For those of you who haven’t alrady seen it through other blogs, European Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstr?m now has a weblog on her official site. There are no comments yet, and no gossip about what happens in meetings of the Commission, but it’s an interesting step forward.

Ukraine’s Central Electoral Commission has now officially declared Viktor Yushchenko to be the winner of the Presidential election, though Yanukovich reportedly still plans to appeal the decision. The BBC reports that Yushchenko may be sworn in as President as early as this weekend. More information at Le Sabot.

In what will most likely be our final Ukraine update of the year, Viktor Yanukovych has resigned as Prime Minister of Ukraine.
“I have made a decision and am formally submitting my resignation,” he said in a televised address.
However, the man declared to have lost the country’s re-run presidential election to Western-leaning Viktor Yushchenko has refused [...]

Like most other bloggers, there’s really not much one can say about the Asian earthquake that’s not already echoing through the heads of our readers. The latest estimate I’ve heard is of at least 57,000 people dead, a number that’s getting too large to contemplate.
It may not feel like much, but we can all do [...]

More information about the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko is coming out as the doctors analyse the samples more, and what’s being found out is frankly scary:
Tests have revealed that the chemical used to poison Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko was pure TCDD, the most harmful known dioxin.
TCDD is a key ingredient in Agent Orange - [...]

The Financial Times has an interesting article about how the Ukrainian government did consider the use of force against the protestors, but eventually backed down, mainly because President Kuchma blocked it.
Those lobbying for the use of force included senior officials, among them Viktor Medvedchuk, the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration and Viktor Yanukovich, the [...]

The first exit polls in the Romanian Presidential election show the race as being too close to call with both Nastase and Basescu polling around 50% - one poll shows an exact tie, while another gives Nastase a 50.7% to 49.3% advantage. The full result is expected sometime tomorrow.

Via the BBC:
Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko’s mystery illness was caused by poisoning, his Vienna doctors say.
The doctors said extensive tests showed a form of dioxin had been used, leaving Mr Yushchenko’s face disfigured.
They described the poisoning as serious and said that if left untreated it could have killed him.
[...]
“There is no doubt about [...]

Following the reports earlier this week about the non-confirmation of the cause of Viktor Yuschenko’s illness, he has now returned to the hospital in Austria this weekend for a series of further tests that will try and assess the cause of it.
At the clinic in Vienna, doctors will carry out tissue biopsies, including tests on [...]

The last barrier to the re-run of the Ukrainian Presidential election has been lifted, as the Parliament has now approved the combined package of changes to the Constitution and election regulations.
The main features of the agreement - which President Kuchma immediately signed into law after they were passed - are:
Reforms of the Central Electoral Commission, [...]