BRUSSELS, Nov. 20 - Ukraine has a good chance to complete all the necessary World Trade Organization accession procedures by the end of this year and become a member in 2008, which will allow the country to start working on the creation of a free-trade zone with the European Union, EU Commissioner for Trade Peter Mandelson believes.

KIEV, Nov. 20 - The Ukrainian State Fund for insurance against workplace accidents will pay UAH40 million (about $7.9 million) to injured miners and the families of miners killed in the gas explosion at Zasyadko mine in Donetsk on Nov. 18, according to the Labor and Social Policy Committee.

KIEV, Nov. 20 – Fire continues to rage at the Zasyadko coal mine three days after a powerful methane gas explosion killed at least 89 miners and left 11 missing, a senior official said Tuesday.

KIEV, Nov. 20 – Speculation mounted on Tuesday that President Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense group may nominate Ivan Pliushch, his top security advisor and a long-time ally, as the speaker of Parliament.

SKOPJE (Macedonia), Nov. 17 ??“ The council of ministers of the Energy Community has given Ukraine observer status, Energy Minister Yuriy Boiko told the press in Skopje on Friday.

SKOPJE (Macedonia), Nov. 17 ??“ Ukraine wants to deepen energy cooperation with the European Union, according to Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko.

BRUSSELS, Nov. 20 ??“ Ukraine, with its vast natural gas and oil pipelines and storage tanks, should become an active member of European Union??™s energy treaty, a top security advisor to President Viktor Yushchenko said Monday.

KIEV, Nov. 20 ??“ Internal Affairs Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, a loyalist to President Viktor Yushchenko, on Monday was found guilty on two counts of corruption allegations in a controversial district court ruling in Kiev, lawyers said.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 ??“ The U.S. Senate approved a motion seeking to repeal the Jackson-Vanik provision on Ukraine, a sign that trade restrictions imposed 31 years ago may soon end, RIA Novosti, a Russian newswire, reported Saturday.

KIEV, Nov. 18 ??“ A Kiev court ruled Friday to reinstate Sviatoslav Piskun as the prosecutor general in a move that may lead to a legal clash in which two people hold the same position. The ruling is a setback for President Yushchenko who sacked Piskun Oct. 14