OSCE Supporting Gender Equality in Tajikistan

KHOROG—The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is trying to bring gender equality to Central Asia, starting with Tajikistan.  A recent OSCE-supported training course for civil servants here had the twin goals of “raising awareness of gender equality issues…and providing…gender analysis tools” for everyday work.  Gunta Robezniece, the “Gender Issues Officer” in the OSCE office in the capital of Dushanbe, said technical support provided by OSCE to the Tajik Civil Service Training Institute, which organized the course, “helped promote the introduction of gender aspects into the training curriculum for civil servants.”   Training Institute Rector Munira Inoyatova said Tajik legislation meets all international requirements regarding gender equality.  Similar “gender equality” courses are planned for Dushanbe, Kurga-Tube and Khujand in the second half of 2006.

Japanese Catholics Want to Canonize ‘Martyrs’

NAGASAKI—The Standing Committee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan has decided that 188 Japanese “martyrs” should be beatified, AsiaNews (not this one) reports.  The 188 are Father Petro Kassui Kibe “and his 187 companions” who were killed in the 17^th century for their faith, and include priests and religious and lay people.  Kibe was a convert to Christianity.  He managed to avoid persecution in Japan and eventually went to Rome, where he joined the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and was ordained a priest.  He returned to Japan to minister to other oppressed Christians, but was captured, tortured and “martyred” in Tokyo in 1639, the report said.  The conference has appointed four bishops to undertake preparations for the beatification:  Monsignors Ryoji Miyahara of Oita, Osamu Mizobe of Takamatsu, Yoshinao Otsuka of Kyoto and Mitsuaki Takami of Nagasaki.  On August 1, the bishops launched a fund-raising drive with the goal of collecting 30 million yen ($260,314.35 US) to cover expenses.  An appeal for donations by the conference was sent to dioceses, religious orders and other Catholic institutions in Japan.  Father Fernando Rojo, a promoter of the canonization cause, said the ceremony would not take place before May 2007.  AsiaNews said the historical and theological commissions of the Vatican Congregation have issued opinions in favor of canonization, but the final decision rests with the Pope.

Commie Computer Cops Continue Internet Crackdown

CHONGQING—In a move “widely condemned” by communist China’s online community, the Chongqing Public Security Bureau has issued new regulations requiring the registration of the city’s one million-plus private Internet users, as well as all online organizations, Hong Kong’s Apple Daily (Ping Kuo Jih Pao) says.  The paper reported that those that do not comply by October 30 may be legally barred from logging on for up to six months.  Until now, Beijing’s computer commissars had required website operators to register, but not users.   Gives a whole new meaning to “cat and ‘mouse’ game,” doesn’t it?

Kazakhstan Adding Ethanol Production to Oil, Gas, Uranium

ALMATY—Oil and gas rich Kazakhstan, which also has large uranium reserves, plans to develop yet another energy source, ethanol.  AsiaNews has learned from Roman Vassilenko of the Kazakh embassy in Washington that Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov visited the North Kazakhstan biochemical plant BioKhim which is expected to be commissioned in late September and begin ethanol production soon thereafter.   North Kazakhstan has been one of the Central Asian country’s three largest grain producing regions since its fields were plowed under as part of the 1950s “Virgin Lands” program.  The 11.5 billion Kazakh tenge ($100 million U.S.) plant, co-financed by Kazakhstan’s Development Bank, will process the region’s abundant grains into ethanol.  Mr. Akhemtov said, “The key importance of what is being done here is a harmonious transition from…primary production for a higher added value.”  He predicted there will be “dozens” of facilities like BioKhim operating within a few years.  The BioKhim plant includes a 50,000-ton capacity grain elevator, a mill capable of processing 910 tons of grain daily, workshops to produce gluten, to ferment and to distill ethanol, and storage space for 4,500 tons of liquid ethanol. 

IMF Aiding Asia Pacific’s Poorest

WASHINGTON—The Asia Pacific region is “the most economically dynamic and diverse” in the world, according to a recent International Monetary Fund survey.  It is, the fund says, “an important driving force in the global economy featuring four of the world’s largest economies”—Japan, Korea, India and communist China—as well as several of the fastest-growing ones.  Still, the report points out that the region “remains home to some of the poorest countries as well.”  And, it adds, these 17 nations “still need help adjusting to the new demands of globalization.”  The combined population of these countries is more than 350 million, which includes many people in poverty, defined as living on less than two dollars a day.   This group is diverse, the fund says; it includes nations in transition to a market-based system, like Vietnam, Cambodia and Mongolia; Pacific economies, such as Papua New Guinea, disadvantaged by a limited market size; and those vulnerable to natural disasters and other “external shocks”, like Bangladesh.  And although each country faces its own challenges, the IMF points out certain common features in their reform strategies.  Among these are pursuing stable policies, strengthening institutional and “human resource” capacity, and fostering a “business-friendly” environment that can help attract foreign direct investment, create jobs and reduce poverty. In the September issue of IMF in Focus, “a supplement of the IMF Survey, an article entitled The IMF and Low-Income Asia / Making a Difference includes “country snapshots” showing the IMF at work in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia and Mongolia.  For more information, call 202/623-8585 or e-mail imfsurvey@imf.org. 

Indian Muslims, Hindus Condemn Terrorism

MUMBAI (BOMBAY)—Following the July 11 attacks on trains here that killed 200 people and wounded 800 more, Muslim and Hindu leaders jointly condemned “terrorism linked to religion” in what they called a “peace meeting,” reports AsiaNews/ICNS.  At the meeting, Veer Bhadra Mishra, leader of the Sankta Mochan temple in Varanasi, where another bomb exploded March 7, stressed “the need to be united in fighting terrorism.  Nothing should be done to create hatred and fear among people, especially in the name of religion.  The evils created with this excuse actually have nothing to do with religion.  We should not look at events in isolation, but in a global perspective, in the context of what is happening around the world.”  Mufti Fuzail-ur-Rahman Hilal Usmani of the Darus Salam Islamic Centre in Punjab, “forcefully insisted” that “Islamic jihad and terrorism are in no way connected.  The concept of the Holy War in Islam is the ultimate stage when man fights with all his might to break the shackles of slavery so human beings can be free.  But terrorism is not this: it only aims at creating fear and a climate of terror that snatches away from people their right to life.  Human life is precious in Islam and the killing of an innocent being is akin to the massacre of all mankind.  For us, too, just as it is for everyone else, terrorism is a despicable crime.”

French Intl. Piano Festival Features AP Artists

LA ROQUE D’ANTHERON—This year’s Festival International de Piano in this French city features several artists from the Asia-Pacific region, AsiaNews has learned from festival organizer Helene Lacom.  They include, she tells us:  1) Michie Koyama, among today’s most renowned Japanese pianists; 2) Koo Woo Paik from Korea, one of the very few pianists who have mastered Busoni’s “fiendishly difficult” Concert for Piano, Orchestra and Men’s Choir; 3) and 4) Japanese sisters Momo and Mari Kodama, leading figures in a concert dedicated exclusively to Olivier Messiaen (Momo Kodama also accompanied French violinist Isabelle Faust in the world premier of Messiaen’s Fantasy for Violin and Piano which he composed in l933); 5) Mayako Sone, also from Japan, who will give two cembalo, or harpsichord, recitals; and 6) Lang Lang  from China, whose August 3 piano recital was followed by six encores.