From 20 countries of Emerging Europe, assigned Fitch ratings, only Armenia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine have positive outlook.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has announced that he has agreed with President Victor Yushchenko to hold early elections in order to overcome the current political standoff in Ukraine.

The anti-crisis group set up to work out legal mechanisms for early parliamentary elections in Ukraine has reconvened in the capital, Kyiv. VOA's Lisa McAdams in Moscow updates the proceedings, which began just after President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych agreed to hold new elections aimed at ending more than a month of political deadlock.

The top prosecutor of Ukraine said that the reason of the explosion of natural gas pipeline, supplying Russian gas to Europe, was negligence. The blast on Monday destroyed about 30 meters (100 feet) of the Urenhoi-Pomary-Uzhhorod line south of Kiev. Nobody was injured.

Ukraine's main opposition leader and former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, says lawmakers from her party will participate in legislative action to resolve the country's political crisis.

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.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has named a new judge to the Constitutional Court, the second such appointment in two days amid a political crisis.

Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko met on Friday, April 27th, to discuss bilateral economic cooperation and preparations for the EURO 2012.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk assured U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Tuesday that his country would adhere to democratic standards in resolving its current political crisis.

Ukraine's parliament today passed a resolution calling for simultaneous parliamentary and presidential elections to be held by December 9. Earlier this month, Yushchenko signed a decree dissolving parliament and ordering new parliamentary elections.

President Viktor Yushchenko and other political leaders can overcome the political crisis in Ukraine by agreeing that a new ballot is the only way to overcome the nearly four-week-old political stalemate. That is the compromise suggested by premier to hold early parliamentary elections.

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.