The fat lady has sung

Not anything you've missed, but just as a wrap-up.

Ukraine's Supreme Court threw out on Thursday a challenge to last month's presidential election, paving the way for liberal Viktor Yushchenko to take power next week after two weeks in political limbo.

The court rejected an appeal by former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, who lost to Yushchenko in the Dec. 26 vote but tried to force the Central Election Commission to reconsider complaints it already threw out last week. ...

The election commission said it would resume work on Sunday, after remaining closed on Friday for Ukraine's Christmas holiday. The commission must certify and publish the final results before Yushchenko can be declared the winner. ...

Yanukovich could mount another appeal after the commission announces its result. But the court's decisive ruling makes it unlikely he could hold up the process much longer.

As evidence of the on-going mutual suspicion, Yushchenko's followers are reported to suspect that the whole point of the appeals was to give Yanukovich and outgoing President Leonid Kuchma time to cover up shady deals. The challenges Yushchenko faces in shifting from campaigning in a divided nation to governing it are considerable - and not just because of the opposition.

Yushchenko's allies, meanwhile, have been jockeying for positions in his new government. ...

Picking a new prime minister will be tricky because Yushchenko's supporters are divided among several factions in parliament. Even if they agree, they do not have enough votes collectively to guarantee any candidate's confirmation.

Winning the presidency may have been the easy part.