Premier Michael Misick has announced plans to focus on education, health care and land policies, following his Progressive National Party’s (PNP) landslide victory in last Friday’s general elections.

The PNP won 13 seats, while its opponent, the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) secured two.

Misick, who led the party to victory in 2003 after eight years in the opposition, will become premier for his second term since the chief of the victorious party automatically becomes the country’s leader.

During a bitter election campaign, the Opposition, led by party chief Floyd Seymour, alleged that wealthy expatriates were buying land in backroom deals with Misick's Government. It also maintained the economy is languishing and that the lack of good jobs was forcing young people to leave the islands.

Nearly half of this British territory's roughly 35,000 residents are foreigners - including expatriates from Canada and the United States, and thousands of poorer Haitians, Jamaicans and Dominicans.

Education ministers from member countries of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) have agreed to incorporate HIV/AIDS education into school curricula across the sub-region.

The decision was made here earlier this week after a meeting of the ministers and stakeholder groups from OECS territories.

St. Lucia's Education Minister Arsen James said that the delegates agreed that the disease will no longer be considered as solely part of the health sector but moved into the developmental agenda of the OECS.

The Organization of American States (OAS) says it is willing to support the Jamaica government in promoting dialogue on issues relating to campaign financing, in order to set the framework for future legislation.

OAS Secretary-General, Jose Miguel Insulza, who ended a two-day visit to Jamaica last week, said the issue of campaign financing was relevant to the OAS, and the organization would be paying close attention to the matter.

"Our own goal is to have a clear and strong legislation on matters of campaign financing in each country of the region," he said.

Press officers in the Caribbean region came out of a two-day workshop held in Barbados, last week better equipped to deal with issues of crisis and security management for Cricket World Cup 2007.

Organized by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, the workshop held in Bridgetown last Tuesday and Wednesday, afforded participants the opportunity to assess their capability to respond to crisis and security issues during the tournament which opens in the Caribbean next month.

St. Lucia Friday announced a ban on poultry products from the United Kingdom as the British government works to contain an outbreak of bird flu on its soil.

A government announcement here said the ban was implemented to ensure that the dreaded avian or bird flu virus is not spread to the island.

"We have received notification that the UK has become the latest country to be infected and as a consequence we will not be allowing the entry of poultry products," said the island’s chief veterinary officer Dr. George Joseph. The ban became effective Monday 5th February.

He said the ban was a precautionary measure as the respiratory disease can affect both humans and animals and can have major socio-economic implications for the island, if it were to arrive on these shores.

"We do not have the resources to combat a disease of that nature effectively and that would hurt any of these Caribbean islands tremendously," he said.

The officer said that UK poultry supplies which arrived in St. Lucia before the ban are considered safe and the public should not be alarmed by the UK outbreak.