Ukraine's president and prime minister today said they have agreed to hold early parliamentary elections. The announcement marks a breakthrough in the leaders' monthlong political standoff sparked by President Viktor Yushchenko's decree to dissolve parliament and call early elections.

Apparently sticking to the seniority rule in India, BJP chief Rajnath Singh has said his predecessor L K Advani would be the party's candidate for the Prime Minister's post "after" Atal Bihari Vajpayee as he ruled himself out of the race for the top job.

Viktor Yushchenko, the embattled president of Ukraine, has offered a compromise to his political opponents, postponing by a month the date of early parliamentary elections. It has been less than a month since Yushchenko threw down the gauntlet to Ukraine's ruling coalition.

An automated system to be introduced in Armenia for the first time in the upcoming parliamentary elections will enable the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) to work more effectively and transparently.

Signs of a breakthrough appeared today in Ukraine's political crisis as the feuding president and prime minister softened their positions. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych suggested he may agree to take part in early parliamentary elections as demanded by his rival, President Viktor Yushchenko.

Supporters of Ukraine's president and prime minister are holding rival rallies in Kyiv today as the country's political crisis enters its second week with no sign of a breakthrough, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported.

The latest round of talks between Ukraine's president and prime minister today ended without a breakthrough in the country's deepening political crisis, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko today threatened to prosecute officials who fail to obey his order to hold early parliamentary elections, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported. Speaking to an emergency session of the National Security Council, he said he would not take "a single step" toward repealing his decree to dissolve parliament and call new elections.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said today the ruling coalition and the government will not prepare for early elections until the Constitutional Court rules on the issue, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported.

Viktor Yushchenko, the president of Ukraine, has signed a decree dissolving parliament and ordering new elections, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported.

The daughter of Kyrgyzstan's ousted President Askar Akaev was registered today as a candidate for parliament in an election scheduled for April 29.