Mongolian academy of sciences to cooperate with Irkutsk State Technical University www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Mongolian Academy of Sciences established an agreement with Irkutsk State Technical University to cooperate in the science, education and innovation spheres on August 7.

China marks 70 years of Inner Mongolia's founding, activist complains of curbs www.reuters.com

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Tuesday celebrated 70 years since the founding of Inner Mongolia, its first self-proclaimed region run by ethnic minorities, as a leading Mongol activist said her communications had been interrupted and the police were following her.

China's Communists set up Inner Mongolia in 1947, two years before seizing power at the end of the country's civil war. It has served as a model for other "autonomous regions" with large minority populations, like Tibet and Xinjiang.

The regions are meant to have a high degree of self-government, but dissidents and rights groups say in practice the majority Han Chinese run the show, keeping a tight rein, fearful of unrest in the strategic border locations.

The "glorious achievements" of the past 70 years resulted from the correct leadership of the ruling Communist Party, said Yu Zhengsheng, its fourth-ranked leader.

"Ethnic unity is the lifeline for all our country's nationalities, and strengthening ethnic unity is a strategic, basic and long-term task," Yu said during a live broadcast of celebrations in the Inner Mongolian capital of Hohhot.

Conditions must be created for different ethnic groups to live, study, work and be happy together, he told the audience in an outdoor stadium where the festivities were held.

Inner Mongolia, China's largest coal producing region, has seen sporadic unrest since 2011, when it was rocked by protests after an ethnic Mongol herder was killed by a truck after taking part in demonstrations against pollution caused by a coal mine.

Some Mongols, who make up less than a fifth of the 24 million population of Inner Mongolia, say their grazing lands have been ruined by mining and desertification and the government has forced them to resettle in permanent houses.

Xinna, the wife of China's best-known Mongol dissident, Hada, told Reuters that plainclothes police officers had parked outside her Hohhot home, followed her when she tried to go out and her internet access had been interrupted ahead of the anniversary.

"Today is not a day to be happy but to be depressed," she added.

Many Mongols in China go by a single name.

Hada, who had been one of China's longest-serving political prisoners, was freed in 2014 after being jailed in 1996 for separatism and spying, charges his family say were punishment for speaking out about the threatened Mongol culture.

"He can't really speak much any more. His faculties won't come back," Xinna, herself deeply involved in Mongol causes, said of her husband, who is still kept under close watch by police. "It's the natural result of all his years in jail."

The government in Inner Mongolia did not answer telephone calls to seek comment. Hohhot police declined comment.

(This version of the story has been refiled to remove extraneous word "government" in final paragraph)

Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

Nissan Selling Battery Business to GSR for $1 Billion www.bloomberg.com

Nissan Motor Co. is selling its battery business to Chinese private equity firm GSR Capital for about $1 billion, a person with knowledge of the matter said, as the Japanese carmaker seeks ways to improve competitiveness of its Leaf electric cars while reining in costs.

The deal covers Nissan’s battery subsidiary Automotive Energy Supply Corp. as well as manufacturing operations in Japan, the U.S. and U.K., Nissan said in a statement Tuesday, which didn’t disclose financial terms. Assets sold to GSR will also include part of Nissan’s Japanese battery development and engineering operations in Oppama, Atsugi and Zama.

The sale marks the end of Nissan’s long search for a buyer for the battery unit, which was established jointly with NEC Corp. in 2007, more than three years ahead of the Leaf’s introduction. Buying the business will allow GSR to take advantage of global automakers’ pursuit of sales in China, the world’s biggest electric-vehicle market. The Chinese government has required EV producers to choose from a list of approved battery vendors, all domestic makers, to receive subsidies.

Nissan has established a supplier relationship with the new owner of the battery company and the purpose of this is for Nissan to procure high-spec lithium-ion batteries at a low cost to expand its EV line-up, Nick Maxfield, a spokesman for Nissan, said in an emailed statement.

Nissan shares were little changed at 1,090.5 yen in Tokyo trading on Tuesday. The stock has declined 7.2 percent this year.

‘Bloody, Cutthroat’

“The battery business alone will not make money, you have to have scale, you have to have the supply chain,” said GSR Chairman Sonny Wu in an interview in Hong Kong. “It’s a bloody, cutthroat game. The auto OEMs will lock you in for five years.”

The battery-making company under GSR will continue to be the exclusive supplier for the Leaf EV, Wu said. It will also handle development of cell modules and Nissan will do the development and production of battery packs, which goes hand in hand with automotive design, Maxfield said.

Nissan said it would take over NEC’s 49 percent stake in the battery venture and then sell the business to GSR. NEC will book about 10 billion yen ($90 million) in non-operating income from the sale, the company said in a separate press release.

Representatives for GSR Capital, Nissan and NEC declined to comment on the financial terms. Barclays Plc advised Nissan on the sale.

GSR will further invest in R&D, expand existing production capacity in the U.S., U.K. and Japan, and also establish new facilities in China and Europe, Wu said. GSR plans investments in production facilities to increase capacity to 30 gigawatt-hours in China by 2020, according to Wu.

Nissan has been selling stakes in businesses including parts manufacturer Calsonic Kansei Corp. and forklift truck maker UniCarriers Corp. to focus on developing technology including electric powertrains and autonomous driving. Nissan is also looking to push into Southeast Asia with its purchase of a stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

Copper price jumps to highest since 2014 www.mining.com

Mongolia to increase meat exports to Vietnam www.news.mn

The 16th meeting of the Mongolian and Vietnamese intergovernmental commission was held on 8th of August. The agriculture ministers of the two countries participated in the meeting which aims to increase cooperation in trade, the economy, agriculture, health and education.

FAA and International Leadership in Mongolia www.faa.gov

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael P. Huerta, speaking at an Asia-Pacific civil aviation conference in Mongolia today, said that the FAA and its Asia-Pacific counterparts must continue to work together to promote oversight operations and certification systems that will ensure the safety of passengers around the world as demand increases.  

The FAA projects that within 20 years, the total number of passengers traveling between the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. alone will increase by 120 percent.
“By sharing data and best practices with each other, we’ve proven that safety has no borders,” said Huerta. “It is imperative that we work together to meet this increased demand and deliver the level of safety and service consumers and businesses on both sides of the Pacific expect.”
Aviation leaders gathered at the Asia-Pacific Directors General of Civil Aviation Conference to discuss the future of civil aviation in the Asia-Pacific region. The U.S. has collaborated with the region since establishing a civil aviation office in Tokyo in 1947.
In cooperation with forums such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), FAA is working to improve air traffic efficiency in the region. For example, through engagement with ASEAN, FAA is working to emphasize the operational value of cross-border data information sharing between Asian states.
With APEC, the FAA is standardizing and implementing innovative traffic flow management technologies and best practices to allow for separation reductions and smoother traffic flow. The FAA also is supporting regional initiatives to implement more Performance-Based Navigation (PDF) procedures, which shorten flight routes, save time, and reduce emissions.  
Leaders of both regions committed to improving the efficiency of each nation’s aviation systems in a time when new technologies continue to reshape traditional aircraft and air traffic operations.

UNICEF to fund renovation of five kindergartens www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ UNICEF’s ‘Schools for Asia’ program will be implemented in Bayanzurkh district.

Jack Ma no longer richest person in China, as another Ma takes title www.rt.com

Alibaba owner Jack Ma has been stripped of the title of the wealthiest person in China. Ma Huateng, also known as Pony, topped the Forbes’ Chinese list on Monday.

Mazda announces breakthrough in long-coveted engine technology www.reuters.com

TOKYO (Reuters) - Mazda Motor Corp said it would become the world's first automaker to commercialize a much more efficient petrol engine using technology that deep-pocketed rivals have been trying to engineer for decades, a twist in an industry increasingly going electric.

The new compression ignition engine is 20 percent to 30 percent more fuel efficient than the Japanese automaker's current engines and uses a technology that has eluded the likes of Daimler AG and General Motors Co.

Mazda, with a research and development (R&D) budget a fraction of those of major peers, said it plans to sell cars with the new engine from 2019.

"It's a major breakthrough," said Ryoji Miyashita, chairman of automotive engineering company AEMSS Inc.

The announcement places traditional engines at the center of Mazda's strategy and comes just days after Mazda said it will work with Toyota Motor Corp to develop electric vehicles and build a $1.6 billion U.S. assembly plant.

"We think it is an imperative and fundamental job for us to pursue the ideal internal combustion engine," Mazda R&D head Kiyoshi Fujiwara told reporters. "Electrification is necessary but... the internal combustion engine should come first."

A homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine ignites petrol through compression, eliminating spark plugs. Its fuel economy potentially matches that of a diesel engine without high emissions of nitrogen oxides or sooty particulates.

Mazda's engine employs spark plugs under certain conditions, such as at low temperatures, to overcome technical hurdles that have hampered commercialization of the technology.

Mazda Motor President Masamichi Kogai attends a news conference in Tokyo, Japan August 8, 2017.
Kim Kyung-Hoon
Executive Vice President Akira Marumoto called Mazda's engine technology the automaker's "heart".

The engine is called SKYACTIV-X and Mazda had no plans to supply the engine to other carmakers, Marumoto said.

AEMSS' Miyashita said a key issue would be how smooth and responsive the engine is.

"Is it jerky? If so, that would pose a big question when it comes to commercializing this technology." he said. "Hopefully Mazda has an answer to that question."

Mazda also said it would introduce electric vehicles and electric technology in its cars from 2019, focusing on markets that restrict the sale of certain vehicles to limit air pollution or that provide clean sources of electricity.

In addition, it said it aimed to make autonomous-driving technology standard in all of its models by 2025.

Mazda's announced its petrol-engine technology breakthrough on the same day that shares in Japan's GS Yuasa Corp surged after a newspaper reported that it would start producing a lithium battery that would double the range of electric cars as early as 2020.

Mazda's share price closed down 1.3 percent. That compared with a 0.3 percent fall in the benchmark Nikkei 225 index.

Reporting by Sam Nussey and Maki Shiraki; Additional reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim, Christopher Cushing and Neil Fullick

Record automotive investment for Iran www.nhk.or.jp

Automaker Renault will invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Iran to step up local production. The plan is believed to be the largest automotive-related investment in the country's history.