All Over the Globe

New horizons of auto-service in Kazakhstan

�Toyota Tsusho Butya� opens a new service centre in Almaty

ALMATY, Oct 18

(THE GLOBE)

�For the first time the private Japanese company decided to invest money to the Kazakhstan economy,� the chairman of the Japanese-Kazakhstan JV �Toyota Tsusho Butya� announced on Monday at the ceremonial opening of the modern car service centre.

According to Mr. Toshiharu Fukushima, more than US$ 3 million was spent for the construction of the station �Toyota Centre Zhetisu�. The new service station with the area of 1 hectare is located near the crossroad Tashkentskaya-Saina.

After strict expertise was conducted, specialists from Tokyo officially titled the station with the authorisation status.

This status, according to the head of �Toyota Tsusho Butya�, means mobility and optimal premises, the availability of equipment meeting the company�s level, as well as a specially trained team of technicians and mechanical engineers.

Besides the unique diagnosing and repair equipment, the station has a store of spare parts to serve all Central Asia.

(Read a detailed material about this event in the next issue of THE GLOBE.)

Russian troops enter outskirts of Grozny

MOZDOK, Russia Oct 18 (AFP)

Hundreds of Russian soldiers backed up by tanks on Monday entered the outskirts of Grozny, capital of the separatist Chechen republic, for the first time since the two sides� brutal 1994-96 war.

�They can see Grozny and take straight shots at it,� a senior Russian general told AFP from the main Russian military base in Mozdok, North Ossetia.

No fighting in the capital was reported. The troops advanced to the village of Pervomayskaya, located only 15 kilometers (nine miles) west of the city center.

The Russian defense source added that federal troops had met only minimal resistance from Chechen gunmen as they marched along the separatist republic�s highlands towards the capital from the west.

�Our forces never entered into towns so as to avoid fighting,� the general said.

The Russian drive, ostensibly to crush Islamic guerrillas, marks the deepest penetration of Russian forces into Chechnya since Moscow�s crushing defeat in the 21-month war.

An estimated 80,000 people, most of them civilians, died in a conflict that left Grozny with de facto independence but the republic swarming in crime and violence.