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Ukraine was evenly divided ahead of presidential elections on October 31 as leading opposition candidate and liberal reformer Viktor Yushchenko faced off with the establishment's candidate, prime minister Viktor Yanukovich. Campaigning has been dirty and the threat of riots will hang over Kiev if the opposition feels it has been cheated out of an election victory that could shake up the balance of power and define foreign policy after a decade of dithering between turning east or west. The stakes are high: the two candidates were running neck and neck on the eve of the vote and Ukraine is the only former Soviet republic that can boast a grassroots political opposition.

A five-year battle between the European Commission and Germany came to a head in October as the commissioner for internal markets launched a lawsuit against the German government for flouting EU competition rules. The state has refused to offload its "golden share" in Volkswagen, Europe's biggest car maker, which prevents a hostile foreign takeover.

The third largest US media company, Viacom, has announced that it will buy back as much as $8 billion of its shares, topping the list of recent corporates that have opted to return surplus cash to shareholders.

Average daily turnover on the UK's foreign exchange market reached $753 billion in April 2004, up 49% from 2001 according to a new IFSL report ? Foreign Exchange. There was also a further $80 billion traded in currency derivatives.

A report published by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) warns that the threat of aggressive earnings management to UK corporate reporting is likely to increase with the introduction of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Credit Suisse First Boston has appointed Robert (Bob) Ferguson as a managing director in European High Yield Sales. He will be based in London, reporting to Derrick Herndon, head of European High Yield Sales and Trading, and will join CSFB in early November.

JPMorgan has launched Foreign Exchange Funds Transfer Initiation (FX FTI), an online service offering comprehensive trading and payment facilities. FX FTI offers corporates and financial institutions the ability to streamline FX payments through

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering changing 70 years of securities laws, by allowing some IPO issuers to communicate with investors before an offering.

Two corporate high yield offerings last week had very different receptions, with IT Holding being forced to resize its deal but Editis seeing its bonds nearly 10 times oversubscribed.

Share buy-backs are continuing to prove popular with Carnival the latest corporate to announce a $1 billion share buy-back plan. The ocean liner operator is responding to plans by S&P, the rating agency, to change its method of accounting for company stock that is openly available to shareholders. Under S&P rulings its rated companies will be accounted for by their free float, instead of the total number of shares outstanding. This could increase the sales volume on company stock.

The changing dynamic between CEO, CFO and COO in corporates across the US is ensuring a rise in prominence for the CFO post, says Crist Associates, a Chicago-based recruitment agency. As the percentage of companies with COO's continues to fall (only 14 of the top 50 US companies by market capitalisation have COO's) so CFOs are assuming the role of number two within the management hierarchy.

New research, published by global management psychology firm RHR International, provides clear evidence that careful planning for leadership succession at major organisations has a significant impact on their commercial success.