“Organizing the first ever run-off election was different from other presidential elections in Mongolian political history and the live broadcast of the ballot counting process was an advantage compared to previous presidential elections,” said B.Oyumaa.

During the press conference, journalists asked her and representatives from GEC in attendance about proposed changes to the Law on Elections.

How will the law be changed?

Parliament set up a task force to study the law’s amendment, and GEC has made proposals to the task force. All elections are being carried out under the unified Law on Elections, but GEC proposed to Parliament to separate this law into three different laws (laws on parliamentary, presidential and citizen’s representative councils elections) and Parliament supported this initiative. GEC is focusing on improving the law by putting forward proposals to the task force to eliminate challenges that regularly occurred during previous elections. Other state organizations which are involved with election operations have the right to make proposals to the task force.

What exactly did GEC propose to address the challenges?

As it’s costly to hold a second round of voting due to low voter turnout, GEC put forward a proposal to not require a certain percentage of voter turnout for an election to be considered valid to the task force. GEC also put forward a proposal requiring parliamentary election candidates to be at least 30 years of age.

Why does GEC want to put an age requirement?

This is not a new proposal. Few years ago, GEC put forward a proposal about increasing the age requirement for parliamentarians, but this proposal was not supported by Parliament. This is not only a proposal by GEC, the public asks GEC and Parliament to revisit the minimum requirement age for parliamentary candidates.

Head of IAAC’s Corruption Prevention and Public Awareness Department T.Bayarkhuu noted that most complaints reported this year were about state bureaucracy, abuse of power and conflict of interest, and IAAC reviewed 58 complaints regarding abuse of state officials’ power this month and is currently investigating 66 complaints.
“IAAC uncovered a case where a director of Bayan-Ulgii Province’s public school made a new contract to provide the school with lunch program with his or her associate company, and Amgalan Thermal Power Plant contracted a coal supplier from October 2016 to October 2017 without an open tendering process.”

Some 766 newly-appointed civil servants declared their assets to IAAC this month, and the authority reviewed 627 asset declarations.

The company’s outlook is also based on the fact that during the fiscal year 2017 it produced close to 41 million tonnes of the black mineral. Only in December -the miner says- production reached 5.67 million tonnes, while dispatches were of 5.9 million tonnes and 40.89 million cubic meters of overburden were removed.

In the statement, Chairman and Managing Director N Sridhar is quoted as saying that during the past three years, particularly since the creation of the eastern-central state of Telangana in 2014, the firm has been showing an average growth of 7 per cent.

Sridhar also said that the Singareni Thermal Power Plant stood at 4th position among the power plants in India in December, as it has generated 888.42 Million Units and exported 839.60 Million units to the grid. The goal is to be able to supply of 24 hours power to local communities.

Singareni Collieries is jointly owned by the Government of Telangana and Government of India. According to its website, the company currently operates 18 opencast and 29 underground mines in four districts of Telangana, whose reserves are calculated in 8,791 million tonnes of coal.

On March 7, 2017, the border trade area between China and Mongolia was formally closed and closed for nearly nine months.

Year-end and New Year, the mutual trade zone in Mongolia candy as Erenhot public purchase of selected products.

Li Pengyuan, a local populace, said that the Mongolian merchandise here is very authentic and everyone is reassuring to shop here.

Li Pengyuan also introduced that since the trade zone was closed to traffic, many Mongolian people rushed to the trade zone to purchase Chinese goods.

Erenhot city government sources said that the border residents and the city trade zone, with a total investment of 350 million yuan (RMB, the same below), covers an area of ​​100,000 square meters, the two countries in Mongolia and Mongolia in the inter-city trade zone shopping 8000 yuan can enjoy the following Duty-free shopping policy.

It is reported that since the customs zone was closed, citizens of China and Mongolia have accumulated 20,000 transactions in the zone and the total sales volume of inter-city goods has reached about 20 million yuan.

On the occasion of the 2226th anniversary of the Statehood, 811th anniversary of the Great Mongol Empire, 106th anniversary of the Restoration of National Freedom and Independence, 96th anniversary of the People’s Revolution, 28th anniversary of the Democratic Revolution and the 106th anniversary of inception of modern foreign service in Mongolia, and in recognition of their effort, accomplishment and tangible contributions to realizing diplomatic goals, title ‘Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary’ was presented to a former Ambassador of Mongolia to Germany, Mr Davaadorj Baldorj, the current Ambassador of Mongolia to the Republic of Italy, Mr Jambaldorj Tserendorj, and the Director of the Department for Neighboring Countries, Mr Janabazar Tuvdendorj, and the rank ‘Envoy Extraordinary’ was awarded to the current Ambassador of Mongolia to the Republic of Turkey, Mr Munkh-Ochir Enebish.

The diplomatic ranks were presented by President Kh.Battulga on December 28. Ambassadors B.Davaadorj and T.Janabazar received their awards in person. 

After this, the President congratulated the awardees and wished success in their further career.

Harumafuji started his career in Japan at the age of 16 and was promoted to grand champion or yokozuna - sumo's highest rank - in 2012.
The Japan Sumo Association (JSA) also recommended that its director Takanohana be demoted for failing to report the incident quickly enough, Kyodo news agency said.
Takanohana is a former sumo champion himself and the JSA is expected to finalise its decision in early January, according to Kyodo.

The incident around Harumafuji follows a string of scandals in recent years.
Last year, a wrestler and his coach had to pay nearly $300,000 (£230,000) to a fellow fighter they allegedly abused so badly he lost sight in one eye, according to reports.
Several wrestlers have also been implicated in match fixing scandals and links between sumo and the mafia-like yakuza crime syndicates.
Another Mongolian grand champion retired from the sport in 2010 after reports of his involvement in a drunken brawl.
In 2007 a sumo stable-master received six years in prison after a novice was beaten to death by older wrestlers.

In January of this year, Ulaanbaatar Mayor S.Batbold issued three decrees primarily designed to combat air pollution. The decree entitled “Restriction Action” has received the most attention as its purpose has been to limit migration to the city from rural areas. The decree states that rural residents, apart from those who require long-term medical care, those who already own an apartment, and those who have a mortgage loan, will be restricted from taking up residence in Ulaanbaatar.

This restriction is in place until 1 January 2020. Even though freedom of movement is the constitutional right of every citizen, the threat of air pollution in the capital has reached a point where it could potentially affect national security.

For the first time, the population of the Mongolian capital has actually decreased. According to the latest statistics that cover until November, over 11,000 people have left the city.

Putin also pointed at Gazprom as an example of how gas fuel saves money. When the company switched to gas fuel, many of its drivers retired because they no longer had an opportunity to steal gasoline.

The president was referring to drivers working for state companies who commonly fill up using corporate credit cards, then siphoned and resold the petrol to other drivers.

“And what about the army? What is happening in the Ministry of Defense and in other departments? I think comments are needless,” said the Russian president, apparently hinting at the same practice.

“Natural gas fuel will have a huge positive economic effect and will create competitive advantages for the whole economy. Therefore, it is necessary to continue, of course, to support its development, both at the governmental level and at the regional,” Putin added.

Gazprom sells two types of natural gas fuel: compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG). CNG is used for passenger and light cargo vans, motor cars, and municipal vehicles. LNG is for big trucks, railway and water transport, quarry machinery and agricultural equipment.

“Natural gas is the most economical, eco-friendly and safe type of fuel available today,” claims Gazprom.

The world's biggest automaker, Volkswagen, announced in May it is in talks with Gazprom to back its efforts to promote cars running on natural gas.