No Taiwanese injured in Moscow airport blast: MOFA

Taipei, Jan. 25 (CNA) No Taiwanese national was injured in the explosion that ripped through a Moscow airport on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) reported Tuesday.

"All Taiwanese businessmen and students currently in Russia are safe, according to our representative office in Moscow, " MOFA spokesman James Chang said at a press briefing.

A suicide bomber blew himself up at Domodedovo Airport, Moscow's busiest airport, on Monday. At least 35 people were killed and 180 were wounded in the blast as of Tuesday morning Taiwan time, according to wire reports.

There are up to 300 Taiwanese nationals currently living in Russia, Chang said, including 150 students, 50 businessmen and dozens of diplomatic and trade officials.

Of this group, 75 students and 40 businessmen live in the Greater Moscow area.

The travel alert level for the Russian Federation remained yellow, the second lowest level in the MOFA's four color system, Chang said, but the ministry was monitoring the latest situation and would raise the alert level if needed. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ls

Agassi wins both exhibition games in Taiwan

Taipei, Jan. 8 (CNA) Tennis great Andre Agassi of the United States and Marat Safin of Russia concluded a highly-publicized exhibition series in Taiwan Saturday with Agassi beating his relatively youthful opponent again in their second and final match in the southern port city of Kaohsiung.

Agassi, 40, beat 30-year-old Safin 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 again in a super tiebreaker after his first win 2-6, 7-6 (9-7), 13-11 in Taipei Thursday, capping off the American's five-day stay in Taiwan, a country which he last visited 22 years ago.

The exhibition events, titled the "Rise of Legends, " feature Agassi, Safin, Youzhny and local players Lu Yen-hsun and Jimmy Wang. The first matches were played in Taipei Thursday.

The eight-time Grand Slam winner told screaming crowds at Kaohsiung Arena in his post-match remarks that he will consider visiting Taiwan again and bring his world-famous wife Steffi Graf, who won 22 women's Grand Slam singles titles, next time.

Not to be outdone by Agassi both on and off the court, two-time Grand Slam titlist Safin, who retired in 2009 at an early age of 29, jokingly said he would talk to popular Russian female tennis players, including Maria Sharapova, Anna Kournikova and his sister Dinara Safina into visiting Taiwan with him the next time.

During the match, Agassi racked up seven straight points in the third set, which adopts the super tiebreaker, to turn a 4-1 deficit into a commanding 8-4 lead before earning his first match point at 9-6 with his eighth ace in the match.

Before the Agassi-Safin showdown -- the highlight of the night, world No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia defeated Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun 7-6 (7-3) in a one-set exhibition match.

Youzhny revenged a 7-6 (7-5) loss Thursday to world No. 35 Lu, who fought off a match point to force a tie at 5-5 and survived another scare in the 12th game to take the match into a tiebreaker.

In the third match, also a one-setter, Agassi paired with Wang against the duo of Safin and Lu to round up the evening.

The Grand Slam winners held a clinic in the morning for local children before the evening match. They arrived in Kaohsiung Friday and participated in a charity auction event.

Around 7,000 and 9,500 tickets, ranging between NT$800 (US$27.4) and NT$10,000 (US$342) each, were sold in Kaohsiung and Taipei respectively, according to the game organizer Integration Sports, which also said that the exhibitions were not profitable. (By Chris Wang) enditem/jc

Agassi rallies to beat Safin in exhibition tennis match

Taipei, Jan. 6 (CNA) Tennis great Andre Agassi rallied to beat Marat Safin of Russia 2-6, 7-6 (9-7), 13-11 in the highlight of two exhibition matches that thrilled an unusually large tennis crowd for Taiwan Thursday evening.

Agassi, 40, told fans after the match that it was an honor for him to come back to Taiwan since visits he made in 1986 and 1988, and that he had a lot of fun playing Safin, who is 10 years younger but who retired last year at the early age of 29.

Comparing the night with his farewell showing in the 2006 United States Tennis Open, Agassi jokingly said: "Nobody asked me to marry her this time so I'm a little bit disappointed."

He also showed his humorous side with an impromptu act that ultimately became the highlight of the evening. Trailing 6-5 in the second set, Agassi handed his racket to two local ball boys and had them play in turns against Safin briefly, while the eight-time Grand Slam winner served as a ball boy.

Safin had a quick start in the match, taking the first set quickly, but encountered trouble in the second.

Earlier in the evening, local favorite Lu Yen-hsun beat world No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (7-5) in the first match of the event, a one- set exhibition in front of a cheering crowd of thousands.

The world No. 35 broke Youzhny in the third game and held serve for a 3-1 advantage, but Youzhny rallied on his well-known one-handed backhand to take a 5-4 lead. In the tiebreaker, Lu seized the momentum with an ace for a 3-0 lead and a win.

The exhibition events, titled the "Rise of Legends, " feature Agassi, Safin, Youzhny and local players Lu and Jimmy Wang. The second round of matches are scheduled to be played in the southern city of Kaohsiung Jan. 8.

The attendance at the Taipei event was 9,500 -- around 70 percent of the capacity of the Taipei Arena, according to the organizers, with the cheaper upper deck selling out. Tickets ranged between NT$800 (US$27.12) and NT$10,000. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J

Taiwanese entrepreneur named deputy head of Russian academy

Taipei, Sept. 21 (CNA) Taiwanese entrepreneur Samuel Yin has been named vice president of the Russian Academy of Engineering (RAE) , becoming the first individual from a non-former Soviet Union country to receive the honor, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday.

Yin, president of Taiwan's Ruentex Group, was named to the position and received the prestigious institute's "Engineering Courage Award" on Sept. 15, Lin Jinn-jong, director-general of MOFA's Department of West Asian Affairs, said at a press briefing.

The well-known entrepreneur and engineer, whose business interests include textiles, education, retailing, medical services and construction, became an RAE member in 2008 and received an Engineering Glory Award the same year.

The 60-year-old Yin is best known for introducing prefabricated construction to Taiwan in the mid-1990s, and he helped build Taipei 101, the world's tallest building from 2004-2010, using the method.

The RAE established a branch in Taiwan in June 2009. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ls

Kenyan runner to defend Tainan International Marathon title

Taipei, Feb. 22 (CNA) Kenyan long-distance runner Bernard Mutai will make it to the southern city of Tainan to defend his title in the 2008 Tainan International Marathon, despite widespread violence that has torn his homeland apart, the Sports Affairs Council (SAC) said Friday.

Three other Kenyan athletes will not be able to leave the East African country, which has been mired in violence in which 1,000 people have died following a controversial presidential election, the SAC said in a statement.

Mutai finished first in the men’s group in two hours, 21 minutes and 11 seconds while Russian runner Oksana Lokhlova won the women’s group in 3:03:09 last year.

More than 6,000 runners will participate in four distances -- the 42.195-kilometer full marathon, the 21-km, half-marathon, the 10 km and the 3 km -- in the annual race. Taiwanese runner Wu Wen-chian, who has qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will participate in the 10km event as a pre-Olympics warm-up.

Chechnya issue discussed at Taipei seminar

Taipei, Oct. 27 (CNA) Hundreds of Taiwan citizens attended a forum Saturday that focused on Chechnya, an autonomous republic of Russia that sought independence, and went home with a better understanding of events in the Central Asia and the cruelty of war.

The forum, titled "The Chechnya You Don't Know, " screened a documentary on Chechnya before a speech by Erkin Ekrem, who once taught in Taiwan and is now a history professor at Turkey's Hacettepe University.

The independence movement in Chechnya spans over 200 years against a complicated background of ethnicity, religion, geopolitics and political control of the Russian Federation, said Ekrem.

Russia will not tolerate Chechnya independence because of the autonomous republic's important strategic location and its rich oil resources, Ekrem said. Russia also fears a "domino effect" of independence movements among its 21 autonomous republics, he added.

He said international support of the Chechnya independence movement took a downturn after Chechen separatists began a string of suicide attacks and bombings in Moscow in recent years.

Since the first and second Chechen wars from 1994-2000, during which an estimated 300,000 Chechens were killed, there has been reconstruction and rebuilding in Chechnya, and the Russian government has regained control of the region. However, future unrest remains an issue, said forum moderator Wang Sing-shu, a professor at the Graduate Institute of Russian Studies of National Chengchi University.

Responding to a question from the audience, Ekrem doubted that a better economy will stop Chechnya from seeking independence because " nowadays, terrorists come from all walks of life, not just from poor families."

"It's all about survival. For the Chechens, survival means an independent country. For Russia, it means the federation cannot afford to lose Chechnya, " Wang summed up.

The forum was among a series of events organized by the Lung Yingtai Cultural Foundation, which tries to raise Taiwanese citizens' understanding of international affairs. Upcoming forums are scheduled to discuss Cuba, Israel-Palestine relations and the Malay peninsula.

RUSSIAN PIANIST TO HAVE SECOND SOLO RECITAL IN TAIWAN

Taipei, May 21 (CNA) Russian pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk, the youngest pianist to win three major international piano competitions, will perform a second solo recital in Taiwan Wednesday, the concert organizer said Monday.

Gavrylyuk by the age of 23 had won top prizes in three of the most prestigious international competitions: the Arthur Rubinstein 11th Piano Master Competition in 2005; the 4th Hammamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan in 2000; and the 3rd Horowitz International Piano Competition in Ukraine in 1999.

Born in Ukraine in 1984, Gavrylyuk began playing at the age of seven and decided at the age of nine that he wanted to be a professional, for which he received support from his folk musician parents.

"Taiwan has been a special place for me. And I will be glad to feel the passion of Taiwanese audience again after six years, " said Gavrylyuk, who arrived in Taipei Monday.

Responding to a media question about his playing style, Gavrylyuk said his job "is always try to remind the audience about the true beauty of life and always be sincere to the stage" because "deep inside, people are very similar."

"Most of all, I try not to stand in the way of music, " he said.

KALMYK SONG AND DANCE GROUP TO LAUNCH TAIWANESE PERFORMANCE TOUR

Taipei, May 7 (CNA) The Lotos Mongolian song and dance group, which comes from the Republic of Kalmykia, will embark on a performance tour to provide Taiwanese audiences with a rare glimpse of this European nation, organizers said Monday.

The Kalmyk group will stage six free-of-charge performances of its "White Lotus in the Steppe" tour in Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan, Taipei, Kaohsiung and Hualien from May 9 - 13, main organizer Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission said.

Kalmykia, a country with a population of 300,000, is situated on the northwestern shores of the Caspian Sea. Its cultural has been strongly influenced by Mongolia and Russia, being a constituent of the Russian Federation but populated by decedents of nomadic Mongol herdsmen.

"The shoulder-shivering, horse-riding and eagle-flying gestures in the dance are very Mongolian, while the footwork is obviously from Kazakhstan, " said organizer Peter Yu, who has extensively researched Mongolian history.

"The throaty aria and traditional dombra, used to accompany dances, are also from Mongolia, " Yu added.

Kalmykia is the only Buddhist nation in Europe and reveres the Dalai Lama. As Tibetan Buddhism is its dominant religion, the country is unique in the Russian Federation, most of which is Orthodox Christian.

TAIWAN BUSINESSES CAN MAKE SPLASH IN CENTRAL ASIA: ACADEMICS

Taipei, Nov. 24 (CNA) Taiwan businesses can be successful in Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan if they conduct in-depth market analysis and manage to find niche markets in the region, academics said at an international forum Friday.



With Taiwan's expertise in agricultural technology and competitiveness in the food-processing industry, businesses in these sectors should seriously consider investing in Central Asia, said Nuraniye Ekram, a researcher at the Turkey National Security and Strategic Institute, Pacific Asia Laboratory.



Ekram made the suggestion in her comments on a thesis by Sophie Huang, titled "Analysis on Kazakhstan food processing industry 2000-2003," at the annual Taiwan-Central Asia Forum, which was held in Chungli, Taoyuan County.



After breaking away from the former Soviet Union in 1991, the average annual salary of Kazakhs has been increasing because of an open economy. And Kazakhs spend more than half of their salaries on food expenses, Huang wrote in the thesis.



However, 80 percent of daily commodities in Kazakhstan still rely on imported products, which makes the food-processing industry a niche market for foreign countries, Huang wrote.



But Taiwan businesses should take note of a couple of things before rushing into Central Asia, Ekrams warned.



They will have to face the first challenge in language. In Kazakhstan, most people communicate with Russian, not English, she said.



Secondly, foreign businesses should understand the eating habits of Muslims, a religion shared by up to 70 percent of the population in Central Asia.



Taiwan businesses are also advised to make an in-depth analysis of Central Asian markets before making investments, as local markets for processed food in Central Asia have been dominated by countries such as the U.S., Turkey and China, Huang said.



If Taiwan businesses manage to meet these challenges, they are looking at a potential market of 56 million people, Ekram said.

ST. PETERSBURG PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA TO PERFORM IN TAIWAN

Taipei, Nov. 9 (CNA) The St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, regarded as one of the best in the world, will stage two concerts in Taiwan Nov. 10 and Nov. 11, organizers said Thursday.

The Russian orchestra, led by conductor Yuri Temirkanov and consisting of 120 musicians, will perform at the National Concert Hall on its fourth visit to Taiwan.

All proceeds of the Nov. 10 concert will be donated to the Sacred Heart Home, an institution located in Chiayi County dedicated to caring for people who are severely mentally or physically challenged.

The concerts are being sponsored by the Wan Hai Charity Foundation and the Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. Cultural Foundation.