PARIS, March 30 - America's top general in Europe has been sent back early from a trip to Washington in what the Pentagon on Sunday called a prudent step given Russia's "lack of transparency" about troop movements across the border with Ukraine, Reuters reported.

KIEV, March 29 - Ukraine's presidential election effectively became a two-horse race on Saturday after boxer-turned-politician Vitaliy Klitschko pulled out and threw his weight behind confectionary oligarch Petro Poroshenko, Reuters reported.

PARIS, March 30 - Four hours of talks between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart failed to break a tense East-West deadlock over how to proceed on the Ukraine crisis, Fox News reported Sunday.

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, March 30 - Ukraine and Brunei have agreed to cancel their visa regimes.

A respective agreement in the form of an exchange of notes between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the government of Brunei regarding the visa-free travel of citizens was signed in Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei) after talks held between Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah.

KIEV, March 30 – Defying an order from President Viktor Yanukovych, the government decided on Wednesday to extend for three months controversial restrictions on exports of grain from Ukraine.

KIEV, March 29 - The government is forecasting a foreign trade deficit this year of $1.903 billion, where it had earlier projected a surplus of $1.836 billion, according to an amended report for the cabinet of ministers and published on the parliamentary website.

KIEV, March 29 – Gas contracts are so favorable for Russia that Moscow demands from Kiev the creation of a union or Kiev's joining the Customs Union in exchange for a review of these contracts, said former President Viktor Yushchenko.

KIEV, March 29 – The situation with payments for consumed energy on the Ukrainian market is critical, according to First Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Kliuyev.

"Ministries, bodies, companies and local power bodies are to ensure payments are made for energy consumed in Ukraine as soon as possible," he said on Saturday at a phone meeting with the participation of heads of regional administrations.

KIEV, March 30 – President Viktor Yanukovych has signed a law which postponed from April 1, 2010 until January 1, 2011 the enactment of laws on the principles of preventing and countering corruption and the responsibility of companies for corrupt offences.

KIEV, March 30 – Parliament on Friday is to hear a report by Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Boiko on the course of talks on gas supplies to Ukraine.