NO JAPANESE-RUSSIAN FISHING AGREEMENT.

Russian and Japanese delegations negotiating an agreement to regulate fishing rights for Japanese boats in the waters off the disputed Kuril Islands have failed to finalize a document for signing at the November 1-2 meeting between Russian president Boris Yeltsin and Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. Russian officials said that some progress had been made at the latest — and twelfth — round of fishing talks, which concluded in Moscow on October 17, but significant differences apparently remain on a number of key points. (Itar-Tass, October 17-18; Kyodo, October 18)

French Journal: Half Million Kazakhs Contaminated by Nuclear Tests.