Judge Rene van Veen presided over three cases Tuesday morning, November 20. The first two cases concerned vehicle driving violations and the third, physical assault. In the absence of the accused summoned by the court, the judge allowed Prosecutor Marleen Overmeer to present the findings in the case of S. …

The five ambassadors of the Kingdom Youth Parliament, which will be held on St. Maarten in May 2014, presented themselves to the media in The Hague on Tuesday. Trumane Trotman, a 21-year-old freshman, studying advertisement, marketing & communication at Providence Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, is St. Maarten’s …

The certificate ceremony of the C-Course for Customs officials of the Caribbean Netherlands recently took place on Bonaire. It followed after an intensive and broad professional training for starting officers that lasted almost a year. In total 12 passed this course, but what is striking is that the majority are …

Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk is positive that consumer confidence in the Dutch public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will grow next year as a result of the tax-relief measures. The Minister stated this in a letter he sent to the Second Chamber of …

There were 165 murders in the Netherlands last year, an increase of seven on 2010 but still well below the levels in the early 2000s, the national statistics office CBS said on Monday. Twice as many men as women were killed and one third of them were shot, the CBS …

The Public Entity of Saba recently signed a contract with local contractor Saba Roads for the much needed resurfacing of some of the island’s roads. The contract involves the road to The Level and also two side roads in the Bottom. It also calls for the patching of potholes on …

The Saba Business Association (SBA) and Saba Merchants Association (SMA) issued a joint response to State Secretary of Finance Frans Weekers’ package of measures announced on October 10, and to the new customs system. The business community also wrote a letter to Director of the Tax and Customs Department on …

The Voting Council has advised the Dutch Government to hold the elections for the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba one day ahead of the elections in The Netherlands. The Voting Council followed up on the observation of the Lt. Governors of the three …

St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) has objected successfully to the conditions attached to the demands placed on it by the Inspectorate of Public Health. The Court of First Instance ruled Friday that the conditions the Inspectorate had placed on SMMC on October 12 had not been imposed with the proper …

On Wednesday, November 14, the Health Inspectorate issued a press release announcing that they wanted director Scot to resign from the St. Maarten Medical Centre. You can read this article HERE. However, it seems that Inspector General dr. Earl Best lied in this press release  about a “severe conflict of …

The Inspectorate of the Ministry of Public Health demands that the St. Maarten medical center terminates its service agreement with AnG Consulting NV or that hospital Director George Scot resigns from the board of directors before or on November 28. In a lengthy press release the inspectorate says that the …

On November 16th, 2012 the campaign “Alivio pa bo pòtmòni (relief for your wallet) starts on Bonaire. This campaign aims to raise awareness to people about their spending and to point out their own responsibility in dealing with their money. To help them do this 3 subprojects are implemented under …

A joint briefing by Dutch Government Representative Wilbert Stolte and the Executive Council on Tuesday highlighted the fiscal and social measures taken during the Caribbean Netherlands Week, held in October, in The Hague. Stolte emphasized that State Secretary of Finance Frank Weekers had made provision for a number of fiscal …

Tax fraud in the overseas special Public Bodies Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will be firmly dealt with. The Ministry of Finance in The Hague reported that the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Tax Department Caribbean Netherlands and the Fiscal Intelligence Investigation Department FIOD have made agreements to tackle this problem …

In a joint press conference of the Executive Council and the National Representative held today, Commissioner of Economic Affairs, Chris Johnson, expressed the Executive Council’s opposition to the implementation of a new software system called  ASYCUDA which is to be introduced by customs to facilitate the processing of goods imported …