June 13 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia will build a "green wall" along its borders by planting at least 16 million trees by 2030 to combat desertification, according to the presidential office of Mongolia.

To achieve the goal, professional agronomists have been appointed to all units of the General Authority for Border Protection, and trainings on planting and caring for trees have been provided to contract or conscript servicemen, the presidential office said in a statement on Monday.

The effort is part of Mongolia's national tree-planting campaign initiated by President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, the statement said.

The campaign was officially launched last October with an aim to plant at least 1 billion trees by 2030 to combat climate change and desertification.

Almost 77 percent of Mongolian territory is affected by desertification and land degradation, according to the country's Ministry of Environment and Tourism.

At Asia Tech Singapore 2022, HE Bolor-Erdene Battsengel, State Secretary, Ministry of Digital Development and Communications, Mongolia, took to the stage to share her views on the changing roles of women in tech with fellow guest panellists.

Digital governance is a key agenda for many countries. What have been some initiatives rolled out?

Mongolia aims to build a digital nation. In this context, a number of basic system and structural changes have been made. For example, to accelerate digital transformation, the former agency named Communication and Information Technology Authority was reorganized this year into the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications. E-Mongolia platform has successfully launched an integrated e-government system. The E-Mongolia academy has also been established to further develop, improve and maintain the E-Mongolia System. The fundamental laws of digital governance, such as the Law on Public Information, the Law on Digital Signatures, the Law on the Personal Data Protection, and the Law on Cyber ​​Security, have also been approved by the Parliament of Mongolia.

Mongolia implemented the e-Mongolia platform a couple of years ago to digitalize public services. Can you tell us about the progress of this initiative and how this has impacted the lives of Mongolians?

We first introduced the E-Mongolia system on 1 October 2020. The main achievement is that today, it has become a large system that includes 656 services from 61 government organizations. In total, more than 12 million services have been provided online through this system. The system currently has 1.3 million users. That means one-third of the adult population uses the E-Mongolia platform. A total of 656 most demanded public services can be obtained from this system, from applying for a driver’s license to applying for a passport. Features such as offering services based on customer behavior have recently been added.

Mongolia is a vast and one of the least densely populated countries in the world. Can you tell us how this has been a challenge for 5G adoption and what is the 5G journey like so far?

Our country has approved a policy to introduce 5G networks in 2020. In 2021, 5G pilot tests were successfully conducted twice. This year, the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications and the Communications Regulatory Commission are preparing the spectrum management for the introduction of 5G in Mongolia. In addition, mobile operators are preparing to invest in 5G. It has also successfully completed a 5G readiness assessment with the support of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Our country has a large territory and a sparsely populated region. This situation poses the biggest challenge when building a 5G network. In other words, the investment for establishing a 5G network will require a lot. In addition, 5G requires more robust fiber optic infrastructure. The next big challenge is a small, but highly competitive market. For instance, Mongolia has more than 3 million citizens served by 5 mobile operators.

What are some plans in the pipeline for the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications of Mongolia?

As I mentioned, our country aims to become a digital nation. The government has announced that information technology is one of the priorities of the economy. The Ministry of Development was implemented within the government, and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Innovation and Digital Development was established. Our ministry has also approved a digital nation strategy. The strategy has six sub-objectives: digital infrastructure, e-governance, cybersecurity, digital literacy and inclusion, innovation and production, and national development accelerator.

As I have said before, we have passed laws to accelerate the nation’s digital development to a new level. Emphasis will be placed on the implementation of these laws and the approval of compliance regulations.

Inner Mongolia has closed 49 cryptocurrency mining farms in total, but only four since September, according to the Inner Mongolia Daily, indicating either the process has been successful or the shutdown drive mandated by Beijing is slowing.

Fast facts

As of last September, Inner Mongolia had shut down 45 farms, state-backed newspaper Science & Technology Daily reported at the time.

Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region on the northern border of China, is rich in coal and has cheap electricity. Local crypto mining farms accounted for 8% of the global Bitcoin mining hashrate, the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) said last May.

China started clamping down crypto mining last March, and some mining farms have relocated overseas.

But China’s mining hashrate started to rise again late last year and by January it had become the second-largest Bitcoin mining hub with 21% of the global hashrate, according to CCAF.

Miners are still operating secretly in China, either scattered in rural areas or leveraging relationships with local governments to conceal their mining sites.

Bitcoin’s price has been hovering around $30,000 for a month and just hit a 16-month low of $25,000 on Monday, according to CoinGecko.

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NINGWEI QIN

Ningwei is a Research Associate at Forkast. She previously worked for Caixin, Renmin Daily and CCTV. Ningwei holds a Masters degree from the University of Hong Kong.

The prices of imported Mongolian coking coal extended the rise as an optimism grew along with higher ceiling prices of a tender issued by a large state-run coke firm in Inner Mongolia.

On 7 June, the major coke firm asked for 10,000 tonnes of Mongolian raw coal supply with a ceiling price at 2,060 yuan per tonnes, delivered basis with VAT, climbing 180 yuan per tonnes compared with the preceding tender on 2 June.

The inflows of trucks hauling coal from Mongolia to China through Ganqimaodu border crossing retreated to 374 on 7 June, down from 395 trucks from the preceding day, partly affected by the fallout of infections detected earlier.

Mongolia’s border crossings reportedly will close to celebrate Naadam Festival starting from 11 July.

Mongolia has planned to export at least 36 million tons of coal in 2022.

A total of 166 Covid infections in China have been linked to a single bar in the capital Beijing, officials say.

A government spokesman described the outbreak as "ferocious".

All residents living in the area where the bar is located will be tested over the next three days.

The number of infections in the city is low by international standards but high for China, which is the world's only major economy still maintaining a "zero Covid" policy.

The outbreak was traced to a venue called the Heaven Supermarket Bar, in the well-known entertainment area of Sanlitun in Chaoyang district.

Two buildings housing hundreds of people in Chaoyang were put under strict lockdown on Sunday after a positive case was reported, a residential committee worker told Reuters news agency.

Some people in Beijing said they were sent texts telling them to report to authorities if they had recently visited Sanlitun's bars.

Chinese officials have reversed the relaxation of some Covid rules in Beijing because of the outbreak.

Most children in the capital will not return to school next week as originally planned, officials said.

The capital has reported 1,997 local Covid cases since 22 April.

China's overall policy of "zero Covid" remains in place and people catching Covid face quarantine or hospital.

Their close contacts also face the prospect of removal to quarantine and the area immediately around where they live being locked down again.

The city of Shanghai, the country's economic centre and a global trade hub, recently eased Covid curbs after a two-month lockdown.

The closure of Russian airspace has resulted in a number of problems for Finnish air carriers, including the need to re-route flights and the loss of around €1.5 ($1.58) million per month in air navigation fees, the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported this week, citing the head of air traffic control Matts-Anders Nyberg.

“Every month, we lose around €1.5 million in navigation fees due to the overflight ban,” Nyberg was cited as saying.

Russia closed its airspace at the end of February as part of retaliatory sanctions after a number of European countries, including Finland, banned Russian planes from their airspace in response to Russia's military operation in Ukraine. According to Nyberg, as a result, the number of flights from Finland and through Finland to Asia and back has dwindled since late February. Many flights from Amsterdam and Copenhagen to Asia previously passed through Finnish airspace, and Finland profited from the air navigation fees. Now, these flights have to be re-routed via the Caucasus or the North Pole.

The journeys themselves are now much longer – a flight to Tokyo, for instance, now takes 13 hours instead of nine – and Finland no longer receives the air navigation fees for Asia-bound planes that previously passed through Finnish airspace. Also, according to Nyberg, Russia is no longer paying fees for flights over the Gulf of Finland to Kaliningrad.

The closure of Russian airspace also damaged Finnair, the country’s largest airline, Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reports. Even the future of the carrier is in jeopardy, according to the news outlet. Because Helsinki is closer than other European hubs to the key cities of China, South Korea and Japan, Finnair has long relied on this advantageous geographic location for flights to Asia.

However, Finnair now has to fly around Russia, which greatly reduces its advantage over competitors, especially Chinese carriers, which can still use Russian airspace. With the average 40% increase in flight time, the company has to spend more on fuel, personnel and navigation costs. Finnair’s operating loss for the first half of 2022 already amounted to a record €133 ($140) million, and the company was forced to make major staff cuts and started leasing crewed aircraft to other airlines to reduce losses, the report states.

Mongolian court has sentenced N.Tuvshinbayar, a two-time Olympic medalist for 16 years in prison for murder of his best friend. N.Tuvshinbayar, 37, was charged for a drunken assault which caused a death of fellow wrestler in April, 2021.

The prosecutors submitted the case on 1 December, 2021 to the Khan-Uul District Court charging N.Tuvshinbayar with a criminal code which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years in jail. However, the victim E.Enkhbat, a fellow judoka and a best friend of Tuvshinbayar, died on 24 December, 2021 after retuning home from South Korea. Therefore, N.Tuvshinbayar re-charged for murder which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

E.Enkhbat was hospitalised unconsciousness at the intensive care unit of the National Centre for Treatment and Research on 2 April after the assault that appears to have caused serious brain damage. Shortly after that, the victim flew to South Korea for brain surgery.

Enkhbat’s career medals include a silver in the men’s under-100kg category at the International Judo Federation (IJF) Grand Slam in Baku in Azerbaijan in 2013 and a gold in the same category at the IJF World Cup in Jeju, South Korea in 2012.

After winning the Olympic gold medal at Beijing 2008, N.Tuvshinbayar competed in the same under-100kg category at London 2012, claiming a silver medal on this occasion. He was elected unopposed as President of the MNOC, which this year is celebrating its 65th anniversary, which occurred August last year. After the incident, N.Tuvshinbayar was removed from a position of the position.

A total of 10 electric double-deckers with 70 passenger seats began running at a main road connecting east and west of Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia.

To ease the traffic congestions and reduce the air pollutions, Ulaanbaatar municipal government is determined to introduce more electric vehicles on its roads.

According to the government’s plan, the city imported 10 units electric double-deckers and 36 units school buses from China. In addition, it will build four recharging stations and 15 sets recharging facilities. Another 40 buses will be added next year as part of the effort to improve the buses providing public transport service in the capital city.

Currently, Ulaanbaatar boasts over 900 units city buses. According to local bus operators, almost half of the city’s bus fleet is going to be replaced soon.

Mongolian baritone E.Amartuvshin, is getting ready for a new ‘Rigoletto’. He returned to La Scala in the title role less than two years after his debut there in “Aida” in October 2020. Bringing the role of the cursed court jester to La Scala is a personal milestone for Mr. E.Amartuvshin, 36. It is also a signature role, but never an easy one, especially at an opera house as prestigious as La Scala.

“I’ve sung the role of Rigoletto about 60 times, but this time at La Scala is a little bit intimidating and exciting,” E.Amartuvshin said in a phone interview from Milan last month, the day before rehearsals began.

After this “Rigoletto,” which runs from June 20 to July 11, E.Amartuvshin will sing in no fewer than five other Verdi operas in the coming months: “Nabucco” and “Aida,” in Verona this summer, followed this fall by “La Forza del Destino” in Parma, “Il Trovatore” in Florence and “La Traviata” in Vienna. He will repeat “La Traviata” for his Metropolitan Opera debut in January. It is the kind of schedule befitting in-demand opera singers who book engagements months or years in advance.

He began singing opera professionally after graduation — including “Prince Igor” and “Rigoletto” in Mongolia. He was a winner in the Operalia competition in 2012 and won the audience award at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2015.

The US will no longer require air travellers to have proof of a negative Covid-19 test before entering the country from abroad.

Officials said they were dropping the requirement due to the "tremendous progress" the country had made in the fight against the virus.

The travel industry has been pushing for an end to the policy, which they say has deterred bookings, as families fear getting stranded abroad.

The change comes into effect on Sunday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will re-evaluate the policy in 90 days. The administration said it would "not hesitate to act" to reinstate the rule should new variants make officials believe it is necessary.

"We are able to take this step because of the tremendous progress we've made in our fight against the virus: We have made lifesaving vaccines and treatments widely available and these tools are working to prevent serious illness and death, and are effective against the prevalent variants circulating in the US and around the world," a senior official told reporters.

The US introduced rules requiring air travellers to test negative within three days of their flight - or provide proof of recent recovery from the virus - in January 2021.

US President Joe Biden tightened the policy to within one day of flying in December, as the Omicron variant pushed virus cases higher. The testing measure did not apply to land crossings.

Most non-US citizens must still be vaccinated to travel to the country.

The number of Covid cases in the US has dropped sharply since January, though the figures had started to rise again in recent weeks before plateauing. Deaths remain much lower than during the height of the pandemic because of the impact of the vaccination programme.

The travel sector, which has seen demand surge as concerns about the pandemic wane, has said the US has lagged behind other countries in re-evaluating testing policies.

The UK removed all Covid-19 test requirements for travel in March, as did Canada. Italy ended its testing requirements this month.

On Friday, Canada also said it would pause random Covid testing at airports for the rest of June in order to reduce wait times for travellers.

US Travel Association president Roger Dow said the change in policy would "accelerate the recovery of the US travel industry", while the International Air Transport Association said it was "great news" the "ineffective" measure was being dropped.

Airline Virgin Atlantic also welcomed the move, saying it would "boost consumer confidence even further and support the rebound in transatlantic travel this summer".

The US has been slowly easing Covid national restrictions. Last November, it lifted restrictions on travellers from more than 30 countries, including the UK, after a more than 18-month ban.

In April, the US dropped its requirement that passengers wear masks on planes after a court voided the CDC's mandate.

According to research by the US Travel Association, eliminating the test requirement is likely to bring an additional 5.4 million visitors to the US this year, boosting travel spending by 12%,

"Today marks another huge step forward for the recovery of inbound air travel and the return of international travel to the United States," Mr Dow said.