UNHCR URGES MOSCOW TO PROTECT ASYLUM-SEEKERS.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has urged the Moscow city authorities to speed up the processing of applications of some 15,000 asylum-seekers from outside the CIS and to protect them from harassment. Earlier this week, protesting Angolan and Zairean asylum-seekers wrecked a UNHCR-administered refugee reception center in Moscow. They were protesting the killing outside Moscow of a Zairean asylum-seeker whose Russian attackers accused him of being an illegal immigrant. (Xinhua, October 9)

Russian Official Favors Hand-Over of Kuril Islands.