Ukraine

BO YIBO, 98 Leader in Tiananmen protests The last of the "Eight Immortals" who led China through economic reforms and the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests has died, an official news agency reported Tuesday. Hong Kong's Phoenix Satellite Television, which has close ties to Beijing, said Mr. Bo died Monday at a hospital in the Chinese capital. The father of China's commerce minister, he was a veteran of the 1949 communist revolution and a former vice premier. He was the last of the "Eight Immortals," the group of revolutionary veterans who included supreme leader Deng Xiaoping, and led China through the launch of economic reforms in 1979 and the upheaval of 1989, the year of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.

MOSCOW -- Russia and Belarus traded bitter words yesterday in a dispute over natural gas prices that threatened to damage relations between the longtime allies and disrupt supplies to other European countries. The Russian state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom reiterated a threat to cut off natural gas for Belarus on Monday if no agreement on price is reached by then, and it accused Belarus of planning to steal gas intended for European Union states by tapping into pipelines carrying Russian gas west.

KIEV, Ukraine -- Viktor F. Yanukovych, the humiliated loser two years ago when Orange Revolution protests forced a presidential runoff election to be repeated, completed a remarkable political comeback yesterday by becoming Ukraine's prime minister. Yanukovych swiftly declared that he intended to govern as a partner with President Viktor A. Yushchenko, his 2004 rival. Yushchenko ended months of political uncertainty Thursday by agreeing to nominate Yanukovych as prime minister rather than dissolve parliament and call new elections.

MOSCOW -- July was a good month for Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. First, the elusive Chechen separatist leader Shamil Basayev, who claimed responsibility for the most horrific terrorist acts of the past decade in Russia, was killed. His death July 10 allowed Mr. Putin to claim a victory in the global war on terror just ahead of the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg. The July 15-17 summit was another feather in the cap of Mr. Putin, who faced little of the expected criticism as he played proud host to President Bush and other world leaders in his hometown.

HAMBURG, Germany -- Somewhere among the four World Cup quarterfinal matches, a great moment surely awaits. But it is the Argentina-Germany quarterfinal clash in Berlin today that has everyone talking. World Cup Today: Argentina vs. Germany, 10:55 a.m., ESPN; Italy vs. Ukraine, 2:55 p.m, ESPN2

MOSCOW -- Yulia V. Tymoshenko, who is poised to return as Ukraine's prime minister, vowed yesterday to review a disputed deal with Russia on natural gas imports, setting the stage for a new confrontation that could disrupt her country's economy and threaten supplies of Russian gas to Europe. She spoke as three political parties once closely allied with President Viktor A. Yushchenko - and then deeply divided -signed an agreement to create a parliamentary coalition and, eventually, a new government that would follow the pro-Western course he has set. The agreement ended nearly three months of political paralysis, but it left unsolved many of the issues that divided Yushchenko's supporters after he took office in January 2005.

MOSCOW -- After months of tough negotiations, pro-Western parties that led Ukraine's Orange Revolution reached agreement yesterday on restoring a coalition that would return former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to power. "We won democracy for Ukraine by approving this decision today," Tymoshenko told parliament as she and other coalition leaders announced the agreement. The country's new parliament faces a Saturday deadline to approve the deal, which could fall apart because of tensions within the coalition.

KIEV, Ukraine -- Less than a year and a half ago, Viktor A. Yushchenko became president of Ukraine in a peaceful revolution and declared the beginning of a new political era that seemed destined to take firm hold and influence Ukraine's neighbors. He has been proved right, even as democratic change has followed a course that Yushchenko and promoters of civil society didn't expect. On Sunday, Yushchenko's party placed third in the first parliamentary elections since he became president.

NATIONAL Bush and GOP governors Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose political standing is as low as President Bush's, exemplifies the trouble Republican governors are facing this election year. California and 35 other states are choosing governors, and Democrats are favored to make gains that could prove influential in the 2008 presidential election. pg 1a Critical day for immigration President Bush's long journey to immigration reform comes to a crucial test today, as the Senate embarks on an immigration debate that will shape lives, borders and political careers.

KIEV, Ukraine -- Loathed by many Ukrainians during the Orange Revolution that reversed his rigged presidential victory in 2004, Viktor Yanukovych appeared to engineer the unlikeliest of political comebacks yesterday, as voters disillusioned with Ukraine's pro-West leadership elected a new parliament. Exit polls released late yesterday had Yanukovych's Party of Regions garnering the largest share of votes in a contest regarded as crucial to Ukraine's future. Recent constitutional changes transfer from the president to parliament the power to select a prime minister and much of the Cabinet.