UKRAINE….

On December 22, with the Communists absent from the parliamentary chamber, a large but tenuous ten-party coalition approved the nomination of central banker Viktor Yushchenko as prime minister. Yushchenko, 45, is a nonparty, pro-market economist. In his first acts, he withdrew some 200 bills submitted by his predecessor and presented a revised budget, leaner by over $1 billion. His priorities, he told the parliament, are reform of government administration, finance, and taxation; economic liberalization; curbing industrial subsidies; and battling poverty. He will need unwavering support from President Leonid Kuchma to accomplish even part of this ambitious agenda.