Rada passes bill on domestic, foreign policy at first reading

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has passed the president's bill on the fundamentals of domestic and foreign policy at first reading.

A total of 253 of 430 deputies registered in the session hall voted to pass the bill at first reading. The decision was supported by 171 MPs of the Regions Party, 23 MPs of the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko, ten MPs of the Our Ukraine-People's Self Defence faction, 27 MPs of the Communist Party faction, 19 MPs of the Bloc of Lytvyn, and three independent MPs.