Ukranian leader sacks government in corruption row

UKRAINIAN President Viktor Yushchenko fired his seven-month-old government yesterday, dismissing the heroine of the Orange Revolution that brought him to power as well as one of its top financial backers.

The break-up, amid allegations of corruption, deepens a crisis that has cut into the popularity of the man whose poisoning and defiant stand against ballot-rigging seized the world's attention 10 months ago.

It left him looking isolated, in contrast to the broad coalition that joined last year's mass protests, which many Ukrainians saw as a new start for their nation.