Samsung vice chairman arrested www.nhk.or.jp

South Korean authorities have arrested the de facto head of the Samsung Group on suspicion of bribery and other charges.

The Suspense Is Now Over For Russia’s Political Elite: Putin Is Running www.themoscowtimes.com

Late in 2016, things did not look so rosy for Vladimir Putin. The Russian economy was in decline, the country was isolated on the global stage, and the president was a figure shunned by Western nations. Some commentators even began to entertain the possibility that Putin would use the opportunity to exit the political scene.

Since then, the unexpected election of Donald Trump has punched holes in the anti-Putin front.

“With Trump as a potential powerful ally, Putin is a kind of half-emperor of the world,” says political analyst Gleb Pavlovsky. “His re-election now has a global aspect.”

For Russia’s elite, the election picture is, finally, clear: Putin is running, and he will be in office until at least the time of the next elections in 2024.

“It would be good if Vladimir Putin comes out with his vision by next December – what the nation will look like politically and economically by 2024,” a senior Russian official said on Tuesday, Feb. 14.

This election will be one of continuity and no change. There will be no new challengers. Russia’s most prominent opposition figure Alexei Navalny announced he would battle Putin for the presidency last December. But in an accelerated and disputed court case earlier this month, he was sentenced to five-years probation. From the Kremlin’s perspective at least, he is barred from running.

Instead, Putin will face a manufactured opposition, consisting exclusively of members of the old guard. The RBC newspaper has reported that parliamentary party leaders Gennady Zyuganov, Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Sergei Mironov will all run. All three follow the Kremlin’s lead and agenda. Grigory Yavlinsky, the long-time leader of centrist opposition Yabloko party, also announced that he would run.

Every one of these candidates has run more than twice. 2018 will be Zhirinovsky’s sixth presidential election.

Search for the Enemy

At first glance, the 2018 election should present little challenge to the sitting president. The street protests and dissent that characterised his last presidential election in 2012 are a distant memory. The nation is seemingly coming to terms with Putin’s everlasting rule. Without competition or obvious alternatives, Putin’s approval rating remain at record-highs.

Yet there are some signs this election may not be as straightforward as the Kremlin expects. The challenge is avoiding boredom. The faces are the same. The conclusion is foregone. There is no drama, no fight, and, consequently, no reason to go out and vote.

Putin cannot allow this, says political analyst Nikolai Petrov. “The nature of his rule has changed, and even 70 percent of the vote at 70 percent turnout will not be enough,” he says, referring to the legitimacy benchmark reportedly set by the Kremlin.

Five years ago, on Feb. 23, 2012, Vladimir Putin addressed tens of thousands of his supporters at Moscow’s largest stadium Luzhniki. There, he recited lines from Borodino, a famous poem by 19th century writer Mikhail Lermontov that every Russian knows by heart.

“Is Moscow not behind us? / By Moscow then we die,” he screamed. “The battle for Russia is not over!”

In 2013, Putin identified the enemy as Russia’s big city middle class, unhappy as it was with his return to the presidency. In 2018, he will also need to defeat an “unexpected adversary,” says Pavlovsky.
Only this time around, finding one won’t be so easy.

Putin’s Dilemma

At this stage of his rule, Putin faces a dilemma, says Petrov. He can either move further ahead to full scale authoritarianism, or start liberal political and economic reforms. Moving in any direction will be difficult.

Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and his associates are now formulating Putin’s new economic program. Kudrin has pulled few punches in his recent statements regarding the Russian economy. The first draft of his program might be ambitious.

But few establishment voices expect Putin to change the system. “Some of Putin’s ideas at this campaign may look fresh, and he might even use the term ‘reforms’ but there will be no break with the past,” the Russian economist and former government official Evgeny Gontmakher told The Moscow Times.

Putin’s forthcoming presidential campaign will instead be aimed at maintaining the status quo.

“Russian business has a stake in Putin’s new presidential term. We are not expecting new slogans and we do not want them to change,” Alexander Shokhin, the head of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the biggest Russian business lobbying body, said in an a recent interview with state television.

Government officials are equally phlegmatic about the potential for dramatic changes.

“Live for today — that’s our window of opportunity,” one senior official told the Moscow Times.

EU brings relief to Mongolian herders affected by extreme winter www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ In response to the particularly harsh winter which has struck large parts of Mongolia since November, the European Commission is providing over 115 000 EUR in humanitarian funding to bring immediate relief to the most affected families. The aid will directly benefit 5000 most vulnerable individuals in some of the country’s worst-hit provinces, namely Khuvsgul, Selenge, Uvs and Zavkhan.

Softbank tycoon Masayoshi Son expands empire with latest buy www.asahi.com

The $3.3 billion (2.6 trillion yen) acquisition by SoftBank Group Corp., the Japanese telecommunications, internet and solar energy giant, of Fortress Investment Group marks tycoon Masayoshi Son's latest step in building an investment empire.

These 10 companies spend most looking for gold, copper www.mining.com

A new report by SNL Metals and Mining on exploration spending by the largest mining companies, documents the shifting sands in the mining industry last year as the sector began to turn around.

SNL, part of S&P Global, notes that larger players allocated a total of nearly $2.2 billion for non-ferrous exploration during the year. Companies with the 20 largest exploration budgets in 2016 accounted for 31% of the just under $6.9 billion worldwide exploration total.

The top 10 companies were responsible for over $1 of every $5 spent on exploration worldwide last year with combined budgets of some $1.46 billion.

Exploration for gold represented 56% of the total budget of the largest players – gold companies usually dominate the top 20 list. Together copper and gold account for 90% of the budgets of the top 10 companies.

The 12 largest gold miners spending on exploration came to 37% of worldwide gold allocations. Two companies, Canada’s Agnico-Eagle and South Africa-based Gold Fields joined the top ten for the first time spending $111 million and $125 million respectively.

These 10 companies spend most looking for gold, copper
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence
Last year’s top spender AngloGold Ashanti allocated nearly half its $185 million budget to brownfield projects with the lion’s share going into Colombia.

Larger players represented 34% of the global total spent on copper exploration. In turn two companies, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta accounted for nearly half of the spending by the top 20 companies delineating and finding copper deposits.

SNL also notes that Rio Tinto was one of the few major mining companies whose planned exploration spending increased in 2016, up about 19% to $218 million. The Melbourne-based company was also the only large firm to spend money ($20 million) on uranium exploration.

Despite the weakness on uranium markets, total global spending on uranium was $284 million last year, nearly as much as was spent on diamonds and surpassing exploration dollars for nickel.

A persistent financing drought has squeezed juniors' budgeting to the point that the majors have become the biggest drivers of early-stage exploration.
The only other diversified mining company in the top 10 – Vale – spent $51.5 million looking for copper and $41.5 million for nickel. Allocations for other minerals were mostly focused on phosphates and potash in Brazil and Peru.

Overall diamonds accounted for 8% (with Alrosa and De Beers responsible for about 54%) and other targets, including silver, potash, phosphates and manganese made up 7% of the spending by larger players.

Considering the stage of exploration, spending patterns in the industry changed last year notes SNL:

Conventional wisdom holds that the major companies leave grassroots exploration to the juniors. It may therefore be surprising that the larger players contributed 34% of all greenfields allocations in 2016.

A persistent financing drought has squeezed juniors' budgeting to the point that the majors have become the biggest drivers of early-stage exploration.

Similarly, the larger players traditionally dominate minesite spending; however, in 2016 they accounted for only 37% of the near-mine work, as their investors demand improved returns over growth.

It is also interesting to note that the major players were responsible for just 25% of late-stage and feasibility work.

Regulation agreements between organizations revised www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The relations concerning the agreements the central and local government administrative bodies establish with foreign organizations are governed by Regulation on Establishing Agreements Between Organizations. On February 15, the cabinet approved the revisions of this regulation.

Verizon close to Yahoo deal, price cut of $250-350 million: sources www.reuters.com

Yellen: Immigration policy change may slow growth www3.nhk.or.jp

Lufthansa agrees pay deal with pilot union www.bbc.com

China may tighten up coal output curbs again as prices collapse www.mining.com

China may soon reinstate coal production curbs in an effort to avoid the return of an oversupply and improve the profitability of its heavily indebted coal industry.