Two more patients recovered from coronavirus and were discharged from hospital in Mongolia over the past day.

No new cases of Covid-19 infection have been found in the country, according to the National Center for Communicable Diseases.

Mongolia has conducted 1,626 tests for coronavirus in the last 24hours, and all of them came out negative.

So far Mongolia confirmed a total of 313 cases, 305 recoveries and no deaths from Covid-19.

The Mongolian Sambo Federation (MSF) played a part in initiating the construction of a new Olympic sports complex in the county's capital Ulaanbaatar.

The facility is expected to be finished prior to the nation's hosting of the International Youth Green Games in September 2021, and follows the aim of the event to create sustainable goals to keep sport and the Earth safe in the future.

Eighteen sports venues in the capital and its suburbs are planned to be used for the Games, with Mongolia bidding to reconstruct some buildings and complexes as well as build new ones.

Initiating the construction of the Olympic sports complex were the President of the MSF, Dorjpalem Gerel, and the secretary general of the MSF, Batbayer Ariun-Erdene.

The vice-president of the MSF, Angar Khaliun, international relations manager Munkhbayar Perenley and coach Bayarsayhan Zhamsrandorj were also part of the process.

A ground breaking ceremony at the complex took place in Ulaanbaatar with representatives of the MSF taking part as work at the facility began.

The sports complex will be open to both training sessions and international competitions, and will include facilities for football, basketball, fitness and other sports.

"The Olympic complex is the dream of our generation," said the MSF in a statement.

It is expected that the complex will be completed by December.

Vossloh won a first contract for the supply of rail fastening systems for a heavy-haul line in Mongolia. The about 270 km long line will connect the Tavan Tolgoi with Gashuun Sukhait port at the Chinese border. After its completion, about 30 million tonnes of goods, primarily raw materials for steel production, will be transported on the new rail link each year – with significant environmental advantages compared with the current road haulage. The deliveries of the fastening systems started some time ago, and an approximately 70 km long section has already been completed. Under the current plans, construction work will be completed by the end of 2021.

For the haulage of the extreme loads on the wide gauge track through the steppe landscapes and the Gobi desert, the line will be equipped with Vossloh’s innovative rail fastening system W 30 HH. This system is ideally suited for the demanding climatic conditions, such as extremely hot summers and winter temperatures down to minus 40 degrees Celsius, as well as for the challenging soil conditions in Mongolia. The system first proved itself on the test track constructed in 2017 near the capital Ulaanbaatar and has since been used successfully in various projects.

Also the many years of global experience and the capacities and quality standards in combination with the technology center at the production site in Werdohl convinced the delegation of the Mongolian company Bodi International.

Werdohl, September 28, 2020

This week, MIAT Mongolian Airlines plans to operate charter flights with the UK, operating between London’s Heathrow and Ulaanbaatar, using its Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

On 28 September, service operates as London Heathrow – Moscow Sheremetyevo – Ulaanbaatar, followed by London Heathrow – Nur-Sultan – Ulaanbaatar on 3 October.

The operational schedule and technical stop listed remains subject to change.

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. On September 25, the German-Mongolian Institute for Resources and Technology (GMIT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bolorsoft LLC during the official grand opening for ‘Chimege’ system launch.

Chimege Systems is a startup company, founded to develop artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in the Mongolian language. Their goal is to develop and implement AI applications to support human-to-computer interactions.

S.Badral, a founder of Chimege Systems, highlighted that the ‘Text to Speech/Speech to Text’ solutions have already reached an outstanding accuracy of 96%. To improve the recognition rate even further and develop new solutions for the Mongolian and international markets, Chimege Systems will establish a professional AI research center in Ulaanbaatar.

The agreement is the first Memorandum of Understanding between the AI company and a Mongolian state university. To the core, the GMIT emphasizes applied and interdisciplinary research activities in the field of engineering and technology: “As a dedicated research university, our professors and students are very excited about this collaboration, and we will support Chimege Systems and its AI research center to reach the next level,” said Prof. Dr. Battsengel Baatar, Rector of GMIT.

Source: GMIT

There are many pressing environmental issues in Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar where half of the nation’s population lives. A Centre for Ecological Education along with an Arboretum have been established in Ulaanbaatar for providing know-how on planting trees; the new trees will help decrease fine pollutant dusts and absorb soil pollution. According to the study, one hectare of land planted with trees can purify 18 million cubic meters of air and absorb 30-35% of smoke. Woody plants reduce air pollution to 40 percent and also absorb 26 percent of noise in the winter.

The centre has stock of 40,000-50,000 saplings and aims to plant one million trees in near future.

Ariuntuya is no stranger to tragedy. Thirteen years ago, the 51-year-old lost both her legs in a car accident. She lost her much-loved husband some 10 years ago, and two years later her son tragically died in another car accident. Her immediate family gone, she now lives with her 15-year-old niece in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, making her living by sewing woollen slippers.

Yet even this simple livelihood is now under threat due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Tourists, who were her primary customers, can no longer travel to Mongolia. After the country shut down to prevent the spread of the virus, many of her local customers stopped placing orders after losing their jobs. Without an income, Ariuntuya now relies on food parcels from the Mongolian Red Cross Society (MRCS). “I appreciate the good gesture shown by the Red Cross in helping me and my family in a time I need them the most,” she said.

Stories like Ariuntuya’s are playing out in homes all across Mongolia, a country which has not received global attention largely due to its relative success in tackling COVID-19. As of late September, only 313 COVID-19 cases and zero deaths were reported in the country. This was achieved through restrictions on movement and widespread prevention measures, such as the closure of borders and schools at the start of the pandemic. Though schools re-opened at the start of September, international flights have not resumed.

These restrictions have led to significant socio-economic impacts and increased vulnerability among poor households. The World Bank’s Household Response Survey revealed the impact on the country’s poorest families in stark terms: nearly half of poor respondents had been uncertain about their ability to obtain food in the previous 30 days due to lack of money or rising prices; almost one in four (23%) were concerned about food security in the coming week; more than half (53%) said they were worried about their finances over the next month. Moreover, the report revealed that 12% of households experienced job losses, and 7% of households had to close their non-farm business.

In response to this economic impact, the Mongolian Red Cross, together with the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC), has been providing food and hygiene parcels to the most affected families. So far they have reached more than 3,000 households. Red Cross staff and volunteers are also part of the fight to contain the spread of COVID-19, distributing face-masks, conducting hygiene training and information sessions as well as providing psychosocial support.

Secretary General of MRCS, Bolormaa Nordov, said the country’s economic situation was becoming more challenging every day. “These challenges directly lead to significant negative impact on social vulnerability and household livelihoods. IFRC’s COVID-19 operation provided timely support for the most vulnerable households during this pandemic.”

Head of the IFRC’s East Asia support team, Gwendolyn Pang, said: “The impacts of COVID-19 in Mongolia are much greater than the limited number of infections and deaths in the country. At IFRC we always value the impact on human lives, more than the numbers.”

“In the case of Mongolia, we try to reach out to the most vulnerable people in the most hard to reach communities with services and information that not only protect people from COVID-19 but alleviate the human suffering that is a tragic side effect of this pandemic.”

TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar hovered near a two-month peak against a basket of currencies on Monday, as doubts about recovery persisted ahead of a barrage of economic data and political developments in the United States.

While a rebound in U.S. stocks on Friday has helped to curb the ascent of the dollar, deemed as a safe-haven, signs of slowdown in the nascent recovery from the pandemic and political uncertainties have kept investors on guard.

The dollar index stood little changed at 94.530 =USD. It hit a two-month high of 94.745 last week and posted its biggest weekly rise since early April.

The euro changed hands at $1.1635 EUR=, having dropped to $1.16125 on Friday, its lowest in two months.

The British pound stood at $1.2767 GBP=D4, slightly above Wednesday's two-month low of $1.2676.

“The dollar’s rise reflects unwinding of (dollar short) positions. There were two main drivers, rise in real U.S. yields and risk-off trades,” said Tatsuya Chiba, manager of forex trading at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Bank.

The yield on U.S. inflation-linked bonds US10YTIP=RR, known as real yields, have risen almost 20 basis points after touching a record low earlier this month.

On the whole, higher yields, real or nominal, tend to support a currency. Traders have noted there has been a particularly strong correlation between the U.S. real yield and the dollar over the last few months.

Data on U.S. currency futures positions released on Friday also pointed to more upside potential in the dollar’s recovery, with speculators holding a big net short position in the greenback.

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed speculators held a net short position of $33.989 billion NETUSDALL=, up from $31.524 billion the week before and near the highest level in almost ten years.

The flip side of that was a still very large net long positions in the euro, which showed a slight increase last week to $27.922 billion EURNETUSD=.

“We need to be wary of a weaker euro due to further unwinding of euro long positions. We have no shortage of concerns in Europe including rise of coronavirus infections in France and so on, attempts by European Central Bank policymakers to talk down the euro and Brexit,” Makoto Noji, chief currency strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities, said in report.

Against the yen, the dollar was more subdued at 105.46 yen JPY=.

Investors now look to the first U.S. Presidential debate on Tuesday as the election in early November has started to loom large.

“Few people will be trying to bet on the election outcome. At least they will wait until tomorrow’s TV debate,” said Kyosuke Suzuki, director of forex at Societe Generale.

Ahead of the debate, the New York Times reported on Sunday President Donald Trump paid extremely little in income taxes in recent years as heavy losses from his business enterprises offset hundreds of millions of dollars in income.

Few investors now expect the U.S. Congress to pass any stimulus package, seen as vital to support the pandemic-stricken economy, before the election.

But there are growing worries the economic recovery is slowing as many of the stimulus programmes have expired, curbing consumer spending.

The week provides markets with more U.S. data to gauge the health of the world’s biggest economy, including consumer confidence on Tuesday, a manufacturing survey and consumer data on Thursday and jobs data on Friday.

Elsewhere, the Turkish lira briefly dropped 1.6% to a record low of 7.8000 per dollar TRYTOM=D3.

The lira had enjoyed a rare bounce in the wake of an interest rate hike late last week, but gains faded quickly on investor scepticism about how this will filter through into financial market rates.

Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Jacqueline Wong

A suspected case of bubonic plague in western Mongolia's Khovd province has been confirmed by lab test results, the country's National Center for Zoonotic Diseases (NCZD) said Sunday.

The 25-year-old female patient from the province and 19 people in close contact with her are now under isolation at a local hospital, the NCZD said in a statement.

The center said the woman was found to have eaten marmot meat last week.

While hunting marmots is illegal in Mongolia, many Mongolians regard the rodent as a delicacy and ignore the law.

Since the beginning of this year, the Asian country has reported 22 suspected cases, six of which were confirmed by laboratory tests. Three of the six patients have died.

Seventeen out of all the 21 Mongolian provinces are now at risk of the bubonic plague, the NCZD said, urging the public to avoid eating marmot meat.

The bubonic plague is a bacterial disease spread by fleas living on wild rodents such as marmots and can kill an adult in less than 24 hours if not treated in time, according to the World Health Organization. Enditem

The Chinese ambassador to Mongolia has rejected remarks made by former president of Mongolia Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj on social media and in a letter addressed to China regarding the implementation of bilingual education of Putonghua and ethnic language in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, saying that his views in the letter are completely wrong and China won't accept them.

"The national common language is a symbol of a country's sovereignty, and it is the right and duty of every citizen to learn and use the common language, which is true not only for China, but also for all countries in the world," said Chai Wenrui, the ambassador to Mongolia, in a letter sent to Elbegdorj.

"At the same time, the Chinese government protects the rights of ethnic minorities, including Mongolians, to use their own spoken and written languages in accordance with law," Chai said.

Chai noted that all affairs related to Inner Mongolian, including the bilingual education reform in Inner Mongolia, are China's internal affairs and no other countries can interfere in them.

In his letter, Elbegdorj criticized the region's education reform, seeing a "dissolution and elimination" of Mongolian ethnicity through their language.

Elbegdorj's letter has been returned as the remarks in the letter were considered wrong, Chai said, adding that he hopes that Elbegdorj can respect China's sovereignty and recognize the truth considering the overall interests of relations between the two countries, and stop hyping up the issue.

Since the fall semester in 2020, students in first grade in ethnic primary and middle schools in Inner Mongolia started to use the State-approved textbook for Chinese, and the course is taught in Putonghua.

Previously, students started taking the course in second grade, while Mongolian language remains the medium of instruction in other subjects from first grade. The Inner Mongolia government released an explanation on its new education regulations on August 31.

Some changes to the regulation which had not been fully explained and disinformation that misled the public had caused concerns from some students and parents that the Mongolian language will be replaced by Putonghua.

Some Western media have also been hyping up the education reform and recent events in the region.

The local government of Xilingol League in Inner Mongolia issued a detailed explanation on September 6, guaranteeing that the new regulation doesn't signal a cancellation of classes taught in the Mongolian language, nor does it mean the end of preferable policies aimed at helping ethnic minority students get into college.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on September 3 that the Western reports were political hype, and that it is every citizen's right and responsibility to learn and use the common language.