Kiev  - Ukraine's long-running political crisis took a step towards resolution on Tuesday as the previously warring parliament factions elected a compromise candidate to lead the legislature.

A total of 244 members of the 450-seat parliament supported Volodymyr Litvin, head of the tiny Litvin Block Party, as parliament's new speaker, the Interfax news agency reported.

London, Dec. 9 : NATO countries are scrambling for alternative routes as far afield as Belarus and Ukraine to supply their forces in Afghanistan, reports the Guardian newspaper.

The step is being taken in the wake of four serious attacks on US and NATO supplies in Pakistan during the past month, including two in the past three days.

Kiev  - A spokesman for Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Monday said a parliamentary election set for mid-December was "on hold," marking the govermnent's first official admission the vote would not be as scheduled.

"The order on the new elections has been placed on hold, but (the vote) has not been cancelled," said Iryna Bannikova, at a Kiev press conference.

Yushchenko dissolved a hung parliament in October, ordering new elections for December 15. Opponents within the administration and the legislature torpedoed the Ukrainian leader's initiative by refusing to authorize government financing for the polling, or prepare voter lists.

Kiev - Ukraine's top diplomat on Wednesday tried to put the best face possible on NATO's refusal to invite Kiev to join any time soon, instead saying his government "had achieved everything we wanted."

Volodymyr Ohryzko, Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, called a Tuesday decision by NATO headquarters not to offer Ukraine and Georgia fast-track membership "The result that we were working for: We have de facto received an action plan for the preparation of Ukraine to join NATO."

Kiev - The Ukrainian government worsened official predictions for the economy on Wednesday, halving expected annual GDP growth for 2009 to between 3 and 4 per cent.

The former Soviet republic's economy already has moved into a full recession, with GDP contracting 2 per cent during December alone, and annual inflation standing at 21 per cent, a Ministry of Economy official said.

Ukraine's Ministry of Economy as recently as June had been estimating that the country would over the course of 2008 see 7 per cent annual GDP growth, and 15 per cent inflation.

Kiev - Bad weather forced Greek football side Olympiakos to make an unscheduled landing and an unplanned 500-kilometre journey by bus ahead of a UEFA Cup match on Wednesday, Korrespondent magazine reported Tuesday.

The Athens club had been en route to the city Kharkiv to play Metalist when fog closed in on the east Ukrainian city's airport.

Olympiakos players and staff landed at the main airport of the Ukrainian capital Kiev in the early afternoon and, after delays, continued on to Kharkiv by hired bus.