Ukrainian lawmakers OK creating anti-corruption court

MINSK, Belarus (AP) - Ukraine's parliament has approved creating an anti-corruption court, a key step toward restoring international financial aid, but it has fired the finance minister who has been an important reform advocate.

Ukraine has received only about half of a promised $17.5 billion loan package from the International Monetary Fund, with payments delayed because of the country's slow pace of reforms. The IMF has said the creation of an anti-corruption court, which must be approved by President Petro Poroshenko, would encourage further loan payments.

The parliament's dismissal of Oleksandr Danylyuk as finance minister Thursday came after a conflict with Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.

Danylyuk last month wrote to the ambassadors of the G-7 top industrial nations saying that Groysman was stalling vital reforms of the state tax service that are needed to combat corruption.