The Chinese economy's sharp rebound from the coronavirus pandemic has now slowed, official figures show.

Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 7.9% in the second quarter of 2021 compared to the same time last year.

That was less than half the rate seen in the previous quarter and missed economists' forecasts of 8.1% growth.

GDP is one of the most important ways of showing how well, or badly, an economy is doing.

It's a measure - or an attempt to measure - all the activity of companies, governments and individuals in an economy.

Official figures for June also showed better-than-expected growth for retail sales and industrial production.

"China's economy sustained a steady recovery with the production and demand picking up," the NBS said in a statement.

However, the release went on to caution: "The epidemic continues to mutate globally and external instabilities and uncertainties abound."

Economists have raised concerns about the recovery of the world's second largest economy in recent months.

Record high prices for commodities, like iron ore and copper, helped to push its factory inflation to the highest level in more than a decade.

The country has also seen supply chain disruptions as shipping firms have been hit with backlogs, while shortages of energy also hampered factory output.

In April, official figures showed that China's economy grew a record 18.3% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same quarter last year.

It was the biggest jump in GDP since China started keeping quarterly records in 1992.

However, that expansion was also below expectations, after a Reuters poll of economists predicted growth of 19%.

They were also heavily skewed, and less indicative of strong growth, as they are compared to last year's huge economic contraction - China's economy shrank 6.8% in the first quarter of 2020 due to nationwide lockdowns at the peak of its Covid-19 outbreak.

New York (CNN Business)The difference between CEO and median employee pay grew in 2020 despite the Covid pandemic and ongoing relief efforts.

The average S&P 500 company CEO made 299 times the average worker's salary last year, according to AFL-CIO's annual Executive Paywatch report. Executives received $15.5 million in total compensation on average, marking an increase of more than $260,000 per year over the past decade. At the same time, the average production and nonsupervisory worker in 2020 earned $43,512, up just $957 a year over the past decade.

Both average compensation and pay ratios grew in 2020 during the pandemic. Executives' average total compensation increased more than $700,000 last year while CEO-to-worker pay ratios increased from 264:1 in 2019.

"This is consistent with what we've been seeing year to year," Liz Schuler, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, said in a press conference with reporters Wednesday. "Inequality, the imbalance in our economy, is clear by this report that the pay of CEOs and working people continues to be a major problem in this country."

The highest-compensated CEO in 2020 was Chad Richison of Paycom (PAYC), who received more than $200 million in salary and stock awards that vest over time. Other companies with executives topping the list of highest-paid CEOs include General Electric (GE), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN), Hilton (HLT), T-Mobile (TMUS), Nike (NKE), Microsoft (MSFT) and Netflix (NFLX).

The most skewed pay scale belonged to Aptiv (APTV), which had a 5,294:1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio last year. While the company's CEO, Kevin Clark, was compensated with more than $31 million in 2020, its median employee pay was $5,906.

Other companies topping that list include The Gap (GPS), Paycom, Chipotle (CMG), Hilton, Nike and Coca-Cola (KO).

Companies in the consumer discretionary industry, including retailers like Amazon, had the highest disparity with an average 741:1 CEO-to-worker ratio.

"The only reason we're reaching the other side of the Covid-19 pandemic is because working people stepped up," Schuler said. "We hear so many business leaders calling these workers essential and calling them heroes, but words are not enough. We have always been essential, doing the critical work to make this country hum."

An ongoing conversation

The difference between executives' pay compared to other workers at big corporations has been of growing interest since the 2008 recession, when federal officials mandated that companies publicly disclose that data.

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic last year, many CEOs and top executives announced they would be taking a pay cut or foregoing their salaries altogether. At big corporations, the move to give up some pay wasn't enough to engender drastic improvements for lower-paid employees or make up for pandemic losses, but it was symbolic and necessary to show workers that executives were impacted by the crisis, too.

Giving up pay might not have meant big losses for executives either though. Base pay is only a fraction of an executive's total compensation, which is usually comprised of performance-based compensation such as stocks, options and bonuses.

Despite a slight decrease in CEO base pay, CEOs enjoyed increases in their equity compensation, especially in stock-based pay, which increased over $1 million last year.

For example, while the average CEO salary at S&P 500 companies was a little more than $1 million, performance-based compensation accounted for an additional $14 million, bringing the average total compensation to more than $15 million last year.

On average, CEOs of S&P 500 companies saw their total compensation grow 5% in 2020 while the disclosed median employee pay grew only 1% at those same companies.

The context

The growing difference between CEO and worker pay comes after a year of economic turmoil and in the midst of a recovering economy.

Last month the US economy added 850,000 jobs, a figure that exceeded expectations and signaled that job growth is accelerating. Still, the labor market is down 6.8 million jobs since February 2020, and 6.2 million people didn't work or worked less because their employer was impacted by the pandemic, according to the report.

Jobless rates for demographic groups also show that the pandemic's economic hardships are still mostly shouldered by low-income workers and non-White workers.

At the same time, America is grappling with record-breaking inflation. The consumer price index, a key inflation measure, grew 0.9% in June, the largest one-month increase in 13 years. Over the past year, prices were up 5.4%, the biggest jump in annual inflation in nearly 13 years. The trend is squeezing consumer's as they struggle to keep up with rising prices, especially gas and food prices.

And, like job growth and inflation, the stock market is hitting record-breaking highs, too. Wall Street's biggest banks are reporting earnings in the billions and a slew of high-profile companies have already made their public debut this year.

July 15 (Xinhua) -- At least 4,837 heads of livestock were killed after rain-triggered floods hit the central-western Mongolian province of Arkhangai early this week, the country's National Emergency Management Agency said Thursday.

Eleven of the animals killed in the floods were cattle and the rest were sheep and goats.

In addition, a total of 10 families have lost their homes due to the floods, the emergency agency said.

Heavy rains are expected in large parts of the country in the coming days, the agency said, urging the public, especially herders and travelers, to prevent possible disasters.

SEOUL, July 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's major convenience store chain CU said Thursday it has launched two stores in a new international airport in Mongolia as part of efforts to boost its presence in the country.

CU said the company has become the first South Korean convenience store chain that has established outlets in the New Ulaanbaatar International Airport.

The sole international airport in Mongolia, which opened on July 1 and is also known as Chinggis Khaan International Airport, is about 50 kilometers from the Mongolian capital and has a daily passenger capacity of around 12,000.

The opening of the two outlets in the airport came four years after CU made forays into the Mongolian market through a franchise deal with local retailer Central Express.

One store in the departure lounge caters to travelers and offers instant noodles, snacks, beverages, instant coffee and instant prepared foods, with the other outlet available only to airport staff, CU said.

CU currently operates 130 stores in Mongolia after launching its first outlet in Ulaanbaatar in August 2018.

Mongolia is seen as a promising market for South Korean convenience store operators, with the number of people aged under 35 accounting for more than 60 percent of the total population.

South Korea's convenience store chain operators have been setting their sights on the overseas market as the domestic market has become increasingly saturated.

The 5th batch of Pfizer/Biontech vaccines with 39,780 doses arrived in Mongolia on July 14.

With 84,240 doses supplied on June 16, 85,410 doses on June 23, 85,410 doses on June 30, 30,420 doses on July 7 respectively, Mongolia has received a total of 325,260 doses of vaccines so far as part of the agreement of the Government of Mongolia and Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer / Biontech) to purchase 2,5 million doses of Pfzier vaccines.

The 2.35 million doses of the vaccine are purchased through the grant funding of the Project for Strengthening Capacity of Mongolia to Cope with the COVID-19 and Other Public Health Emergencies Agreement signed between the UNICEF and the Embassy of Japan on March 11, 2021.

UNICEF Mongolia

Mongolia received 20,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine on July 13. The vaccine supply was made via Mongol Em Impex Concern LLC.

Starting today, the country is vaccinating its citizens with Sputnik V without age restrictions. “The Ministry of Health has given instructions to immunize citizens with Sputnik V without age restrictions starting today. The the vaccine is currently being distributed to vaccination sites and citizens will be able to receive Sputnik V shots at any vaccination site by tomorrow,” said spokesperson of the Health Ministry B.Uuganbayar.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to the Republic of Poland B.Dorj had a meeting with Director of the Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences Jarosław Stolarski to discuss restoration and expansion of cooperation between the two sides.

Underlining that joint expeditions made large discoveries in Mongolia in 1960 and 1970, the Mongolian Ambassador showed an interest in restoring the cooperation.

The paleobiology institute director expressed his willingness to continue the cooperation and promote cooperation between the two countries in paleontology and biology.

The sides had discussions about determining possible areas of cooperation, exchanging scholars, jointly celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Mongolia-Poland joint expedition, establishing field research stations in Mongolia, staging paleontology exhibitions, and receiving support from Poland in paleontological research in Mongolia.

Mongolia’s mediating role in the Korean Peninsula has emphasized the significance of small states’ soft power in global diplomacy.

Joseph Nye’s notion of “soft power” has untapped potential for understanding the power of so-called small states, which can significantly contribute to peace mediation in the global policy arena by marshaling their soft diplomatic power. In this vein, Mongolia’s diplomatic mediation efforts on the Korean Peninsula, facilitated through its multilateral peace activist foreign policy and its cordial relations with all of the parties involved, have the potential to broaden its foreign policy reach in regional affairs.

‘Soft Power’: Bringing Warmth to a Frozen Conflict

North Korea’s nuclear ambitions have, in recent years, shaken the precarious stability established by the 1953 Armistice between the two Koreas. The growing tensions on the peninsula evoke power struggles between big powers such as the United States, China, Japan, and Russia, historical adversaries with direct strategic interests in revisiting the Korean conflict. The region remains trapped in the logic of obstinate realpolitik.

Since the early 1990s, major powers have engaged in “hard power” mediation initiatives, employing a primarily carrot-and-stick approach that incorporates elements including financial assistance, humanitarian aid, and economic sanctions. However, these efforts have so far failed to resolve the Korean conflict. This suggests that hard power approaches may not be the best foreign policy solution for frozen conflicts, and they have proven to be especially ineffective in changing the “hearts and minds” of policymakers in conflicting states.

Many observers were surprised when Mongolia quietly revived declining multilateral engagement with North Korea following the gradual breakdown of the Six-Party Talks, which were held intermittently beginning in 2003. Notably, Mongolia’s mediating role has emphasized the significance of small states’ “soft power” in global diplomacy.

In 2014, Mongolia’s then-President Elbegdorj Tsakhia established a new dialogue venue in Ulaanbaatar to facilitate a breakthrough on the Korean issue. The conference type was track two, with diplomats from the Six-Party states invited as well as academics.

The conference aimed to increase trust and confidence among the various parties while decreasing tension and hostility on the Korean peninsula. The Ulaanbaatar Dialogue on Northeast Asian Security (UBD), as it is widely known, has aided high-ranking officials in developing mutual understanding and in reestablishing working relations. Social interactions at events and meals, undertaken as part of the UBD initiative, have helped to soften hardline positions on sensitive security issues. The dialog has also included non-security issues such as economics, energy, infrastructure, humanitarian issues, and the inclusion of youth in peacebuilding initiatives.

The number of participants attending the UBD has grown over time, as has its influence. The UBD has now firmly established itself as a stable multilateral security dialogue mechanism in which North Korea has consistently participated.

Mongolia’s Soft-Power Assets

Mongolia is a small state, with an annual GDP of just $13.84 billion, but has a rapidly growing economy. In 1990, it underwent a remarkable political transformation, from communism to holding democratic elections, without reverting to authoritarianism or political backlash, unlike in other emerging Sino-centric Asian countries. Mongolia’s successful sociopolitical transition was not novel. The roots of Mongolian soft power can be traced back to the Great Yassa (Mongol Empire law) and the cosmopolitan Mongolian identity that developed in the Central Asian steppe (c.1280–1360), when nomadic Mongols secured “Pax Mongolica” hegemony over much of Eurasia.

Today, Mongolia is an advanced democracy with a firmly established market economy that has a reputation for diplomatic mediation and peacekeeping operations. Mongolia’s regional peacemaker role may reflect its desire for renewed global prestige.

In recent decades, the art of using soft power has been enshrined in Mongolia’s foreign policy and via its cordial diplomatic relationships. Pursuing a pacifist foreign policy, Mongolia has sought an “open, independent, multi-pillared” foreign policy and is pursuing a “Third Neighbor” policy in global relations, emphasizing the development of diplomatic ties with both the West and East on pragmatic grounds.

Under this concept, Mongolia has enjoyed positive relations with a cluster of advanced democracies and global institutions including the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the U.N., the World Trade Organization, and ASEAN, all while maintaining its strategic relations with its two great power neighbors, China and Russia. Furthermore, Mongolia has declared its territory a nuclear-weapon-free zone and has striven to formalize its nuclear-weapon-free status. These efforts have helped establish Mongolia’s reputation as an honest and dependable broker committed to regional nuclear non-proliferation.

Mongolia’s expansion of its mediator profile may not have been achievable without a cordial diplomatic record; its amicable relations with both Koreas have allowed its efforts to mediate as a third-party country to come to fruition. In a rare feat, Mongolia has gained North Korea’s trust. The two countries’ historic ties, dating back to 1948 and based on their shared communist ideology, have remained solid, despite Mongolia’s transition to democratic government and a liberalized economy. Mongolia may serve as a window to the outside world for North Korea, providing an opportunity for economic development by learning from its experience.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations with Seoul in 1990, Mongolia has also maintained close relations with South Korea. Today, as part of Ulaanbaatar’s Third Neighbor policy, relations with Seoul have evolved into comprehensive partnerships in several fields, including politics, economics, and culture. Politically, the two nations have sought greater diplomatic engagement by hosting an annual ministerial meeting to exchange foreign policy perspectives, including discussions regarding Ulaanbaatar’s support for the Korean Peninsula peace process.

In economic terms, South Korea was Mongolia’s fourth-largest trading partner in 2019, with bilateral trade volume totaling $266 million. Culturally, Mongolia remains one of the top tourist destinations for Koreans, while South Korea is the preferred immigration destination for Mongolians. It hosts the largest proportion of the Mongolian diaspora abroad, amounting to around 48,185 people in 2019, including 7,381 students.

Mongolia’s diplomatic achievements have demonstrated how small states can use soft power to enhance their foreign policy influence. The country has emerged as a key player in Northeast Asia over the last decade by employing soft power via its multilateral peace activist foreign policy and amicable diplomatic relations with key regional actors and powers beyond. Mongolia’s soft diplomatic mediation efforts through the UBD have thawed a frozen conflict, particularly with North Korea, offering a path to peace. Mongolia has quietly worked to revive the Korean Peninsula’s declining security dialogue, fostering regional cooperation among parties and raising its own profile as a foreign policy actor in the process.

This article is based on the findings of a research paper published in The Pacific Review; an international relations journal covering the interactions of the countries of the Asia-Pacific. The Pacific Review has a particular interest in how the region is defined and organized, and covers transnational political, security, military, economic, and cultural exchanges in seeking greater understanding of the region.

BY: GUEST AUTHOR

Shinae Hong

Dr. Shinae Hong is a senior researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences of Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, Korea, and a former professor and founder of the Department of International Relations at the Mongolia International University in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Her research interests include Korean Peninsula security, international politics, and human security.

TOKYO, July 14 (Reuters) - A coronavirus cluster at a Japanese hotel where dozens of Brazilian Olympic team members are staying has raised new concern about infections at what the world's top Olympics official promised on Wednesday would be "historic" Games.

Just over a week before the opening ceremony, new cases linked to the Games and spiking infections in the host city highlight the risks of staging the world's biggest sports event during a pandemic even without spectators in sports venues.

Seven staff at the hotel in Hamamatsu city, southwest of Tokyo, had tested positive for the coronavirus, a city official said.

But a 31-strong Brazilian Olympic delegation, which includes judo athletes, are in a "bubble" in the hotel and separated from other guests and have not been infected.

The host city Tokyo, where a state of emergency has been imposed until after the Games end on Aug. 8, also recorded 1,149 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the most in nearly six months.

Highly contagious virus variants have fuelled the latest wave of infections, and failure to vaccinate people faster has left the population vulnerable.

Medical experts are worried that Olympic "bubbles", imposed by Tokyo 2020 Olympic officials in an effort to keep out COVID-19, might not be completely tight as movement of staff servicing the Games can create opportunities for infection.

The Olympics, postponed last year as the virus was spreading around the world, have lost much public support in Japan because of fears they will trigger a surge of infections.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach praised the organisers and the Japanese people for staging the Games in the midst of the pandemic.

"These will be historic Olympic Games ... for the way how the Japanese people overcame so many challenges in the last couple of years, the great east Japan earthquake and now the coronavirus pandemic," Bach told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

When Japan was awarded the Games in 2013, they were expected to be a celebration of recovery from a deadly earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident in 2011.

Japanese leaders had hoped the re-scheduled Games this year would be a celebration of the world's victory over the coronavirus but those celebrations are on hold as many countries struggle with new surges of infections.

MUTED INTEREST

The coronavirus cluster at the Brazilians' hotel was found during routine screening required before staff started work, said city official Yoshinobu Sawada.

Many Olympic delegations are already in Japan and several athletes have tested positive upon arrival.

The refugee Olympic team has delayed its travel to Japan after a team official tested positive in Qatar, the International Olympic Committee said. read more

Members of the South African rugby team are in isolation after arriving, as they are believed to be close contacts with a case on their flight, said Kagoshima city, which is hosting the team.

The 21 members of the South African squad were due to stay in the city from Wednesday, but that plan has been halted until further advice from health authorities, said city official Tsuyoshi Kajihara.

Global interest in the Tokyo Olympics is muted, an Ipsos poll of 28 countries showed, amid concerns over COVID-19 in Japan and withdrawals of high-profile athletes, with the host country among the most disinterested.

The poll released on Tuesday found a global average of 46% interest in the Games, and in Japan 78% of people were against the Games going ahead.

With spectators barred from all Olympic events in Tokyo and surrounding regions officials are asking people to watch the Games on television and keep their movements to a minimum.

"Billions of people around the globe will be glued to their screens and they will admire the Japanese people for what they have achieved under these very difficult circumstances," Bach said.

Among those will not be competing in Japan is former world number one golfer Adam Scott. He questioned whether holding the Tokyo Olympics was a responsible decision, pointing to fear among people in Japan as it battles its resurgence of infections. read more

Switzerland's Roger Federer became the latest big name in tennis to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics after the 20-times Grand Slam champion said on Tuesday that he had picked up a knee injury during the grasscourt season. read more

Reporting by Ju-min Park, Antoni Slodkowski, Joseph Campbell and Sam Nussey; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel & Simon Cameron-Moore

Japan's industry ministry says it aims to increase renewable energy output from fiscal 2019 levels by 70 percent by the year 2030. It is part of the government's goal of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by nearly half.

A panel of experts met Tuesday to discuss specific measures to boost renewables, and also cut emissions by 46 percent by fiscal 2030 from levels in 2013.

The experts said solar panels at half of the country's public facilities would generate 7.5 billion kilowatt-hours.

And solar power systems at airports would create another 2.8 billion kilowatt-hours.

Other renewables could bring the total up to 312 billion kilowatt-hours by 2030. But some of the experts say these measures would not be enough to reach the goal.

The industry ministry said it would compile a revised basic energy plan later this month.