A total of 17,000 tickets have been put on sale for the FIFA international friendly match between Bangladesh and Mongolia, to be played at the Sylhet District Stadium on Tuesday evening.

The match will kick off at 5:30pm local time, with local fans to be allowed at full capacity in an international football match for the first since the start of the pandemic.

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The last time Sylhet District Stadium hosted an international football match was in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup in 2018.

However, with the country's premier football venue Bangabandhu National Stadium under long-term renovation, the Sylhet District Stadium is currently the only FIFA-approved venue and has recently enjoyed a facelift with colourful seats replacing concrete seating arrangements.

The venue is currently hosting Abahani as the home team in the Bangladesh Premier League.

"We are hosting an international match after a long time. We have taken promotional campaigns to encourage people to come to the stadium. There will be raffle draws on tickets, with motorcycle, refrigerator, among prizes," informed Mahiuddin Ahmed Selim, BFF's executive committee member and general secretary of Sylhet District Sports Association.

"We are getting some response, albeit slowly, but we are hopeful to have a full capacity contest," the football official added.

The distance between Sylhet and Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, may only be Bhutan and China, but in terms of weather, these are two extreme cities.

While the average temperature in the Mongolian capital currently drops down to even 20 degrees centigrade at night, it usually hovers around 20 to 30 degrees in Sylhet at this time of the year.

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Hence the journey the Mongolian football team have made for their FIFA friendly against Bangladesh is not mere 2000 miles, it's also traveling from one extreme to the other. And the visitors are not feeling quite at home here, according to their Japanese coach Ichiro Otsuka.

"I came (into the job) only two months ago. The condition of the players is not so good because they didn't train for six months," the Japanese coach said.

It has been so cold in the landlocked country that football has been put on hold since the end of the Mongolian Premier League at the start of October.

Then the single-match Mongolian Super Cup took place and that's it.

The team only trained, albeit with interruption, since the start of March for the Bangladesh game and the one against Laos past week, which they lost 1-0.

Otsuka feels it would be difficult here playing against the hosts in this weather and in front of the crowd.

"We will try to play Mongolian football. And we need to make improvements on the game against Laos," Otsuka hoped.

While the 57-year-old claimed he doesn't know much about Bangladesh football, he could definitely gather some ideas from his compatriot Tetsuaki Misawa, who scored the highest 17 goals in the Mongolian league last season before switching to Muktijoddha Sangsad in the Bangladesh Premier League.

When Mongolian metal band The HU uploaded its songs “Yuve Yuve Yu” and “Wolf Totem” to YouTube in 2018, the group quickly became cultural ambassadors for their country, eventually earning them a spot on some of the biggest music festival lineups in the world.

The HU performs what they call “Hunnu Rock,” which is inspired by the ancient Mongolian empire known as The Huns, and their music features old Mongolian war cries and poetry through traditional Mongolian guttural throat singing.

According to the band’s website, all four members have bachelor’s or higher degrees in music, as well as several years of touring experience throughout Asia and the Pacific regions.

The band’s 2019 album, “The Gereg,” reached No. 103 on the Billboard 200 chart. There’s another album in the works, but a release date has yet to be set.

The HU will perform on 15 and 22 April the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Members Jaya and Gala, and their producer Dashka, spoke to The Desert Sun through Zoom about music in Mongolia, touring the world and their excitement to play Coachella. The following interview was edited for length and clarity.

Are there other musicians in Mongolia following in your footsteps?

JAYA: There are people who are trying to follow our path in the Hunnu Rock genre and who are inspired by us. We’re happy there are many bands coming from Mongolia and getting into the genre.

The HU perform on the fourth and final day of the Louder Than Life music festival. Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021. The band will perform on April 15 and 22, 2022 at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Was it hard to get your hands on Western music in Mongolia?

GALA: When we were growing up, our older brothers visited neighboring countries and they would purchase CDs during their travels. It was so precious back then due to the lack of imported products in our country. We would borrow each other’s and our brother’s CDs, but we always had to make sure not to scratch them, they always get scratched after few times no matter how careful you are. I remember having to borrow a Guns N’ Roses CD from my brother and listening to it and it would skip a beat because of the scratches. It didn’t matter, I still wiped the CD and listened over and over in my old CD player. I still have the CD player, and CD to this day because it is one of my greatest memories as a kid who loved music, and I still do as an artist.

What does it feel like to tour around the world and bring your music to people?

JAYA: It’s very important for us being the representation of our culture, language and rock genre. We are fascinated meeting our fans who positively embrace us.

Through all of your touring, is there an experience you remember the most?

GALA: When we first went on tour in Europe, we played the Rock am Ring festival (in Mendig, Germany). Being a young band, we thought there wouldn’t be many fans waiting for us. But when we came up to the stage, there were thousands of people waiting for us, clapping and cheering.

The HU brought their brand of Mongolian Hunnu rock to the masses on the fourth and final day of the Louder Than Life music festival. Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021

The HU received a lot of attention in 2019 and 2020, then COVID-19 stopped your momentum. How did that feel for the band?

DASHKA: The pandemic was a hard time all around the world, and it was true for the band. We were very disappointed about the tour cancellations. But it gave us more time to focus all the energy on our music. We’re hoping our second album will bring a lot of joy to the world.

What can your fans expect from the upcoming album?

GALA: In our next album, we have been working and collaborating with many amazing and legendary artists. We’ve spent the last 18 months writing, recording and perfecting these new songs that we hope all our fans around the world will enjoy, and [we hope to] further gain new fans. We’ve performed a few of the new songs live and we feel as though they’re connecting really well with our fans. We’re excited to release our new album this year.

Does it ever feel like there’s a language barrier between the band and the fans?

JAYA: We don’t worry about that at all because music is a universal language and there’s no barrier. We think from heart to heart, there’s no limit to what music can do. Our fans are good at remembering the lyrics. For example, when we sing, they’ll be chanting with us, no matter the language. It’s awesome how far they would [go] to learn our language and style. We’re so grateful.

The Hu performs on the Tito's Handmade Vodka Stage during Austin City Limits Music Festival on October 9 2021.

Is there anything you’d like for people to know about Mongolia?

GALA: On top of the history, we love to share the nobility practice that came from our ancestors that can be useful to the modern world. That ancient way of living is one of the greatest assets that humankind can have. One of our main goals is to share that feeling of how the nomadic way of living can be.

How do you feel about playing at Coachella?

JAYA: Not only are we excited to play at Coachella, but also people in Mongolia and our fans [are excited for them to play at the festival]. Everybody that we know is so excited for us to play at Coachella and is cheering us on. We can’t wait to go to our rehearsals to prepare for it.

source: (Desert Sun)

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Mongolia held scheduled meetings on March 23 and 24, 2022. Taking into consideration the current state of the economy and financial markets as well as the outlook for the domestic and foreign economic environment, the MPC decided to increase the policy rate by 2.5 percentage points to 9.0 percent.

The tension arisen in international relations recently has become an additional source of uncertainty in the foreign and domestic economy. As the range of uncertainties widened, commodity prices especially prices of crude oil and food rose sharply in the international markets, and supply chain disruptions are expected to persist, many countries are subject to risks of higher inflation and lower economic growth for this year than previously expected.

Annual headline inflation reached 14.2 percent nationwide and 15.5 percent in Ulaanbaatar city as of February 2022. Elevated prices of food and petroleum in the international markets, transportation, and logistic restrictions, which incur further transportation costs, as well as supply disruptions have been identified as the main factors explaining recent inflation developments. Though inflation has gradually decelerated in February consistent with our previous projections, the current inflation outlook is being revised upwards due to the international tension arisen recently.

Economic growth last year undermined expectations owing to reduced production activities in mining, transportation, and construction sectors mainly caused by border restrictions, despite trade and service sectors supporting growth in line with the easing of pandemic-related quarantine measures. Economic growth outlook in 2022 is expected to be negatively affected by higher production costs driven by surges in crude oil prices in the global markets, taking into account the current state of international relations, as well as constrained supply of production inputs resulting from anti-COVID policies being implemented by our main trading partner.

Acceleration of external benchmark rate, worsening balance of payments, and increased inflation expectations through the prevalence of cost-push inflation that is triggered by higher production costs have necessitated the implementation of policy measures with the aim to tighten monetary policy stance at a faster pace and improve relative yield on the domestic currency. The Bank of Mongolia will take subsequent necessary actions in a timely manner in accordance with activities in the foreign and domestic economy, inflation developments, supply constraints as well as the state of international relations.

Bank of Mongolia

The Ministry of Health reported today that 69 СOVID-19 cases were recorded in the last 24 hours nationwide. In detail, 38 cases were reported in Ulaanbaatar city, with 31 cases in 21 provinces.

It was also reported that no COVID-19 related death has been reported in the past 24 hours. Currently, there are 378 people are receiving hospital treatment for COVID-19 whilst 1,166 people with mild symptoms are being treated at home.

We have known for some time now that COVID-19 can affect the nervous system.

Some people who contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus have suffered from a number of neurological complications including confusion, strokes, impaired concentration, headaches, sensory disturbances, depression, and even psychosis, months after the initial infection.

Now, researchers at the University of Oxford have conducted the first major peer-reviewed study comparing the brain scans of 785 people, aged 51 to 81 of whom 401 had contracted COVID and 384 had not. There were, on average, 141 days between testing positive for COVID and the second brain scan.

The study revealed that, when compared to the scans of a control group, those who tested positive for COVID had greater overall brain shrinkage and more grey matter shrinkage and tissue damage in regions linked to smell and mental capacities months after the initial infection.

Although the research does shed some light on the ongoing symptoms of long COVID, I would caution against generalising the findings to the population at large before more research is conducted.

Researchers said even though the effects were more pronounced in older people who had been hospitalised for their symptoms, even those with mild symptoms had some changes.

“Despite the infection being mild for 96 percent of our participants, we saw a greater loss of grey matter volume, and greater tissue damage in the infected participants, on average 4.5 months after infection,” said Professor Gwenaëlle Douaud, lead author on the study. “They also showed greater decline in their mental abilities to perform complex tasks, and this mental worsening was partly related to these brain abnormalities.”

The study was conducted when the Alpha variant was dominant in Britain and is unlikely to include anyone infected with the Delta variant. The researchers also did not say if vaccination against COVID had any impact on the condition.

The scans they did reveal changes in several parts of the brain after people contracted COVID, including:

Greater reduction in grey matter thickness and tissue contrast in the orbitofrontal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus. The orbitofrontal cortex is the part of the brain that controls reward, emotion and fluctuations in mood and feelings of sadness. It is also involved in cognitive function and decision-making. The parahippocampal gyrus plays a role in the control of our emotions as well as an important role in memory retrieval and spatial awareness and processing. We have seen symptoms of depression, anxiety and “brain fog” where people are prone to memory issues after a COVID infection.

Greater changes in markers of tissue damage in regions functionally connected to the primary olfactory cortex. This is the part of the brain for processing and perception of smell; it also helps link smells to certain memories and survival responses. Loss of sense of smell has been a hallmark symptom of COVID and this may explain why that is.

Greater reduction in global brain size, essentially meaning the participants’ brains were smaller after testing positive for COVID than when scanned before the infection.

It is not uncommon for our brains to shrink as we get older, the natural ageing process results in the loss of grey matter every year, on average between 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent, according to researchers.

But the study found that, compared with uninfected participants, those who contracted COVID – even those who had mild cases – lost between 0.2 percent and 2 percent between scans.

The study also found that participants who had suffered from COVID exhibited a greater decline in efficiency and attention when performing a complex cognitive task.

The Oxford study is the first study to make such a direct link between COVID infections and changes in the brain. It goes some way to providing us with the beginnings of an explanation about the myriad neurological symptoms people with long-COVID complain about, although researchers stress that more studies are needed.

We do not know whether the changes in the brain demonstrated in this study are long-term or permanent, or whether they would be the same for younger people, who generally (but not always) get milder COVID symptoms.

Since the study was conducted during the reign of the Alpha variant, more work needs to be done on those who contracted the Delta and Omicron variants to see if similar changes are found.

The timing of the study also means that the participants were unlikely to have been vaccinated. Now, with so many people vaccinated, it would be useful to know if the vaccines offer a layer of protection.

March 27 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia recorded 25 new COVID-19 local infections over the past 24 hours, the lowest since March 6, 2021, when eight daily cases were reported, the Health Ministry said on Sunday.

The country's COVID-19 tally has now increased to 469,041, and its COVID-19 death toll stands at 2,108, with no new deaths reported in the last day, the ministry said in a statement.

Currently, there are 1,588 active COVID-19 cases across the country.

Almost 67 percent of Mongolia's population of 3.4 million has received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, 1,031,637 people have received a third dose and 113,896 have received a voluntary fourth shot.

With a high vaccination coverage and declining daily infections, Mongolia has essentially returned to normal life. It has resumed in-person classes for all educational institutions and fully opened its borders to foreign tourists.

On March 24, Olympic bronze medalist, Hero of Labour, State Honored Athlete M.Urantsetseg departed for her first UFC match in the US.

During an event that was held in January this year for her Hero of Labour title, the athlete announced that she is retiring from the sport of judo in which she continuously trained for 17 years, and making her debut in UFC.

From all of the large-scale international judo competitions and tournaments she competed in, Urantsetseg won 21 gold, 16 silver, and 21 bronze medals - a total of 47 medals.

During her judo career, she also set a Guinness record for the most medals won on the International Judo Federation (IJF) World Tour by winning 39 medals between 2010 and 2021.

Market analyst Wood Mackenzie warns that the ongoing metals and mined commodity price spikes, combined with heightened geopolitical tensions, could result in long-lasting market changes.

In recent months, factors including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, stimulated economies, thriving post-pandemic demand, and ongoing covid constraints on logistics have put supply chains under immense stress, triggering multiple price records for metals and mined commodities.

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WoodMac’s vice president, Robin Griffin, said in a press note the drastic divergence of price and production cost could not last indefinitely, even if there were an enduring stranding of Russian production.

“A look at notional margins miners enjoy suggests that the price rises are fragile at best. Margins are way above historical norms, and such a drastic divergence of price and production cost cannot last indefinitely,” said Griffin.

“The disruption to regional and product price relationships also points to price fragility. For example, Asian steel prices remaining flat while iron ore and metallurgical coal prices continue to soar is incongruous, given their influence on steel production costs,” said Griffin.

According to WoodMac, the conflict “will undoubtedly” leave an indelible mark on some commodity markets.

“A prolonged shift in some Russian trade from Europe to China and India, and a lack of western participation in the Russian metals and mining sector are near certainties. But even if we ignore for a moment the serious geopolitical impacts on trade, the price shocks themselves will also engender potentially long-lasting change,” said Griffin.

WoodMac flagged several potential outcomes explicitly stemming from the current commodity price spikes. These include buyers taking a more conservative, risk-averse approach which could entail a preference shift towards longer-term contracts with less spot trade.

Some buyers are also expected to seriously consider vertical integration into supply chains once the uncertainty subsides, while governments may move to increase regulation to manage volatility.

WoodMac also suggested that price spikes could result in capital expenditure uncertainty. While project incentive prices have been well and truly left behind in the current price spike, the analyst noted that producers and investors typically needed to believe that changes were structural before committing. “The extreme volatility may, in fact, have the reverse effect as investors delay decisions until clarity improves,” said WoodMac.

Meanwhile, an immediate shift to alternative fuels is possible, particularly thermal coal and pulverized coal injection. Accelerated penetration of alternative technologies is also possible in the power and steel sectors if high prices persist, including the early advent of low carbon technologies such as hydrogen-based direct reduction iron.

Battery chemistry competition may also increase as exorbitant prices for lithium-ion battery raw materials drive manufacturers toward alternative chemistries such as lithium-iron-phosphate.

“There are, of course, a range of risks to global consumption from high energy prices that could affect demand for metals and mined commodities,” said WoodMac.

Further, WoodMac noted that mine inflation was surging as high prices shifted the focus from cost control and the rise of input costs.

“This is true across all mined products, where higher labour, diesel and power costs are already taking a toll. Some participants are privately forecasting that cost inflation will hit record highs.”

Further, price indices are coming under pressure. The London Metal Exchange’s recent decision to suspend nickel trading, and nullify completed transactions, had sent shivers down the spines of exchange users.

WoodMac expects it would take time to rebuild trust, and traded volumes are unlikely to recover immediately. “All price indices in affected commodities will see increased scrutiny,” said WoodMac.

Nickel nuance

Meanwhile, Fitch Solutions Country Risk & Industry Research reports high-grade nickel consumers seek alternatives to Russian supplies as battery-making costs surge with nickel prices.

Russia is the leading provider of Class 1 nickel mining, while China is the most significant player for refining.

Fitch said in its new report automakers, battery manufacturers, and industrial consumers would likely forge new business partnerships to source alternatives to high-grade nickel, as Russian supply remained constrained on the back of the Ukraine war.

Commodity price spikes could signal lasting market changes – report

Automakers, battery manufacturers, and industrial consumers would likely forge new business partnerships to source alternatives to high-grade nickel, as Russian supply remains constrained. Credit: Fitch Solutions.

To this end, China-based Tsingshan Group and other companies actively developing the capacity to refine lower-grade nickels are set to benefit.

Fitch also flagged shifting importer preferences, self-sanctioning, and a desire to minimize sanctions risks were affecting purchases of Russian nickel exports.

As a result, mining and refining operations in ‘safe’ countries with more stable regulatory and trade regimes were likely to benefit.

According to Fitch, Indonesia is likely to see increased interest in refining projects due to domestic policy and Tsingshan’s example but suffers from policy uncertainty. The changing preferences between higher and lower grades will also affect the medium to long-term market forecasts as the market settles and more deals are announced, said Fitch.

US-based mineral exploration company KoBold Metals said on Thursday it is ready to start drilling for nickel and other raw materials used in electric vehicles, amid skyrocketing prices brought about by Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia.

The company secured a 51% stake in the Disko-Nuussuaq project on Greenland’s west coast last year, operated by UK-based Bluejay Mining. In their joint venture, the mining firms plan to drill a total of 3,000 meters in 2022 at depths of between 150 to 400 meters to get to where the metals are located.

“The objective is to target massive nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group metals,” Bluejay CEO Bo Stensgaard told Reuters.

The ambitious project comes as prices for metals, especially nickel, used in electric vehicle batteries more than doubled earlier in March amid Western sanctions imposed on Russia following its military operation in Ukraine. Russia supplies around 10% of the world’s nickel needs, as well as 4% of cobalt. It is also the world’s 8th largest copper producer and 4th largest supplier of platinum.

Void left by ban on key metal from Russia can't be filledREAD MORE: Void left by ban on key metal from Russia can't be filled

“The recent unfortunate geopolitical developments clearly show that the Western world needs new deposits of these critical metals,” Stensgaard said.

KoBold is famous for utilizing artificial intelligence and cloud computing techniques to predict the composition of the subsurface in the hunt for raw materials. The firm says its goal is to “fully electrify the global economy” and start an “electric vehicle revolution.” The project is backed by notable billionaires such as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Ray Dalio, the founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates.