Basic groceries.

PHILIPSBURG--Everyday groceries in St. Maarten are about to become noticeably more expensive, with prices for basic items such as rice, pasta, milk, eggs, bread, oranges and lettuce expected to rise by between five and fifteen per cent within weeks.

New General Hospital has reached the highest point of construction.

CAY HILL--The St Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) has reached a major milestone in the construction of the new St. Maarten General Hospital (SMGH), announcing that the project reached its highest point late last week.

Francio Guadeloupe delivering his inaugural lecture at the University of Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM--Anthropologist Francio Guadeloupe delivered a wide-ranging inaugural lecture at the University of Amsterdam on Thursday, calling for a fundamental rethinking of how scholars study relations between the European Netherlands and the Dutch Caribbean.

An artist's impression of the redesigned facility.

PHILIPSBURG--The long-delayed Soualiga Marketplace reconstruction project has been redesigned with expanded features and will now cost approximately Cg. 2.851 million, more than double the original contract sum of Cg. 1.236 million, according to TEATT Minister Grisha Heyliger-Marten.

 By Jacqueline Hooftman

PHILIPSBURG--The judge tasked with determining whether former Member of Parliament Rolando Brison received dollar transfers as payment for cryptocurrency – or whether the funds were direct payments intended to bribe him – admitted on Monday that he is not an expert on cryptocurrency. “You know much more about this matter than I do,” the judge told Brison during the hearing.