KIEV (AFP) – Viktor Yanukovych was to be sworn in as Ukraine’s fourth president Thursday with the country still locked in crisis as his defeated election rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, clings to office.

Yanukovych will take his oath in parliament by placing his right hand on a 16th-century Ukrainian-language gospel and a copy of Ukraine’s constitution.

The new president is expected to return the country of 46 million bridging Russia and the European Union to a more Moscow-friendly course, in a reversal of the pro-Western policies of outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko. But in a signal that he does not want to abandon EU integration, Yanukovych has chosen the EU’s headquarters in Brussels for his first foreign trip Monday before heading to Moscow.

Yanukovych has called on Tymoshenko to resign gracefully after her narrow defeat by a margin of some 3.5 percent in February 7 presidential elections.

Turkey charges 8 more in coup
ISTANBUL (AFP) – A Turkish court charged eight more officers with plotting to topple the Islamist-rooted government in 2003, taking the number of those under investigation to 20, Anatolia news agency reported Thursday.

Prosecutors questioned the eight suspects, three of them retired, for several hours overnight before remanding them in custody in military and civilian prisons in Turkey’s largest city, media reports said.

The Istanbul court handling the probe ruled Wednesday that 12 suspects, also questioned by prosecutors earlier, should be kept in jail pending trial, Anatolia news agency reported. But the court also decided to release around 10 other suspects. The military said earlier the arrest of dozens of serving and retired officers was a “serious situation.”

Flash flood hits Indonesia
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – One person is dead and three others are missing and presumed dead after a flash flood hit a central Indonesian village.

Local police chief Capt. Lisnaryadi, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, said two other villagers are hospitalized in critical condition.

Heavy rain caused a river to break its banks late Wednesday and sweep people and houses away in the Malang district of East Java province. Lisnaryadi said Thursday the body of a man was found in a tree. A search is continuing for the three missing villagers.

Flash floods are common in Indonesia during the current monsoon season. A landslide triggered by heavy rains in West Java on Tuesday claimed more than 40 lives.

Thailand seizes 2 tons of ivory
BANGKOK (AP) _ Thailand has seized two tons of elephant tusks from Africa hidden in pallets labeled as mobile phone parts in the country’s largest ivory seizure.

Thai Customs officials valued Wednesday night’s haul at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport at 120 million baht ($3.6 million). It is further sign that Thailand is emerging as a hub for the illicit trade.

Poaching of elephants in central and eastern Africa has intensified in recent years, with much of the illegal ivory exported to Asia. Seree Thaijongrak, the direct of investigation and suppression bureau for the Customs Department, said that acting on a tip, officials seized two pallets found to contain 239 tusks of African elephants.

The consignment, which originated in South Africa, was labeled as mobile phone parts in a consignment destined for Laos – apparently to confuse customs officials, as Laos has an agreement with neighboring Thailand not to check cargo in transit.