Ukraine parliament approves early election bills News
Ukraine parliament approves early election bills

[JURIST] Ukraine's parliament [official website, in Ukrainian] Friday approved a series of bills paving the way for early parliamentary elections on September 30. The bills, reflecting an earlier political compromise [JURIST report] between rivals President Viktor Yushchenko [official website; JURIST news archive] and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych [BBC profile] that adverted a violent confrontation between their fractions, had previously twice failed to gain parliamentary approval [JURIST report].

Also on Friday, Yushchenko reinstated former Prosecutor General Olesandr Medvedko, who served as Prosecutor General from 2005 until April 2007 when Yushchenko replaced him with Svyatoslav Piskun. Yushchenko fired Piskun last Thursday, which prompted Interior Minister Vasyl Tsushko to dispatch police to prevent his removal [JURIST report]. AP has more. RIA Novosti has additional coverage.

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Pope Urban II threw his support behind what would become the First Crusade on November 27, 1095 during the Council of Clairmont. The Pope urged the council's participants to render aid to the Byzantine Empire, which was being attacked by the Seljuks. Pope Urban called for a wide coalition of rich and poor to combat the threat, which eventually resulted in the conquest of much of the Muslim-controlled Levant by the Crusaders and the establishment of the Crusader States. Read Pope Urban's address.  

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