Kiev - Ukraine's government on Friday ordered the stock market to stay closed, stopping shares trading by state instruction for the third time this week.

Management of the nation-leading PFTS stock exchange said it might allow shares trading later in the day, depending on the situation in both domestic and international markets.

The announcement came after a full day of trading on Thursday, during which stocks listed on the PFTS sank on average some 14 per cent in value.

The Ukrainian government halted trading on Wednesday and Monday as well in an a so-far unsuccessful attempt to slow panic sweeping the market, as Ukrainian shares have been dragged down by bad news in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Kiev- Ukraine's government on Friday claimed a controversial Ukrainian tank shipment hijacked by Somali pirates was destined for the Kenyan army, not wartorn South Sudan - making the fate of the freighter, its cargo, and its hapless 20-man crew even murkier than before.

Kiev  - Ukraine's already-unstable banking sector appeared even more shaky on Thursday with dozens of banks applying formally for government assistance.

A total of 25 loan institutions have filed requests for low- interest credits or other state financing, said Anatoly Shapovalov, a spokesman for the National Bank of Ukraine
(NBU), according to an Interfax news agency report.

The NBU announcement came one day after the Ukrainian government unveiled an unprecedented one-billion-dollar bail-out of Prominevestbank, the country's sixth-largest lender.

Kiev/Moscow - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko set December 7 as the date for fresh elections in an announcement on his website on Thursday.

Yushchenko dissolved parliament in a speech broadcast Wednesday evening and called for fresh elections.

Following the collapse of the pro-Western coalition of Yushchenko's party and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc, it is hoped that fresh elections will offer a way out of the current political impasse.

Ukrainians last voted for a new parliament as recently as September 2007.

Kiev - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Wednesday ordered parliament dissolved and called for new elections.

The Orange Revolution leader did not in the short nationally- televised speech make clear when the vote would take place.

Before ceasing work, Ukraine's current parliament should amend the national budget to pay for the national vote, which according to Yushchenko would allow Ukrainians to select a brand new legislature.

Kiev- The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on Wednesday moved to bail out one of the country's banks, extending a low cost credit and banning claims by creditors.

Persons or businesses owed money by Prominvestbank, Ukraine's sixth largest bank, will not be able to press any claims against the company for the next six months, an NBU statement read in part.