Jamaican PM announces resignation

Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding's office announced Tuesday that he will step down Sunday to be replaced by Education Minister Andrew Holness. The 63-year-old outgoing prime minister, who took office in September 2007, previously scheduled his resignation in November. After being sworn in on Sunday, 39-year-old Holness would become the youngest ever premier of his country. He has already received unanimous endorsement from the lawmakers of the ruling Jamaica Labor Party. Holness was elected to parliament in 1997 when he was 25, and once served as a special assistant to former Prime Minister Edward Seaga, who headed the Labor Party for years before Golding took over the post in 2005. Golding's public support has been declining due to the economic depression troubling the tourist island, which turned to the International Monetary Fund in 2010 for assistance. His political career was also hobbled by his handling of the 2009 U.S. extradition request for Jamaican drug kingpin Christopher "Dudus" Coke, particularly his authorization of a U.S. firm to lobby Washington to drop the request.