News

Last Saturday was the vernissage of a new exhibition of work made by Els Mommers. Instead of writing an article about this event, you can see an amateur video made by René Caderius van Veen by a click on this LINK 

The Daily Herald writes that the Dutch Government has promised to supply the separate tax and premium revenues generated on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, but only one time. The figures will be released early next year, which is too late to comply with Statia’s request to do so before …

Commissioner of Health Bruce Zagers, Director of Saba Health Care Foundation (SHCF) Dr. Joka Blaauboer and Kai Wulf and James Johnson of Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF) met Friday to discuss the planned cutting of a mango tree near A.M. Edwards Medical Centre. During the meeting, Blaauboer explained her reasoning about …

Saba is well-known for its rich marine life and many researchers have come in the past to investigate and publish their findings, writes The Daily Herald. The latest researcher who set foot on Saba is Dion Vink, who is studying Marine Biology at Van Hall Larenstein Higher Vocational Education in …

Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, public entities of the Netherlands, will not be able to get loans to finance investments in, for example, the infrastructure on short term. This writes The Daily Herald. Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk said this during a general debate with …

The Daily Herald writes that the Caribbean Netherlands Evaluation Committee on Friday informed representatives of the governments of Bonaire, St. Eustatius, Saba and the Netherlands, the principals in this exercise, how it will go about the research for the 2015 constitutional evaluation. Commissioners Reginald Zaandam of St. Eustatius, Chris Johnson …

Youngsters in the Netherlands who complete a trade school (mbo) diploma will have a slightly better chance of finding work in years to come than those with a university or hbo college degree, according to a new guide to vocational training. The guide states that teenagers who have mbo stage …

The Daily Herald writes that the recently renamed art gallery, “Five Square Art Gallery” on Saba, will start off its first exhibition of the season this Saturday. Renowned local artist Els Mommers will be opening her exhibition called “Splendour of the Caribbe-an” at the formerly known Peanut Gallery at 5:00 …

The Daily Herald writes that from January 2015, there will once again be structural legal notary services on Saba and St. Eustatius. The services became irregular almost two years ago, following the retirement of Notary Steeman, who serviced both islands for more than 25 years. The Ministry of Safety and …

Commissioner  Johnson and others from the BES-islands are in The Netherlands for the launch of Evaluation Committee. Commissioner  Chris Johnson is in The Netherlands to attend the official launch of the Evaluation Committee. The Evaluation Committee will kick off their work which is expected to be completed by the 10th …

Caribisch Netwerk reports that Saba Day was celebrated in exuberant manner in the Netherlands. It was singing the national anthem, eating pie and, after years again, seeing old familiar faces from Saba It is the first time that a public celebration for the Saban community has been held in the …

Tax Office Caribbean Netherlands will be closing its cashier departments as of January 1, 2015. As of that date, payments will no longer be accepted at the Tax Offices on Saba and St. Eustatius. Payments can be done through the banks on the islands using online banking or through deposits …

The Daily Herald describes that Saba Day festivities, which started with the official celebration on Friday, continued over the weekend with several events. There were two more soft- ball games played between the Saba Soldiers and the St. Maarten Controllers. On Sunday, there were also two soccer matches arranged by …

On Friday, December 5, the Netherlands Royal Marines made good use of their two Fast Raiding Intercepting Special Forces Craft (FRISC) when they joined the people of Saba in celebrating Saba Day. This writes The Daily Herald It was an early rise for the six Marines, including Commander of the …

The Daily Herald reports today that the Court of First Instance in St. Maarten on Friday ordered University of St. Eustatius School of Medicine (USESOM) in Cole Bay to lift liens placed on the liquid assets of its former employee Lockie Jayne Johnson-McGehee. The medical school had put a lien …

The 39th annual Saba Day celebration, themed “One island, one vision,” was held Friday. This writes The Daily Herald. The day started out with the ringing of church bells at 6:00am, after which an ecumenical service was conducted at Sacred Heart Church in The Bottom. This was followed by a …

Happy Saba Day 2014 Enjoy Karel Sorton playing the Saba Anthem on his pan.  

The Council of State has serious concerns whether the criteria in the initiative law of Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party to regulate the registration of people from Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten will legally hold ground. This writes …

The Daily Herald reports that Windward Islands Health Care Union Association and Saba United People’s Labour Union and Association signed a covenant with Benevolent Foundation Saba, Saba Health Care Foundation, St. Eustatius Auxiliary Home and St. Eustatius Health Care Foundation for a new two-year Collective Labour Agreement (CLA). After two …

Last Tuesday the islands’s economic stakeholder platform, the E-team met with Mr. Kenneth Lei of Development Bank (OBNA) to discuss the options are available for Saban entrepeneurs through the bank. Mr. Lei gave a presentation on the different services that OBNA offers, mainly focusing on the Small Businesses Promotion Fund …

The Ministry of Social Affairs & Employment (SZW) wants the so-called “redemption problem” which the tax discount for children is now facing, solved. At the moment there is a compensation in the Caribbean Netherlands for costs of children through taxes, the so-called children’s discount. This children’s discount has the disadvantage …

Saba Divers has new ownership, writes The Daily Herald. The diving company was for sale for approximately two years when Miroslav Hude ek and Vit Rosberg from the Czech Republic decided to take over. Saba Divers was previously owned and operated for 15 years by Scout’s Place owners Barbara and …

Saba News has received the following comment on the article “Open Letter to Commissioner asking for progress report on SCS”. The comment is so detailed that we want to give it similar attention as the Open Letter that we published earlier and to which this comment refers. Click here for …

Caribisch Netwerk reports that, on  Statia, the doors of the polling station Ernest Wells Youth Centre will open on Wednesday, December 17th at 7:30 for the Statians that want to cast their vote in the constitutional referendum. The voting cards will delivered to the voters this week. Governor Gerald Berkel …

Centre of Youth and Family (CYF) organised the live game show “Family Feud” at Eugenius Johnson Centre in Windwardside, on Sunday afternoon. This reports The Daily Herald. The show was the first-ever on Saba and part of a long-term programme to bring families closer together. Local Minister Mervin Alexander was …

As of December 2014 all companies/foundations/sole proprietorships will receive a letter of the Statistics Netherlands (CBS) as part of the National Accounts Survey 2012-2013. This is the first year since 10-10-2010 that the CBS will conduct the National Accounts Survey on all three islands of the Caribbean Netherlands. The objective …

The RCN has published the table with Minimum Wages and AOV, AWW and Social benefits for 2015. You can download the tables here: Table of Minimum Wages 2015 Table of AOV, AWW and Social Benefits 2015 Information: Martijn Schuuring ……………………………………………………………… Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland Social Affairs & Labour Cap. Matthew Levenstone Street …

Mega-yacht Seadream One, part of the Seadream Yacht Club fleet, arrived at Fort Bay harbour Monday morning at 9:00. This writes The Daily Herald. Their last visit to Saba was in April. In total, 65 people got off board and spent the day on Saba. Most of them went sightseeing …

The Daily Herald writes that Dave Levenstone has announced his resignation as a member of Benevolent Foundation Saba (BFS) as of December 31. The board and stakeholders have been informed of his decision as of Friday last week. After six years, Levenstone decided it was time to move on. He …

  The Daily Herald writes that Labour Party PvdA, Democratic Party D66, Christian Democratic Party CDA and ChristianUnion (CU) turned down on Monday idea of the liberal democratic VVD party and the Socialist Party (SP) to establish a Dutch commonwealth construction with an independent position for Aruba, Curaçao and St. …

The newly established Saba Day Committee has released the schedule for the annual festivities. The official program this year begins Friday December 5th with an Ecumenical service in the Sacred Heart Church in The Bottom. This is followed by the official ceremony and reception at the residence of the Island …

The concept Law Electricity and Drinking water BES was sent Tuesday November 25th to the Second Chamber. Customers, according to the concept law, will have to generate their own sustainable energy. Also, there will be monitoring of the electricity and drinking water companies, including tariff regulation and quality control of …

The site Den Haag FM reports that the GGD Haagladen has been requested to assist the public health care departments of the BES Islands to further professionalize their services An agreement to that effect has been signed by Wethouder Karsten Klein of Haaglanden and Commissioner Chirlina Felida of Bonaire. Agreements …

The Daily Herald writes that the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Thursday evening approved an amendment to the 2015 Kingdom Relations budget to make three million euros available to improve the position of children on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. Through the amendment, submitted by Member of the …

The Daily Herald reports today that the Platform of Dutch Caribbean Organisations in the Netherlands signed a declaration of intention on Saturday to continue the cooperation between the different organisations working in the interest of the people from the islands. The declaration of intention was signed during a gathering at …

Caribisch Netwerk reports that, from January 1, 2016, all families with children in the Caribbean Netherlands are entitled to a family allowance of $ 38 per child per month. That’s $ 456 per year per child. Yesterday, the request of the Christian Union (CU) and the Labour Party (PVDA) to …

UPDATE: a link from which one can download the report is at the end of this article. The Daily Herald writes that the Health Care Inspectorate has decided to place the Honourable Henry Carlyle Every Home of Saba “the Home” under a regime of enhanced supervision for a period of …

Without a drastic change in the coalition parties’ popularity, there will be a major shift in the political balance in The Hague after the March provincial elections, newspaper Volkskrant said November 26. The latest monthly analysis from research group GfK shows that the coalition parties could lose more than half …

The Daily Herald writes that member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Carola Schouten of the ChristianUnion (CU) has again asked the Dutch government to introduce an allowance for families with children on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.Schouten did so during the handling of the 2015 draft budget …

The Dutch government cannot force good governance in the Dutch Caribbean [Red: meant are the Islands Aruba, Curaçao and St Maarten] if the local politicians don’t want to cooperate, but it can offer assistance when the islands ask for it. This can be done through a commonwealth construction, an association …