Television industry Cricket Household bills Coronation Street Northern Ireland Google
Friday, January 28, 2011
Nelson Mandela?s Health Surrounded by Secrecy
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Seventeen-year-old acquitted of murdering Otmar Leonard
�Prosecutor's Office will appeal�
PHILIPSBURG--The 17-year-old suspect the Prosecutor's Office held responsible for killing Otmar Leonard (22) with a knife near the basketball court in Prospect Estate on July 14, 2010, was acquitted Tuesday of murder and manslaughter. H.K.I. was, however, convicted of assault and battery, for which he received four months.
During H.K.I's trial in the Court of First Instance on December 14, Leonard was described as a "family guy," who had stood up for his little brother and nephew.
He had got into a fight with H.K.I. after H.K.I. had tried to send Leonard's younger siblings and two other boys from the basketball court. According to H.K.I., they had no right to play in the Belvedere court, because they were not from that neighbourhood.
Leonard was fatally stabbed in his ribs during a fight later that day. The knife punctured Leonard's right lung and heart. He died at St. Maarten Medical Center.
H.K.I. had explained his sudden explosion of anger, saying he was "vex."
The suspect has regularly been involved in school fights, according to a Court of Guardianship report, which described him as being "impulsive, frustrated, emotionally withdrawn, and depressive."
Prosecutor Manon Ridderbeks had stated the fatal encounter with Leonard seemed to have been coincidental, and she had considered manslaughter, not murder, proven.
"The suspect is a very angry young man," Ridderbeks said, and if he were an adult, he could be sentenced to 12-15 years. Considering his young age, she limited her demand to 10 years.
The prosecutor had also requested that the court grant the claim of the victim's parents in the amount of US $5,900 for funeral cost, a NAf. 315 hospital bill and 3,813 euros for airplane tickets to fly in relatives from abroad to attend the funeral.
Judge Monique Keppels, however, rejected both claims, in line with attorney-at-law Cor Merx's position that his client should be acquitted of murder and manslaughter.
The lawyer had claimed that evidence provided by the Prosecutor's Office was based on assumptions, because there had been no witnesses to the stabbing.
H.K.I. admitted to the incident at the basketball court, but had said that during the fight he was held in a stranglehold and couldn't flee. He said he was kicked, hit, beaten, and physically overwhelmed by his much stronger adversary. He denied the knife had been his, and said Leonard died by accident and not by his hands.
Judge Keppels stated in her written verdict that the suspect's statements were not so "implausible" that they should be put aside. She further said the evidence provided in this case was not in conflict with H.K.I.'s statements, and also did not provide sufficient proof that the knife was his.
However, the judge found him guilty of mistreatment of a 15-year-old boy and of threatening this boy and his 11-year-old cousin.
H.K.I. had said during his trial that he had taken part in anger management training during his pre-trial detention in the Pointe Blanche prison. The judge stated that she had considered imposing mandatory anger management counselling at Victorious Living Foundation.
However, the judge decided not to impose a conditional prison sentence and mandatory training considering the nature and seriousness of the crimes committed, the suspect's young age, and the length of the his pre-trial detention.
The judge declared the claim of the victim's parents inadmissible, and lifted H.K.I.'s pre-trial detention.
The Prosecutor's Office will be appealing the verdict.
Nicolas Anelka Television Peter Atherton Regulators Norway International criminal court
Krebbers tells tenants ToT increase to be added to rent
Lack of clarity surrounding exemption�
PHILIPSBURG--Krebbers Associates, on behalf of its clients, has informed its clients' tenants, including those in apartment buildings, that it will be passing on to all tenants the increase of turnover tax (ToT) from three to five per cent.
The letter to tenants states in part: "As of January 1, 2011, we at Krebbers Associates will be charging this government ToT of five per cent to all tenants/rentals. If there is a change in implementation date by government, this will be automatically adjusted."
The notification prompted one resident to submit the Krebbers letter to The Daily Herald with inquiries about its legality. During the Parliamentary debate on the budget for 2011, Minister of Finance Hiro Shigemoto outlined the exemptions with regard to housing and the ToT.
According to the law, "persons and corporate entities that provide permanent housing for residents of St. Maarten are tax exempt." The Minister confirmed that exemption on Monday and reiterated that the ToT could not be passed on to a legal resident of St. Maarten in permanent housing. The Minister also requested and was provided with a copy of the Krebbers letter.
With ToT being a business tax, if a firm like Krebbers does not own an apartment or a home, for example, and does business on behalf of a third party, thereby acting as a real estate firm, the tax cannot be passed on to the legally residing tenant renting the apartment or home.
Krebbers, in such a scenario, would have a business relationship with the owner of the apartment or home and said owner would have to pay Krebbers a so-called service fee. The owner, under the law, is exempt from ToT and therefore cannot attempt to levy this on the tenant via a firm such as Krebbers, which, it is understood, cannot pass this on to the tenant either.
In an invited comment, Sabine Lans of Krebbers Associates, who signed the letter, said she was not aware of the exemptions outlined in the law and added that she would look into it.
One financial expert, who preferred to remain anonymous, told The Daily Herald that lengthy discussions had ensued when the housing exemption of the legislation was being drafted by government's Fiscal Affairs Department. He said that because the legislation was rife with contradictions, in his opinion the housing exemptions were still not clear.
Biology Facebook Caribbean JLS US supreme court Adventure travel
Deliberate Damage � A Poem
By Eugene Sigaloff
'Light 'em up,' says the lifelike puppet.
'That's good,' says the satisfied puppet master,
'It looks as if it walks and talks on its own,
Using words like these,
Catchy words like these—
Disengaged to prevent regret,
Disengaged to prevent despair—
As if it actually thinks on its own;
From its platform in the sky it can aim and fire,
It can fill soft heathen bodies with burning metal,
“Lighting them up” like Christmas trees,
Flesh incandescent,
Flesh sizzling like a Sunday roast,
Blood spreading like the leaves of poinsettias,
Blood and flesh decorating the heathen streets,
It can do this so un-traumatically,
Without pain or strain,
With a virtual inner buzz,
A virtual inner glow of exhilaration;
This puppet has learned well,
This puppet is proud,
This puppet is almost human.'
And the puppet master,
Thinking he was more than a puppet,
Went to a self-congratulatory martini and lunch.
- Eugene Sigaloff contributed this poem to PalestineChronicle.com.
Source: http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16582
Craig Bellamy Foreign currency Global terrorism Dance music UK security and terrorism Executive pay and bonuses
Brooks Tower applicants sleeping outside Labour Office, IND at night
�
PHILIPSBURG--While most residents are asleep in the comfort of their homes at night, a crowd of immigrants happy for the opportunity to regulate their legal status take up residence outside three government offices.
Some use towels and cardboard boxes as sheets, their bags as pillows and their clothing as blankets. Others sit sleeping with their heads in their laps, some stand and brace against walls for a quick nap and others sleep in their cars parked nearby. They tough out the cold night and morning dew and use conversations and humour to pass the hours as they wait for the office to open. The Brooks Tower Accord (BTA) applicants abandon their homes for a chance to obtain numbers to be served.
This is what The Daily Herald observed in the wee hours of Thursday morning when it visited the Immigration and Naturalisation Department (IND) on A.Th. Illidge Road, the Labour Department on Walter Nisbeth Road and the Island Receiver's Office located in the Civil Registry.
Undocumented immigrants are required to visit these three departments in their efforts to become legal residents through the BTA process, which has been extended on several occasions to give people a chance to regulate their status.
National Alliance leader William Marlin, who observed the situation earlier this week, described the recent situation as "inhumane" and has made a proposal to government to address the situation.
The biggest crowd observed by this newspaper was at the Labour Office. Up to 51 persons were already in queue when this newspaper visited. The first person had been there from as early as 8:00pm the day before. The department handles 60 persons per day, the workers said.
About 15 persons were at IND, one of whom was fast asleep nearby. She had covered herself with towels and slept so as to not miss her spot in line. There were six persons outside Civil Registry department, one from as early as 3:00am.
At the Labour Office one woman who used a cardboard box as bed and slept there had just gotten up. Several persons told this newspaper they had been waiting since 11:00pm Wednesday, while others said they had showed up around 1:00am and others around 2:00am Thursday.
One woman who gave her name as Prudence said the wait was frustrating. "A better system should be in place," she said.
The BTA applicants said the Labour Department staffers were not at fault, as they were doing their utmost, but said a system should be instituted to prevent the chaos that occurs when the office opens.
Many of the applicants who spoke to this newspaper said they had been visiting the office for several days, but due to the chaos had been unable to obtain numbers for service. One man said he had visited last week, but had been "sent away." He said he had visited again on Tuesday and again had been turned away as he was too late. He decided to go at 2:00am on Thursday to better his chances of obtaining a number.
He assumed the role of security on this night and was instrumental in placing persons who showed up in queue, to prevent chaos when the much larger crowd showed up at dawn.
In giving an insight into the BTA procedure, the workers said the applicants were first required to visit the IND office to register. They are then given a paper to visit the Labour Office with their employer to "sign" for them. Most of the immigrants tough it out in the long queues and call their employers when it is their turn to be served.
The workers are then required to visit the Island Receiver's Office to pay, then they have to return to the Labour Office with their receipts, and then head back to the IND building.
Two female resort workers who spoke to this newspaper outside the Census Office said chaos had erupted at the Labour Office on Tuesday when they visited. They said persons who had turned up around 7:00am had been pushing and shoving because they wanted numbers. Many of the persons who had been there hours earlier did not receive numbers. The following morning they went to the office at 2:00am and said they were "lucky" to get numbers
Marlin said this "inhumane" situation should be a "thing of the past." He had proposed that government determine how many persons it could handle in a day and based on this number government should invite outstanding applicants to the office and give out numbers equivalent to a week, or more if necessary, on a "first come, first served" basis, with a specific number of applicants to be handled each day.
"If you estimate you can handle 100 people a day, organise for people to gather and even if the line is a mile long, give out numbers 1 to 100 for Monday, another 100 for Tuesday and another 100 for Wednesday. People would then know what day to go to the office, but as it is people show up early only to find out others were there from the night before and they don't even get into the office in the order that they have arrived.
"I suggest that they create a more humane and organised system," Marlin had said. "But don't have people camping out or sleeping out on the Pondfill. It's not good for us to call ourselves country and behave in such an underdeveloped and inhumane manner. This should be thing of the past."
Not many people were outside the Labour Office when this newspaper checked back on Thursday afternoon.
Mexico The X Factor Borrowing & debt Post-traumatic stress disorder Radio industry Top 10s
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Person of the Year 2010: TEAM ST. MAARTEN!
The latter was possible to a large extent through the efforts of two political leaders and a handful of advisors and officials. This group of people referred to as "Team St. Maarten" is The Daily Herald's undisputed "Person of the Year" 2010.
There were other candidates, such as the St. Maarten Tourist Office for keeping the all-important number of stay-over visitors up despite the after-effects of the global financial-economic crisis on especially international travel, while the Harbour Group of Companies even managed to secure continued growth of the local cruise industry in this difficult business climate.
The political landscape also changed dramatically in the past year, as already-independent Island Councilman Theo Heyliger definitely broke with the internally troubled Democratic Party (DP) his grandfather Claude Wathey had co-founded to form the new United People's (UP) party, which after only a few months of existence in the election of September 17 managed to earn six of the 15 seats in the first Parliament of Country St. Maarten and formed a government with DP (two seats) to send Heyliger's former coalition partner National Alliance (NA). the biggest party with seven seats, to the opposition benches.
The Brooks Tower Accord (BTA) process to legalise thousands of foreigners duly employed, but residing on the island without proper documentation for years certainly made an impact, as it regulated a de facto, already-existing situation and thus enabled more effective control in the near future as well.
The work of the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) led by Eileen Healy also deserves a mention, because very little ? actually close to nothing ? had been available on the island for people with mental issues until recently, and an ongoing effort is now at least being made to fill that void.
Historic
But, all in all, 2010 was first and foremost the year St. Maarten became an autonomous country within the Dutch Kingdom based on the majority choice in the referendum of 2000, a full decade ago. It took that long and the process was often frustrating, but particularly DP leader Sarah Wescot-Williams and NA leader William Marlin showed an unwavering determination to get the job done, with the indispensable backing of trusted advisors Eugene Holiday and Richard Gibson, Sr., as well as key officials Dennis Richardson and Joane Dovale-Meit.
While there were many others who made a contribution, it was primarily this "Team
St. Maarten" that conducted the negotiations at political as well as technical levels to achieve the result celebrated on 10-10-10. That the public learned later that a tax increase would be necessary to balance the 2011 budget, because country status had turned out to be more costly than foreseen, among other reasons, was somewhat of a rude awakening for many, but does not detract from the merit of the historic constitutional achievement.
Perhaps the best part of St. Maarten's constitutional campaign was its non-partisan nature. While in Cura�ao, for example, there was sharp division within the political establishment on the proposed changes, here the issue was elevated above party politics despite several elections, and the Island Council as a whole continued to support "Team St. Maarten," regardless of who was in government during the past 10 years.
Of course, there were ups and downs when it came to involving the opposition and differences of opinion on details, but in the end local leaders kept on backing the team and thus ensured that the goal was ultimately realised on 10-10-10. That then-commissioner Marlin and opposition leader Wescot-Williams sat side-by-side to sign the final agreement in the Netherlands and presented it jointly on their return to the island was an important and crystal-clear message both to the Kingdom partners and to the rest of the world that country St. Maarten enjoyed broad support.
For their efforts, sticking together and overcoming all obstacles to give the people of St. Maarten what they asked for, "Team St. Maarten" is The Daily Herald's Person of the Year.
House prices Christmas markets Chelsea Mexico The X Factor Borrowing & debt
Country St. Maarten has its first National Park
PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Franklin Myers signed a major step towards marine environmental protection for Country St. Maarten on Thursday, December 31, when he approved the establishment of Man of War Shoal Marine Park.
According to St. Maarten Nature Foundation Marine Park Manager Tadzio Bervoets, the establishing of Man of War Shoal Marine Park is in accordance with the Specially Protected Areas of Wildlife (SPAW) Protocol and with the Federal Decree on Maritime Management.
The boundaries of the Marine Park are 17�57.0N to 18�N and 63�01.03W to 63�04.05W, in an area better known as "the Proselyte Reef Complex." This area includes the island's most ecologically and economical important marine habitat, including extensive coral reef areas and sea grass beds.
This area was chosen as a priority for official conservation because of its intrinsic ecological, economic and cultural value. Man of War Shoal Marine Park is a home and migratory stopover or breeding site for 3 IUCN Red List Species, 10 CITES Appendix I species and 89 Appendix II species.
It is an area with a relatively healthy population of marine mammals, including migratory whales and dolphins, and numerous species of sharks, sea turtles and fish.
Studies conducted by St. Maarten Nature Foundation have shown that biodiversity in this area, particularly coral reef density, is high and the economic goods and services the ecosystem provides are in excess of US $50 million annually.
Previous plans to develop a Marine Park for St. Maarten were too complex in design, which led to discontent from various stakeholders, especially fishermen who saw their traditional fishing grounds encroached on. The draft ordinance also clashed with the Minister's responsibilities for ensuring safe waterways and anchorages.
Through various consultations and meetings with the various stakeholders it was decided to implement Marine Conservation in St. Maarten in stages, of which the establishment of Man of War Shoal Marine Park is the first and most important step.
"We have been working very hard for very long to realise marine environmental protection for St. Maarten, and now, with the hard work and guidance of especially Mr. Mike Stamm of the Department of Civil Aviation, Shipping and Maritime Affairs and through the appointment of the Honourable Minister Meyers, Country St. Maarten has its first National Park, a protected area which will not only seek to protect natural marine habitat, but which will also enhance St. Maarten as an environmentally sustainable tourism product," said Bervoets.
He said the biodiversity of St. Maarten waters had been degrading steadily over the last four decades. "The 'eleventh hour,' so to speak, has come and gone," he said.
Man of War Shoal Marine Park also has significant economic importance, as diving in marine parks is on the rise globally and generally accepted by the diving tourist as a "must do" vacation activity.
Bervoets said that with proper protection and management in place, the establishing of a marine protected area would increase the St. Maarten tourism product. Local fisheries also will be enhanced through environmental protection. Research has shown that marine protected areas increase fish populations and fish size of commercial species in nearby fishing grounds.
Man of War Shoal Marine Park also includes Proselyte Reef, which was named after the HMS Proselyte, a 32-gun frigate that struck Man of War Shoal on September 4, 1801. Artefacts such as large anchors, cannons, barrel hoops, cannon balls and pottery are still evident on this popular St. Maarten dive site. The site is also considered a marine archaeological treasure.
Efforts to establish a marine protected area for St. Maarten were started by the Nature Foundation on its founding in 1997. After a considerable length of time, during which numerous stakeholder consultations, meetings and deliberations were held, this important first step has been taken by the government of new Country St. Maarten.
"The Nature Foundation would like to acknowledge the help and support of the Honourable Minister Franklin Meyers, Miguel de Weever, Lou Halley, Mike Stamm, Eddy Johnson, the VROMI Department, Olivia Lake, the late Joseph Vliegen, the late Marjolijn Richardson, Andy Caballero, Paul Ellinger, Beverly Nisbeth, Robbie Cijntje, current board members and, of course, the dedicated staff of St. Maarten Nature Foundation," said Bervoets.
The Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) has been a continuous source of support and a resourceful partner of St. Maarten Nature Foundation and has contributed greatly towards the realisation of nature conservation in general and marine conservation more specifically for the island.
St. Maarten Nature Foundation will launch a broad-based information campaign in the coming weeks, explaining to the citizens of St. Maarten their newly-established Man of War Shoal Marine Park.
Birmingham City Roberto Mancini Biffy Clyro Liberal-Conservative coalition Australia Francesca Panetta
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)