A small group of business people wait outside the Préfecture Thursday morning. They were protesting the decision to implement border controls again. (Robert Luckock photo)

MARIGOT—A group of some twenty-five to thirty predominantly French metropolitan business people gathered outside the Préfecture Thursday morning from 8:00am to protest the border closures and restrictions and the impact this is having on the economy.

A satellite image shows Tropical Storm Isaias as it progresses over the northeast United States August 4, 2020. (NOAA/Handout via Reuters)

 HOUSTON--The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Thursday predicted up to 16 more named tropical storms this year, to as many as 25, the highest in the agency's history.

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten offered a counterproposal to the Caribbean Reform Entity in a letter to Dutch State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops on Friday, July 31. The three-tiered scheme separates the financial, supervisory and executing aspects of the proposed structural reforms.

PHILIPSBURG--Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs said during the live virtual Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday that government is considering additional measures in response to the rising number of cases of COVID-19 in St. Maarten and the closure of the border with the French side.

MARIGOT--French St. Martin is now up to sixteen active COVID-19 cases after nine new cases were reported by regional health authority ARS on Wednesday for the reporting period July 31 to August 5.