St. Maarten is on the right track, while Curaçao is not, stated Dutch caretaker Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Liesbeth Spies at a gathering with the Antillean community in The Hague Wednesday evening. St. Maarten has made strides where it comes to budget discipline and financial management, according …

Minister of Defence Hans Hillen paid a visit to the Windward Islands St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius. The Minister was extensively updated about the Royal Marine, Royal Marechaussee and the Coast Guard in the Caribbean region. The Commander of the Navy in the Caribbean region, Brigadier General of the …

FSWSaba has initiated a project called SABAGRO and a partnership with the Wageningen University and Research Centre in The Netherlands to facilitate research and advice on agriculture. SABAGRO will encourage landowners to re-use their properties for growing plants, enable retail-shops to offer some cheaper local products of good quality, encourage …

Pink Orange Alliance,” a collaboration within the Dutch Kingdom started last year, will be working on a Caribbean reporting centre where homosexuals and lesbians can report complaints if they are being treated impolitely or discriminated against by authorities or society. This is mentioned in the plan of approach 2012-2014 on …

Dutch caretaker Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Liesbeth Spies was the main guest at a well-attended information session of the organisation for Dutch Caribbean people in The Netherlands OCaN in The Hague Wednesday evening. Spies addressed the latest developments, in particular the instruction of the Kingdom Council of …

Freelancers (zzp’ers) are unlikely to vote for the labour party PvdA and prefer the right-wing liberal VVD and the left-wing liberal D66, according to the voting intentions barometer of freelancers’ platform Victor Mundi. While the PvdA rises in the polls, freelancers are unlikely to vote for the party. ‘They are …

Following similar exercises in St. Maarten and St. Eustatius, it was Saba’s turn Monday to witness a simulated crash of a small passenger aircraft with several victims as a result. The Fire Brigade, Ambulance Service and Police disturbed the usual quiet on the island as they rushed to the scene …

People on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba should benefit from being part of The Netherlands, not suffer because of it. That is the opinion of Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Martijn van Dam of the Labour Party PvdA, number seven on the slate for the September …

The vast majority of Bonaireans know little or nothing of Dutch politics and Dutch politicians. The parties did not made a great effort to campaign in the fresh Dutch municipality and the information about the elections remained below standard. Four of the ten Bonaireans indicated to plan to vote on …

The marines company and the supporting navy crew of the Royal Marines in the Caribbean region during the Hurricane Exercise are working not only on training. They also dedicate themselves to the population of St. Eustatius and Saba. On St. Eustatius 25 military personnel (soldiers) worked on a major facelift …

The naval vessel Hr. Ms. Tromp has intercepted last Saturday during a patrol in the Caribbean area 135 kilos of cocaine. The narcotics that  floated  in bales in the water, presumably came from a yacht according to Defence . The crew existing of two men have been arrested and transferred …

Government Service Caribbean Netherlands RCN organized an event for all members of the press and communication experts of the “public entities” Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba and RCN on Bonaire, August 31-September 1. Participants followed workshops with subjects such as,” The press and government, why we need each other?”, “The …

With just nine days to go before the general election, two more opinion polls have confirmed the rise in support for the Labour party. The new Maurice de Hond poll shows a seven-seat rise in support for the PvdA, taking the party to within four seats of the Socialists. And …

The Saba Conservation Foundation, SCF, has issued their Newsletter for August 2012. In this beautifully prepared document they report on several projects. There have been some staff changes, a Saba Bank Park officer was hired and the office bustled with visiting researchers, students and interns, to the limit of our …

Homosexuality is widely accepted in the Netherlands, but it can still be a taboo for elderly people, particularly in nursing homes. Humanitas, a Dutch care organisation, is trying to tackle the problem. According to Giny ten Brummelhuis of Humanitas, “pink pensioners are often called names and ignored. People don’t want …