With the help of a $400 million loan from the World Bank, Russia launched a $758 million house-building project, construction minister Yefim Basin said on September 29. According to his presentation, the project's objective is "to leverage private investment in small-scale construction and building material... MORE

In his speech to the UN General Assembly September 28, Ukrainian foreign minister Hennadi Udovenko called for lifting UN sanctions against rump Yugoslavia. In his view, Belgrade had demonstrated its readiness to help restore peace to the region. But Udovenko added that mutual and simultaneous... MORE

1. Western agencies, September 26-27 . 2. Reuter, September 27. 3. Reuter, September 27. 4. Reuter, September 27. 5. Russian TV, September 27. 6. Interfax, Russia's Radio, September 27. 7. Moscow's Echo radio, Public TV, September 27. 8. Russian TV, Public TV, Itar-Tass, September 26... MORE

Uzbekistan, the ex-USSR's top cotton producer, expects a record cotton harvest of at least 4 million tons of raw cotton this year. Harvesting began in early September and will probably end by October 15-20. In 1994 the republic collected 3.9 million tons of raw cotton... MORE

The Kyrgyz parliament's two chambers--the Legislative Assembly and the House of People's Representatives --voted overwhelmingly September 22 and 26, respectively, to schedule a presidential election for December 24. The parliament had, a week earlier, refused to call a referendum on giving president Askar Akayev a... MORE

. Many of the approximately 20 parties and groups comprising the Roundtable Conference, the Azerbaijani opposition's umbrella organization, may boycott the November 12 parliamentary elections if the authorities do not stop a "repressive campaign" against them, a roundtable statement warns. It accuses the authorities of... MORE

Ecological damage to Lithuania stemming from the Soviet military presence in the country over a 48-year period amounts to approximately $1.75 billion, according to the Lithuanian environmental protection ministry's investigation. The amount includes direct damages during the occupation, and cleanup costs since. The result, just... MORE

In a wide-ranging address to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and a news conference in Strassburg September 27, Moldovan president Mircea Snegur solicited Western support for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Moldova and for a settlement in Transdniester. Snegur pointed out... MORE

Russian Public Television (ORT) director general Sergei Blagovolin has publicly apologized to Nobel laureate writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn for failing to consult with him before canceling his television show. Blagovolin, however, called his decision "inevitable and necessary," explaining that viewers were complaining about the program's length... MORE

Yevgeny Melnitsky, the lawyer of controversial entrepreneur Dmitri Yakubovsky, was murdered September 26 in his St. Petersburg apartment. Yakubovsky, who was arrested in January for attempts to sell abroad manuscripts worth $100 million, has appealed to the Prosecutor's Office to be allowed to testify on... MORE