Washington - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is expected to visit his counterpart George W Bush on Monday, the White House said Thursday.

Warsaw- PKN Orlen, Poland's biggest refiner, plans to extract oil and gas in Poland, the Baltic Sea and possibly Ukraine and Africa, the company's new head told the Puls Biznesu business daily Tuesday.

PKN Orlen intends to cooperate with Kuwait Energy Company, and the two companies are working on a project in the Baltic that's "only the beginning" of the partnership, the Dziennik daily reported.

"Orlen, in addition to refining oil" and sales, should take up "seeking and extracting raw energy," chief executive Jacek Krawiec told Dziennik.

Kiev, Moscow  - The daughter of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko stepped up her career as a fashion model with runway work at a Milan show, Russia's Izvestia newspaper reported Tuesday.

Vitalina Yushchenko took part in the showing of the summer collection of the Ukrainian designer Aina Gase, according to the report.

Vitalina's portfolio also includes photographs posed for Russian Vogue. Prior to taking up modelling, the 27-year-old mother-of-two had pursued a career as a pop singer.

Vitalina is Yushchenko's eldest child by a previous marriage.

Kiev/Moscow - Ukraine's ruling coalition collapsed, the parliamentary speaker said Tuesday, in a feud between between President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko over whether Russia or the West holds the former Soviet country's future.

"I officially announce the collapse of the coalition of democratic forces," Speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party, which aspires to join NATO and the European Union, pulled out of the shared coalition with Tymoshenko's bloc at the beginning of September after she paired with the pro- Russian opposition to oppose some of the president's policies.

Kiev/Moscow - Ukrainian parliament Speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk said Monday he expected the coalition to break up on Tuesday as a deadline to resolve differences expired.

"Come with flowers, come with wreathes to the funeral of the democratic coalition," Yatsenyuk told journalists in Kiev, Interfax news agency reported.

The fallout between the West and Russia over last month's war in Georgia has imploded, leaving Ukraine's fragile ruling coalition deeply divided over its identity.

Kiev - Ukraine's parliament has rammed through legislation directly challenging President Viktor Yushchenko, placing the country's pro-West ruling coalition in jeopardy, local media reported on Wednesday.

A parliamentary faction led by Yushchenko's erstwhile ally, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshehnko, switched sides during a stormy Monday evening session to join with the pro-Russia Regions Party to approve a package of bills directly aimed at reducing the presidency to the status of mere figurehead.