Mongolian coal exports grew drastically by 180% from the year prior to 666,300 tonnes over the week of July 22-28, Mongolian media reported.

The volume mainly included 5,532 containers transported via road and 300 containers through railway.

The country has seen a 5.7% year-on-year rise in coal exports to 10.78 million tonnes since this year, thanks to the increased demand for the material amid the tightening global supply, especially in its largest buyer China.

Mongolia also logged a sharp rise of 63% in iron ore exports to 215,300 tonnes during the week, and the year-to-date accumulative exports fell 52% on the year to 2.24 million tonnes.

(Writing by Tammy Yang Editing by Harry Huo)

The fourth round of the 2022 Chess Olympiad saw many upsets. One of them was Norway drawing against Mongolia as the match finished with the result of 2-2. However, the Mongolian team had a victory in the pocket as it turned out that Aryan Tari incorrectly claimed a threefold repetition against Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa.

The Mongolian grandmaster had a completely winning position against Tari, but started repeating checks facing the time trouble. Tari’s draw claim was accepted by the arbiter, but it happened to be a mistake that finished with the Mongolian team appealing to the arbiter’s decision. The position wasn’t repeated three times, but only twice, and it seems that none of the players realized that during the game. Despite the arbiter’s mistake, the result of the match wasn’t changed after the appeal.

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Mongolia's accession to the United Nations, at the invitation of the President of Mongolia, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will pay an official visit to Mongolia from 8 to 11 August.

In connection with this visit, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent a letter to President of Mongolia U.Khurelsukh.

In the letter, the Secretary-General expressed his gratitude to Mongolia for its active participation and contribution to the work of the United Nations. He stressed that he welcomed the initiatives put forward by the President of Mongolia in his speech at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, and said that he would continue to discuss these proposals and initiatives during the visit. He also highlighted the fact that Mongolia has shown leadership in the international arena on the issue of landlocked developing countries and established the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs).

During the visit, Mongolia's participation in UN peacekeeping operations, SDGs, combating climate change, ensuring peace and security in the region and many other important issues will be discussed.

The Secretary-General's visit is also coinciding with the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Mongolia's declaration of nuclear-weapon-free status and the 20th anniversary of Mongolia's participation in peacekeeping operations.

The U.S. government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Health Organization (WHO), handed over IT and medical equipment to Mongolia’s Ministry of Health’s National Center for Mental Health. The assistance, which will be distributed to psychological counseling units in nine district health centers in Ulaanbaatar, will help strengthen the capacity of healthcare workers to provide counseling and manage COVID-19-related mental health problems.

USAID Mongolia Senior Development Advisor Thomas Crehan joined partners at the National Center for Mental Health for the handover ceremony attended by Dr. G. Gankhuyag, Director, Division of Non-communicable Diseases Prevention and Control, Ministry of Health; Dr. V. Bayarmaa, Acting Director of the National Center for Mental Health; Dr. Ts. Undral, Director of the Public Health Division of the Ulaanbaatar City Health Department; and Dr. S. Bolormaa of WHO Mongolia.

“The mental health of our front-line workers plays an important role in ensuring the health of the entire population and increasing the chances of recovery of COVID-19 patients,” Mr. Crehan said. “As the country’s enduring partner and third neighbor, the United States, through USAID, is proud to support Mongolia’s journey to recovery against this global health crisis.”

This assistance is an important part of USAID’s partnership with WHO to strengthen the capacity of Mongolia’s health systems in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The partnership is providing urgent medical equipment and critical devices to health care facilities, preventing the further spread of the disease, and improving essential health delivery and COVID-19 related healthcare services.

To date, the U.S. government has provided more than 24.8 billion MNT ($8 million) to help Mongolia respond to the pandemic.

No corner of the world was untouched by Beatlemania. The band and their iconic mops swept through New Zealand in 1964. Lennon left minus a clump of hair after being mobbed by women at the Auckland Town Hall.

There are places they'll remember.

The music of the Fab Four reverberates across the universe. Even in the places they were banned from visiting. From Cuba to Mongolia you'll find public statues of John, Paul, George and Ringo rocking out.

We've strung together a magical mystery tour of Beatle sites for an international pilgrimage.

Back in the USSR

Despite rumours sparked by their song USSR, it was not until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the break-up of the band that Ringo Starr became the first Beatle to play Russia in 1998. Their music was banned behind the Iron Curtain but this didn't stop them from becoming superstars. Bootlegged records helped their music spread where the band could not go.

After his death in 1980, the John Lennon Wall "Lennonova zed" in Prague was painted in his memory. You'll also find statues - of varying quality - across the former communist bloc, including in Almaty in Kazakhstan. There are also statues in Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, and a statue of Lennon complete with wire-rimmed glasses in Havana, Cuba.

In 1968 the Beatles went on a spiritual tour of Uttarakhand in northern India, following the death of manager Brian Epstein.

The ashram they visited, Chaurasi Kutia, fell into disrepair in the early 2000s but has since been restored as a gallery referred to as the "Beatles Ashram". Visitors can pay $13 for a visit which includes yoga, meditation and contemplation of odder inclusions in the Beatles' discography.

After Liverpool, London was a second home to the Beatles. Your first stop - as per the highway code - should be at the Abbey Road Studios. Or, as locals call it, "That bloody Beatles crossing."

The zebra crossing to the recording studios that appeared on the Abbey Road album cover is now chocka from dawn to dusk with tourists recreating the picture. Other stops not to be missed include 3 Savile Row, the site of the band's last ever live concert - on the rooftop of Apple Studios in 1969 - and Marylebone Station, the black and white station through which the band escaped hordes of screaming girls in A Hard Day's Night.

Hamburg

Hamburger Hafen was the "city that built the Beatles". Working in post-war Germany, they booked their first gigs in the Kaiserkeller and Star-Club. Playing as a cover band, the Beatles were booked to play American hits, dressed as rockabillies in leather and slicked-back hair.

Lennon once said the Beatles were "born in Liverpool, but grew up in Hamburg".

Pauli, the district where the band was based, is now home to a Beatles-Platz square and several Beatles-themed musical bar crawls.

Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's central bank said Wednesday that it purchased a total of 9.7 tons of gold from legal entities and individuals in the first seven months of this year.

As of July, the bank's average gold purchase price had been 185,224.93 Mongolian tugriks (58 U.S. dollars) per gram, the Bank of Mongolia said in a statement.

Purchasing gold is one of the key ways for the central bank to ensure the country's economic stability by consistently increasing foreign currency reserves, said the bank.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, Mongolia's forex reserves fell to 2.8 billion dollars in July, down by 1.7 billion dollars from the beginning of this year, according to the central bank.

Central banks across the world typically hold gold as part of their foreign exchange reserves.

The Mongolian central bank plans to purchase at least 24 tons of gold in 2022 to increase the country's forex reserves.

Five-time world Para taekwondo champion Bolor-Erdene Ganbat has expressed his disappointment about not being made an "honoured athlete of Mongolia" on national television.

The status is granted to athletes who perform strongly for the country on the international stage but Ganbat has so far been left out.

As well as his five world titles at 61 kilograms, he has won a host of other titles in the sport and competed at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games where the sport made its debut.

"I won the Para World Championships five times," he told Mongolia station MSports.

"I won the Asian Championship four times.

"I was named the world’s top athlete twice - but I was not awarded the merited athlete of Mongolia.

"In fact, my Para Taekwondo Association sent a request to the top, but I don’t know where the problem is.

"Every athlete spends a lot of sweat and hard work to achieve success.

"I am a little disappointed that I wasn’t awarded even though I have already met the conditions of a meritorious athlete."

Ganbat reached the quarter-finals at Tokyo 2020, where he lost to Antonino Bossolo of Italy.

He again lost in his second repechage contest and missed out on a medal.

Inner Mongolian produced 600 million tonnes of coal in the first half of 2022, rising 21% compared with the preceding year, backed by the joint actions of multiple departments to boost supply, according to Inner Mongolia Daily.

The region has advanced the procedures for coal mining rights, land use, capacity replacement, and environmental impact assessment and speeded up the acceptance of coal mines to ensure safe and stable coal supply.

As of the end of June, the region's daily coal output exceeded 3 million tonnes for nine consecutive months, the local media reported.

In the meantime, Inner Mongolia has also worked to smooth the outward delivery capacity. During the first half, it sold around 590 million tonnes of coal, climbing by about 19%, including 390 million tonnes to users outside the region, which was 24% higher compared with the year-ago level.

In June, Inner Mongolia saw its thermal coal prices pick up slightly but still sit within the rational range, according to data from the price monitoring center of the Inner Mongolia Development and Reform Commission.

During the peak demand month in July and August, Inner Mongolia will continue to accelerate the increase in supply and improve the fulfillment rate of long-term contract supply. Thermal coal prices are expected to fluctuate slightly but still within the reasonable range.

(Writing by Emma Yang Editing by Tammy Yang)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will start his Asia trip that will bring him to Japan, Mongolia and South Korea, his spokesman has said.

The secretary-general will leave for Japan on Thursday. In Japan, he will take part in the Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima, which is held on August 6 every year, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

During his stay in Japan, Guterres will meet with several Japanese senior officials, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. He will also meet a group of surviving victims of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, known as the hibakusha, and will participate in a dialogue with young activists who are leading initiatives on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and other global issues, said Dujarric.

The secretary-general will then go to Mongolia, which has shown a commitment to non-proliferation and disarmament by declaring itself a nuclear-weapons-free zone. Guterres will take part in a tree planting ceremony in the capital city of Ulan Bator to recognize Mongolia’s One Billion Trees initiative, which aims to plant 1 billion trees by 2030 as part of Mongolia’s efforts to reduce the impact of climate change and fight desertification. In addition, he will visit a nomadic family and learn about their way of life, said the spokesman.

Following his visit to Mongolia, the secretary-general will travel to South Korea on August 11. The details of his visit to South Korea are still being worked out, said the spokesman.

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

I have a full trip announcement to share with you. As I mentioned yesterday, the Secretary-General will be heading to Japan on Thursday, leaving here, New York, on Thursday. In Japan, he will take part in the Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima, which, as you know, is held on 6 August every year. The ceremony aims to console the souls of those lost to the atomic bombing, as well as to pray for the realization of lasting world peace. The Secretary-General will honour the victims of the bombings, commemorate all victims of the Second World War, and reiterate his call to world leaders to urgently eliminate stockpiles of nuclear weapons. During his visit, he will meet with several Japanese senior officials, including Prime Minister [Fumio] Kishida. He will also meet a group of surviving victims of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, known as the hibakusha; and he will participate in a dialogue with young activists who are leading initiatives on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and other global issues.

The Secretary-General will then go to Mongolia, at the invitation of President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa. Mongolia is a country that has also shown a commitment to non-proliferation and disarmament by declaring itself a nuclear-weapon-free zone. During his visit to the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, the Secretary-General will also take part in a tree planting ceremony to recognize Mongolia’s One Billion Trees initiative, which was launched in October and aims to plant, as its name implies, 1 billion trees by 2030, as part of the Mongolia’s efforts to reduce the impact of climate change and fight the increasing desertification which is impacting Mongolia. In addition, he will visit a nomadic family and learn about their way of life. Following his visit to Mongolia, the Secretary-General will travel to the Republic of Korea from 11 to 12 August. The details of his visit to Seoul are still being discussed with the Government.