Prime minister David Thompson of Barbados has died.
He had been ill with pancreatic cancer since March and had travelled several times to New York for treatment.
Mr Thompson, 48, led the ruling Democratic Labour Party and took office in January 2008.
Governor General Sir Clifford Husbands has appointed deputy prime minister Freundel Stuart to head the government until elections in 2012.
Mr Thompson entered politics in 1987. He became head of the DLP in the early 1990s.
His election in the 2008 election ended the Barbados Labour Party's 13-year run in power.
