Ukraine's Yanukovich, opposition agree to scrap some anti-protest laws

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By Richard Balmforth and Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich agreed in talks with opposition leaders to the repeal of some anti-protest laws and to discuss the fate of the current government at a crunch session of parliament on Tuesday, called to end two months of unrest against his rule. But former Economy Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, now a leader of the opposition, refused his offer of the prime minister's job, setting the scene for a tough political battle in parliament over opposition demands for concessions, including an amnesty for detained protesters. There was no mention of any declaration of a state of emergency - something that Yanukovich's Cabinet ministers threatened to call for on Monday to re-establish control over the security situation in the country, where protesters are seizing public buildings. Talk of a state of emergency being declared in the former Soviet republic of 46 million made the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, hastily move up a visit to Kiev on Tuesday.




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