The Assistant Commissioner in charge of Operations – Moses Charles – says he cannot say much about the operations that took place Friday. He says it is because the weeks long campaign is on-going – he wants to protect the men and women still out in the field. Charles says the operation, like the raids were intelligence driven. They are the culmination of weeks of investigations. He says the raids were very successful and have resulted in a wider scope of investigations. Moses Charles is Acting Commissioner in John Broughton’s absence. He has promised to brief the public on the full outcome of the operations next week.

Investigators still do not know whether the new born baby was a boy or a girl and how he or she died. The post mortem did not reveal much detail because of the condition of the body. Assistant Police Commissioner for Crime Vernon Francois says what investigators know is that the baby was less then ten days old.

Investigators are looking for a woman who were expecting recently, but is without a child. Francois says lawmen are pursuing some leads on the body discovery.

Francois says the investigation into the discovery of the body is ongoing. The body was dragged by dogs to the discovery scene. The arms and lower part of the carcass appeared to have been chewed off, as well as the head. Francois says the incident has sparked concern among police officers. The discovery was made by a Ciceron resident in her front yard when she woke up Thursday morning.

careened off the road and slammed into a utility pole. Also, three people escaped with only minor injuries when the SUV in which they were driving veered off the Canelles Bridge. That area has been the scene of many collisions

Lawmen arrested a murder suspect, on the run for over eight years. Julian cadet is alleged to have killed Ricardo Edwards on February 8th 2000 after the two got into an altercation. The incident occurred in the community of Agard in Morne Du Don. The accused later fled the scene and had not been apprehended by police until Wednesday this week. Assistant police commissioner for crime Vernon François says the man was arrested by lawmen in the southern town of Soufriere. The accused was then taken to Castries where he was formally charged for murder. Cadet was scheduled to appear in court on Friday to answer to the charges.

The Agriculture Minister vowed not to get involved in a dispute he says is between two private entities – but now all bets are off. Ezekiel Joseph says he will no longer remain a bystander, while the Island’s farmers suffer. He has called on the SLBC to retract clause six of its injunction that prevents WIBDECO from entering into an agreement with any other party.

He says with this clause the Island’s farmers will suffer substantially in terms of price per box and the reduction in social premiums.

SLBC has maintained the interests of farmers are top priority. Joseph says it is time the Company proves this by retracting the clause. Amid reports that the Dominica Banana Producers Limited will follow in the SLBC’s footsteps – and file its own injunction against WIBDECO – the Agriculture Minister is advising Windward Islands Banana Officials to reconsider.

Lawyers representing the St. Lucia banana corporation have responded to the agriculture minister’s letter to the SLBC chairman. Anthony Astaphan wrote to Ezechiel Joseph stating that he was dealing with the matter since local attorneys for the SLBC were in court Friday dealing with an application filed by WIBDECO. In his letter, Astaphan says the SLBC disputes the minister’s allegation that FLO cert wrote to WIBDECO warning that it can only trade fair-trade bananas from the Windward Islands through WINFA. He says WIBDECO CEO Bernard Cornibert and the company have by-passed the SLBC and the Dominica banana producers’ limited in favour of WINFA possibly for their own personal interests.

A subsequent statement by the National Workers Union that it was considering a request to represent the Almond Employees sparked a heated war of words between the two organisations. Alcide says that Union has invited Seamen’s to a meeting to discuss the situation. He has accepted.

Not so fast says NWU Officials. They say the NWU has maintained a cordial relationship with the Seamen’s Union, but a meeting is not necessary. The NWU says the records speak for themselves – two petitions in six months. The Union General Secretary George Goddard says it is not the NWU’s issue. Alcide says the Almond employees have a choice of Union – but should be cautious. He says a new labour agreement is only two weeks away and he will meet the members on Monday. If the majority of workers vote against the Union, they will be free to establish ties with another.

He says the regional approach to water resource management seeks to protect the region’s water sources from those issues. The Global Water Partnership is also trying to introduce mechanisms to monitor the progress of the organisation throughout its member states. GWP`s Network Officer Mercy Watchmeister says the intention is improve the work of the organisation for the period 2009 – 2013. The Global Water Partnership will host various activities over the weekend to review its operations on St.Lucia and to educate water managers on the importance of a sustainable water supply.

Seamen’s union president Alexis alcide says a simple misunderstanding created havoc at the union office earlier this week, but things are back to normal. The union’s general secretary, employed there for over a decade, said she received a letter signed by Alcide and dated march 31st informing her that her employment had been terminated as of that date. Alcide was taken to task by the union’s members for sacking the general secretary and within 24 hours the decision appeared to have been overturned,  and Cecelia Adolph was back at work. Alcide says it was simply an internal misunderstanding concerning Adolph’s contract.

Alcide says Adolph was asked to submit the terms of her contract prior to march 31st, but failed to do so. He says the situation is now under control, and the work of the union will go on. Alcide says the terms of Adolph’s new contract are now under review. She is represented by the national workers union.