50.8 percent of young people work in service www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The National Statistical Office presented some interesting figures about Mongolia’s younger generation on August 25 which is observed as Youth Day in Mongolia.

Transit flights increase by 11 percent www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Ministry of Road and Transport Development informs, transit flights increased by 11 percent, showing positive impact on the economy.

QVARTZ drives ambulance from Denmark to Mongolia for charity www.consultancy.uk

Scandinavian consultancy QVARTZ has donated £1,000 and an ambulance to the people of Mongolia, following a successful journey as part of the Mongolia Charity Rally. The Rally, in support of NGO Go Help, seeks to help provide improved healthcare and education to people living in the large, isolated Asian country.

The Mongolia Charity Rally sees teams of drivers from companies all over Europe travelling to the remote Asian nation in order to boost health and education infrastructure in the region. This year, professional services providers QVARTZ participated, launching the QVARTZbulance – an ambulance decorated in company colours – with a dedicated two-man crew consisting of Christian Østerbye and Rolf Andersen from Denmark. The Nordic top-tier management consulting firm has offices in Copenhagen, Hamburg, New York City, Oslo and Stockholm, and has been expanding operations in Scandinavia in recent years as the consulting sector continues to grow in the region.

The Rally officially launched on July 1st, in Brussels, though teams could set out from anywhere, and Team QVARTZ were waved off by the occupants of their Copenhagen office as they set out on July 7th. Teams for the event could be made up of up to four members, with either multiple drivers in one vehicle or two riders on two motorcycles. Completing their 15,000-kilometre trip after a full month on the road, the QVARTZbulance reached its final destination in mid-August, and as participants, Østerbye and Andersen had driven over mountains, across deserts, through rivers and around pot-holes in the process, in order to reach the rugged expanses of the ancient Mongol empire.

Upon arrival, the first £1,000 raised by the Herculean efforts of Quartz’ two man team was donated to Go Help, a UK registered charity which functions as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in Mongolia, with any extra donations going to charities of the firm’s choice. Go Help focuses largely on healthcare and education, hence QVARTZ’ unconventional choice of cross-country vehicle, which they will also donate upon arrival. The organisation was founded around an effort to launch and operate ambulance services in third world countries, but their cause has since expanded to include a children’s activity centre or ‘Book House’, a university scholarship programme and a mobile library, which works to reach out to isolated communities in Mongolia.

Commenting on the achievement of the two drivers in the name of such a worthy cause, Hans Henrik Beck, a Managing Director at QVARTZ, said, “QVARTZ is a civilisation of privileged people, and being privileged comes with an obligation to do good for people who need a helping hand. Donating the QVARTZbulance is a small but important part of this equation. Also, in QVARTZ, we cherish and collect iconic moments. Following this intriguing journey has been iconic for me, and it will undoubtedly also be at the top of both Rolf Andersen's and Christian Østerbye's mental iconicity wall for a very long time.”

Going the extra mile
QVARTZ are not the only consulting firm to have spent the summer going the extra mile for charity meanwhile. In June, Big Four consultancy PwC employees took part in a bicycle relay tour of the British Isles, while in celebration of their 50th birthday, Capgemini challenged employees to each walk, run, cycle or swim for a sponsored kilometre worth €1, with the aim of raising a total of €100,000 for three selected charities. Mazars also got in on the act, participating in a Strictly Come Dancing-style event that saw businesses bring in a total of £4,500 for charities.

China's Alibaba, IOC to build 'Olympic cloud' for young fans www.chinadaily.com.cn

HANGZHOU - Heads of Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) met in Hangzhou to discuss ways of using cloud services to engage young fans around the globe.

Memory athletes set world record at Asia Open Memory Championships www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The 2nd Asia Open Memory Championships 2017 took place in Hong Kong between August 26 and 27. Memory athletes from Mongolian Intellectual Academy brought home 18 medals from the tournament as of August 26.

Cargo ship suddenly splits in half right in the middle of the sea www.metro.co.uk

One of the main jobs of a ship is to stay in one piece.

But this Mongolian cargo ship (flag carreer) couldn’t manage that – as it split right in two while in the Black Sea. Fortunately, the 11-man crew that was on board was quickly rescued by Turkish authorities.
The Leonardo, a 114-metre-long dry cargo ship, was anchored near Istanbul at the time.
However, it suddenly buckled and broke clean in two.
Tugboats came along to pull away half of the ship to shore, while the other half was left to sink. Turkish media reported that, at 42 years old, the ship was pretty much on its last legs. It was sailing to Istanbul’s Tuzla dockyard – ironically, for repairs. Turkey’s General Directorate of Coastal Safety sent eight ships, including search and rescue towboats, to the scene. All crew members were then taken to the hospital to be looked over, and are believed to be safe.

Gulf of Mexico oil production down by a quarter after Hurricane Harvey www.rt.com

The passage of Tropical Storm Harvey over the Gulf of Mexico resulted in about 22 percent of all US offshore oil production there being offline on Saturday, a rise of three percentage points since Friday.

The shortfall equates to roughly 377,117 barrels of oil per day fewer than the usual figure of roughly 1.75 million bpd pumped from the Gulf, according to the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).
About 23 percent of natural gas production in the gas, or about 748 million cubic feet per day, was also offline, the report said.
Operators evacuated 86 Gulf offshore platforms in preparation for Hurricane Harvey, compared to 737 manned platforms currently producing oil and gas in the area. Personnel were also pulled out from four out of the 10 mobile seabed-moored rigs operating in the Gulf while one dynamically-positioned rig was instead moved out of the storm’s path.
Earlier reports by BSEE suggested that the shortfall equated to 428,568 barrels of oil per day, or 25 percent of the total US offshore oil production in the region. Some 26 percent of the Gulf natural gas production went offline because of the hurricane, according to the same report, which amounts to about 835 million cubic feet per day.
The number of evacuated offshore platforms was initially put at 112.
Harvey was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm by the NHC late on Saturday. The largest storm to hit the United States since the disastrous Hurricane Katrina in 2005 has so far claimed three lives.

China to shut 6,000 non-coal mines by 2020 to improve safety www.reuters.com

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will shut 6,000 non-coal mines in an effort to reduce mining accidents and deaths by 2020, the State Administration of Work Safety said in a five-year plan.

Jeff Immelt of General Electric quits race to be Uber boss www.bbc.com

General Electric chair Jeff Immelt has ruled himself out of the race to become the new boss of taxi service Uber.

In a tweet, Mr Immelt said he had "decided not to pursue a leadership position at Uber".
Hewlett Packard Enterprise chief executive Meg Whitman is now reported to be "the most likely candidate".
Uber has been searching for a new chief executive since June after previous boss Travis Kalanick resigned following pressure from shareholders.
His resignation came after a chaotic few months at the firm and followed a review of practices there amid a series of scandals including complaints of sexual harassment, a macho culture and the departure of senior executives.
Ms Whitman has previously said she is not interested in the job, posting on Twitter that "I am not going anywhere. Uber's CEO will not be Meg Whitman."
However, the New York Times said she was "emerging as the likely candidate" to be selected as Uber's new chief.
She is currently president and chief executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, having split its computer and printer business (HP Inc) from its corporate hardware and services operations in 2014.
Under her tenure she has dramatically shrunk the firm, arguing a smaller firm is better able to compete with new start-up rivals.
Uber's eight-member board is expected to vote later on Sunday on the firm's new leader.

Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong jailed for corruption www.bbc.com

A court in South Korea has sentenced Samsung's billionaire heir-apparent Lee Jae-yong to five years in prison for corruption.
Mr Lee was convicted of bribery in a scandal that also saw the impeachment of South Korea's former president.
The case has gripped the public amid growing anger against South Korea's biggest companies, known as chaebols.
Mr Lee, who denied all charges, had faced a jail sentence of up to 12 years.
Also known as Jay Y Lee, the de facto head of the world's largest smartphone maker had been detained since February on a string of corruption charges.
These included bribery, embezzlement and hiding assets overseas.
What did he do?
The 49-year-old is accused of giving donations worth 41bn won ($36m; £29m) to non-profit foundations operated by Choi Soon-sil, a friend of South Korea's former President Park Geun-hye, in return for political favours.
Prosecutors said the donations were made to Ms Park's confidante to win government support for a big restructuring of Samsung that would strengthen Mr Lee's control over Samsung Electronics.
But Mr Lee's defence team said that the payments were signed off without his knowledge.

Mr Lee has previously admitted that the firm also gave a horse and money to help the equestrian career of Choi's daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, but denied seeking favours.
South Korea's presidential scandal explained
Is real reform possible at South Korea's chaebols?
The tragedy of South Korea's Park Geun-hye
His lawyer said on Friday they would appeal against the court's decision.
"We are confident the ruling will be overturned," lawyer Song Wu-cheol told reporters after the ruling, according to Reuters.
Who else is involved?
The case contributed to President Park's eventual impeachment and she now faces trial for corruption herself, something she denies.
Her friend Choi has already been jailed for three years after being found guilty of using her position of influence to solicit favours for her daughter.
On Friday, two other Samsung executives, Choi Gee-sung and Chang Choong-ki, were also convicted in the same trial as Mr Lee and sentenced to four years in prison.
Will Mr Lee serve his jail sentence?
Analysis - by the BBC's Yogita Limaye in Seoul
This isn't the first time a top executive of a big conglomerate has been convicted for corruption in South Korea.
But in the past, they've either been given suspended sentences or have been pardoned by the president.
The new president, Moon Jae-in, has already said there will be no more presidential pardons.

So if Mr Lee's sentence is upheld by higher courts and he ends up serving his complete sentence in jail or a significant part of it, that will be a departure from what we've seen in South Korea in the past.
And the new government says that will be a strong message to chaebols that they need to clean up the way they do business.
What does it mean for Samsung?
The conviction represents a huge blow to South Korea's biggest and most well-known business empire. Since the verdict, Samsung shares fell by 1%.
It also raises questions about the future leadership of the family-run conglomerate. Mr Lee has been standing in as chairman since his father, Lee Kun-hee, suffered a heart attack in 2014.
Mr Lee has two sisters, who are in management roles in different parts of the Samsung group, but it is unclear whether they could be brought in to higher positions.
Since Mr Lee's arrest six months ago, the group's business operations have continued largely unaffected.
Samsung Electronics posted a record profit of 11tn won for the latest quarter and the firm has released its new flagship Galaxy S8 smartphone, closing the book on the disastrous recall of the exploding Galaxy Note 7.
The Samsung Group, made up of 60 interlinked companies, is crucial to the South Korean economy, with sales equivalent to about a fifth of the national GDP.
The chaebol includes a shipbuilding division, a construction company, and pharmaceuticals and advertising arms. Other chaebols include LG, Lotte and Hyundai.