Kiev  - Ukrainian law enforcers on Tuesday formally charged the ethnic Nigerian leader of a hugely popular evangelical Christian church of complicity in bilking his congregation of millions, the Interfax news agency reported.

Pastor Sunday Adelaja, senior pastor of Embassy of God in Kiev, Ukraine, was among the ringleaders in an international scheme to attract funds from Ukrainian churchgoers into questionable Nigerian businesses run by friends and relatives, the accusation read in part.

Kiev  - The German real estate developer ECE Projektmanagement on Tuesday announced it was shutting down its operation in the former Soviet republic Ukraine, the Interfax news agency reported.

ECE Ukraine, the branch office of the Hamburg-headquartered company, will close its doors for good by March's end with all staff sacked, according to the report.

The company was freezing all operations in Ukraine for the "indefinite future", according to a statement.

Kiev  - Manufacturing in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine is down by nearly a third over 2008 indicators, but recent data gives hope an economic turnaround is in sight, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Monday.

"Practically in all sectors with the exception of energy we already are registering positive growth, and some industries are up as much as 20 per cent," she claimed, in comments reported by Interfax.

Kiev  - Ukraine's government has met International Monetary Fund (IMF) demands by making politically-painful changes to monetary and fiscal law, a move opening the way for more emergency credits, a senior official said Wednesday.

Ukraine's cabinet in morning a morning session passed resolutions drastically limiting where future IMF loans to Ukraine might be spent, among other Fund pre-conditions for further loans, said Vice Minister Hryhory Nemyra, according to an Interfax news agency report.

Kiev - Seven Ukrainian health inspectors were injured Wednesday by a hand grenade thrown into their office, Korrespondent newspaper reported.

The blast took place in the Ukrainian capital Kiev shortly after midday.

The target, a branch office Ukraine's Sanitation and Epidemic Inspectorate near the Kiev central train station, suffered broken windows and smoke damage from the explosion.

Kiev  - Masked government agents broke into the headquarters of Ukraine national natural gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy on Wednesday to search the premises, with the country's national intelligence agency SBU saying the raid was part of an anti-corruption action.

The armed men wore black combat uniforms commonly used by Ukrainian special force police and military units, witnesses said.

The SBU assault teams totalling 20-30 troopers were moving through Naftogaz offices searching for unidentified documents, they said.