deployed 200 times in Search and Rescue (SAR) operations, during which 49 …

The contours of new legislation to streamline the administration of tax law in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom were presented Wednesday by President of the Joint Court of Justice Evert Jan van der Poel and quartermaster and project leader Jane Jansen. Since October 2014, Jansen has been responsible for …

The Saba Volleyball Association championship will be decided at St. John’s Gym starting at 7:00pm Saturday, writes The Daily Herald. After two months of play, Strikers are top of the standings table of the seven team tournament. Strikers are 5-1. Currently second are Misfits and Medical School at four wins …

During the members meeting on May 11th this year in Montego Bay, Jamaica, the Dutch Caribbean part of the Ministry of Education (RCN / OCW) was accepted as an extraordinary member of the CANTA (Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies). The regular members of the CANTA are members of CARICOM. …

“Think positive, feel good” is the theme of an ongoing free public workshop, facilitated by Suchita Peeters, in the Queen Wilhelmina Library in The Bottom, reports The Daily Herald. This is a follow up of the “I love my body” programme. The workshop started on April 28 and will end …

The Daily Herald reports that RBC Royal Bank introduced an extra layer of protection for local customers with an ATM/debit card. Today, May 21, the bank is blocking international transactions for all such cards, meaning customers can now only use them in Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire, St. Maarten and Saba. “With …

The setting up of a work group for sustainable energy will be proposed at the June 16 Kingdom Conference at the request of Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Wassila Hachchi of the Democratic Party D66, writes The Daily Herald. Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom …

The policy of the Dutch Government remains unchanged: residents of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba in need of specialist medical care will keep being referred to hospitals in Guadeloupe and Colombia. Dutch Minister of Public Health, Wellbeing and Sports Edith Schippers sees no reason to reconsider the choices that were …

Monday and Tuesday, May 18th and 19th, all island representatives (Island-Governors, Commissioners, Island Secretaries, Registrars and Island Council members) of the Caribbean Netherlands came together in St. Maarten. There they discussed at length with each other, exchanged knowledge and experiences and followed work sessions in the context of administrative development. …

The Attorney- General has issued new guidelines to the Prosecutor’s Offices of Curaçao, St. Maarten and the Caribbean Netherlands regarding “robbery with violence”, writes The Daily Herald. According to the new guideline, which goes into effect as of June 1, if a suspect commits extortion or robbery with violence within …

The Executive Council of The Public Entity Saba and the Saba United People Labor Union Association(SUPLUA) have agreed last week to form a technical committee to look into the consequences of the salary structure that was introduced in October of last year. The new salary structure went into effect after …

Rijksdienst Dutch Caribbean and P-Direkt are offering 15 new jobs to create more employment on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. The 15 vacancies for contact centre assistant are open as of today. P-Direkt stands for delivering an efficient and high-quality payroll and personnel administration for the 120,000 civil servants (of …

For over a week, students of Saba University School of Medicine (SUSOM) have been receiving e-mails and I-messages from an unidentified individual, who often impersonates as one of the deans of the school, reports The Daily Herald. The first false e-mail was sent May 9 with the sender’s name “Pether …

The Public Health Department of Saba now has a brand new Facebook page. Visit this link to read the introduction and to like this new page to receive its updates. The link is also available in our Saba-Online section. My name is Koen Hulshof, I am a Public Health Doctor. …

The Daily Herald writes that the four countries of the Dutch Kingdom are planning to sign a cooperation agreement in the area of competition at the Kingdom Conference in Curaçao on June 16 in anticipation of a Dutch Caribbean freetrade zone. The website “Doing Business in the Kingdom” will be …

The 14-member Hector-team of Caribbean Netherlands Police Force is still investigating the homicide of 24-year-old-student Kavya Guda from the United States in Saba, writes The Daily Herald. The lifeless body of the student of Saba University School of Medicine was found in her apartment in The Bottom on April 15. …

The on-going fourteenth St. Martin/St. Maarten Annual Regional Tradeshow (SMART), dubbed the most important tradeshow of the Northeastern Caribbean, hosted its main day of activities at Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Casino yesterday, May 14. Although attendance was not as high as the 2014 event, which boasted one of the …

Several days of activities were held leading up to and on Nurses Day on Saba, writes The Daily Herald. At the centre of the celebrations were nurses of Henry C. Every Home for the Aged and A.M. Edwards Medical Center. The kick-off was on Friday, May 8, with a pre- …

The Daily Herald writes that St. Maarten based Judge Katja Mans has been appointed Vice-president of the Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. The Kingdom Council of Ministers on Wednesday approved Mans’ appointment per August 1, based on a proposal …

The history of St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba will get a much-needed revisit in a new project which focuses on the social and cultural history of these islands in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with a particular emphasis on the dynamics of migration, governance and regional entities. Dr. Jessica …

Bonaire.nu reports the Dutch provider of microcredits, Qredits, announced that they will start developing activities in Bonaire. The objective is to provide approximately 25 loans in 2015/2016 from an average of $ 15,000. Qredits has prepared an action plan with the Public Entity of Bonaire. The aim is to help …

Saba Government officially released its new sabagov.com website on Tuesday. The initiative to develop a new user-friendly government website for Saba was initiated about a year ago. First, the Saba government logo had been modified by local artist Malachy Magee, who presented different concepts after which the Executive Council decided …

Saba Festival Foundation (SFF) has held an official judging on Tuesday to choose the slogan for Saba Carnival 2015, writes The Daily Herald. The winner of the slogan contest will be selected during the first fundraiser to be held at the end of this month. The judges’ panel consisted of …

Violence against women in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba deserves higher priority and more concrete action by the Dutch Government, the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights (College voor de Rechten van de Mens) stated in its 2014 annual report. The 200-plus-page report, published on Tuesday, dedicated a section to the …

Nurses day May 12th 2015, a thanksgiving service was held at the Roman Catholic Church in The Bottom hosted by the Living Water Community. Present at the Service was Commissioner of Health Mr. Bruce Zagers, Director of SHCF Dr. Joka Blaauboer, Manager of BFS Nurse Roseta Riley, President of BFS …

Pre-Mother’s Day Bazaar was held in the Bottom at Carmen Simmons Sport Complex in The Bottom on Saturday. Close to ten booths were selling mostly local foods and gifts. A cake-eating contest was held and there were games, especially for children. Saba’s own DJ Slim presented his musical selection, which …

The Daily Herald reports that the second edition of Saba Health Fair was concluded Thursday evening with a presentation about depression and diabetes. The Health Fair, a two day event themed “Balance your health,” was an initiative of Government Service Caribbean Netherlands RCN’s Communication Department in collaboration with Saba Health …

Delegations of the Island Councils of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will be meeting with the Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on June 4, writes The Daily Herald. The Islands Councils of the three public entities requested the meeting of which the …

Rectification: The text below is a rectification of an earlier press release of the RCN on the same subject. The Notification and Referral Point for Healthcare Caribbean Netherlands on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will be launched on May 4th, 2015. Citizens may contact this Notification and Referral Point with signals …

Program Information session for all businesses Saba May 11th 2015 Venue: Saba Roads conference room   5.30 p.m.                   Opening Nichalin Martina: Head of the Tax office Caribbean Netherlands and Customs and Koos Sneek: president of the Chamber of Commerce. 5.45 p.m.                   Introduction Jaap Rutger Kos Representative of the association …

Saba teachers and representatives of other organisations that cater to children and young people recently participated in a behaviour modification workshop called “Rock and Water.”, writes The Daily Herald. The training is said to be an innovative approach to teaching young people to deal with the challenges in society as …

The investigation, with the code named Hector, of the young woman found dead on Saba on April 15, is in full swing. The investigation is the responsibility of the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Public Prosecutor’s Office BES and the chief of the Dutch Caribbean Police Force. From the start …

~ Aruba, Caribbean Netherlands to follow ~ Colombians travelling to Curaçao and St. Maarten no longer will need visas as of July 1, 2015, writes The Daily Herald. Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and the Netherlands reached an agreement on this in Curaçao on Tuesday. The four countries decided to grant …

On Wednesday morning Offshore Supply Ship Mutty’s Pride arrived in Saba’s Fort Bay Harbour with a container fallen to one side. There was severe damage to a Volkswagen Golf also stored on the ship. According to the captain of Mutty’s Pride no one was injured during the accident which occurred …

On Wednesday, in a combined effort to bring more awareness on healthy living and disease prevention, the second Saba Health Fair exhibition was held at the Eugenius Johnson Centre in Windwardside reports The Daily Herald. The event, themed “Balance your health,” was an initiative of RCN Communication and was carried …