The World : 1,864 Soviet Jews Leave

Soviet Jewish emigration reached a new eight-year high in August, with a total of 1,864 Jews allowed to leave the country, the agency helping them resettle said. But the number of Armenians permitted to emigrate dropped to 223 in August from 1,022 in the previous month, the Geneva-based Intergovernmental Committee for Migration said. A spokeswoman for the agency had no explanation for the drop. So far this year, 8,241 Armenians have been allowed to leave. The Jewish emigres represented the eighth straight monthly increase, but only 116 emigres opted to go to Israel. The August figure was the highest since May, 1980, when 1,976 Soviet Jews were allowed to emigrate. The eight-month total for 1988 is now at 9,560 emigres, of whom 1,046 went to Israel, the spokeswoman added.