Viktor Yanukovych was elected on February 7 and inaugurated as Ukraine's fourth president on February 25. June 5 marks his first 100 days in office. Yanukovych won the 2010 Ukrainian presidential elections by the lowest margin in Ukrainian history (3.5 percent, compared to the traditional 8 to 16 percent) and is the first president to be elected with less than fifty percent of the vote. He won the same number of regions (ten out of 27) but with fewer votes than he received in December 2004, despite four out of five years in opposition and a severe financial and economic crisis...

The speed with which Viktor Yanukovich has consolidated his power, stitched up a strategic deal with Russia and ended Ukraine's long romance with NATO has taken his opponents and many in the West by surprise. But although he has coasted through his first days in office with remarkable ease, the president is far from proving he can breathe life into the shattered Ukrainian economy, critics say. Just as Yanukovich chalked up his 100-day milestone last week, breezily promising prosperity and the growth of a competitive economy, the International Monetary Fund weighed in with a reality check...

In Canada, over eight-million people trace their roots to countries that suffered or still suffer under communism. Since the beginning of the first communist regime in 1917 Russia, immigrants from communist countries have flocked to Canada in search of freedom and safety. Canada, being the multicultural country that it is, has sizeable populations that stem from communist or post-communist countries. Canadian communities that support the memorial to victims of communism include: Belarusian, Chinese, Croatian, Cuban, Czech, Estonian, German, Hungarian, Korean, Latvian, Mennonite, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Serbian, Ukrainian, Vietnamese and more. The idea to build a Canadian memorial to victims of communism was...

It's a tall order, in a country that's been paralyzed by political crisis and economic instability for decades. But Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych says he'll establish stability and prosperity by reversing the policies of the pro-Western predecessors he swept out of power in February. In a state of the nation speech on the eve of his 100-day anniversary as president, Yanukovych heaped scorn on the leaders of the Orange Revolution for leaving the country in what he said was a state of "ruin," and identified his administration's priorities. "I propose a course of deep reforms and systematic modernization of the country that covers every area of public life and completes the new wave of much-needed socioeconomic transformations," Yanukovych said...

The Canadian Association for Ukrainian Studies (CAUS) passed a resolution at its Annual General Meeting expressing its concern about recent events in Ukraine that could have serious implications for the academic freedom of universities there. The recent visit of a Security Service of Ukraine agent to the rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Borys Gudziak, for the purpose of pressuring him to stem potential student protest over “controversial (and in some cases inflammatory) policies of the Ukrainian authorities” was the incident of particular concern. The CAUS meeting took place on 29 May at Concordia University in Montreal during the 2010 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. CAUS is a constituent member of the International Association of Ukrainian Studies (MAU) as well as affiliate member of the Canadian Association of Slavists. The current president...

Reading Marianna Wakulowska’s letter to the editor on the May 3rd demonstration in New York, leads me to only one conclusion – Ms. Wakulowska’s should not have been there or at any future demonstration. Demonstrations are a very basic manifestation of the freedoms of speech and assembly covered in this country by the Bill of Rights. People express themselves in different ways. All expressions should be acceptable provided they do not interfere with the rights of others. Ms. Wakulowska was offended and, as she says, ashamed by either or both the appearance of the OUN red-black flag or the youthful throwing of eggs at the Russian Mission...

Members of the Quebec's National Assembly today unanimously passed Bill 390 - An Act to proclaim Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day. The Bill, which was introduced in November by MNA Louise Beaudoin and received unanimous approval at first reading, commemorates victims of the Holodomor (the engineered famine in Ukraine which murdered millions of Ukrainians in 1932-33). The legislation recognizes the Holodomor as "the famine and genocide that occurred in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933 where millions of Ukrainians perished as victims...

Ukraine's ombudsman says the death of a student in police custody in Kyiv last week was murder, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports. Twenty-year-old Ihor Indyl died in Kyiv's Shevchenko district police department on May 25 in unclear circumstances. Police said Indyl was brought in an intoxicated state to the station, where he fell down several times, hitting himself. But Indyl's parents and rights activists disputed that, saying he had been beaten. Talking to RFE/RL today, ombudsman Nina Karpachova said...

Opposition groups vowed on Tuesday to boycott President Viktor Yanukovych’s address to the nation on Thursday, at which he plans to unveil his proposed economic reform package. The boycott is a setback for Yanukovych, signaling that political tensions in Ukraine remain high, weakening the government’s ability to implement unpopular reforms and austerity measures. The president’s annual address to the nation usually takes place in Parliament, but the Yanukovych administration has switched the venue to Ukrayina Palace, the biggest concert hall in downtown Kiev...

On the link below is a summary video of the Toronto Rally in Defence of Ukraine, May 30, 2010. The full video will be available via the same link Wednesday evening, June 2, 2010. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnHt8vgA4D0