As an effort to reduce traffic jam, school bus service is to be tested for 27 elementary schools in 33 routes within Ulaanbaatar, starting tomorrow, November 15. The decision made by the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar city and Governor of the capital city will cover around 3000 students from second to fifth classes in elementary schools. This measure will not only help eliminating the traffic congestion, but also will save costs and time spent by parents for school drop-offs and prevent children from waiting for public transports in the cold.

About MNT 30 million is required for the test implementation of the school bus service for 22 workdays, funding for which the Ulaanbaatar city municipality will be in charge. If the school bus service is deemed to be effective, the service will become permanent and necessary expenditure for this service will be budgeted for city’s annual budget. In the future, it is calculated that around MNT 1 billion will be financed for the duration around 7.5 months for the school bus program.

Each one of the total 40 school buses for service will be accompanied by a school’ social worker in order to ensure safety of the children and is installed with GPS tracker so that parents are able to know where their child's bus is.

According to officials of the Ulaanbaatar city, this measure is expected to reduce traffic volume by 30 percent.

The project will help ensure proper enforcement of the Law on Competition, which is expected to be revised, as well as bolster the environment for fair market competition. It will contribute to the achievement of SDGs Goal 8 and 16 in Mongolia.

After Mongolia shifted from socialism to a market economy in 1990, the Law on Competition was established and revised in order to promote fair competition. The Authority for Fair Competition and Consumer Protection has been in charge of enforcing such ordinances. The planned revisions to the Law on Competition will include major revisions to the terms of the regulations regarding monopolies, merger controls, cartels, etc.

During the course of the preceding Project for Enhancement of the Fair Competition Environment in Mongolia, JICA obtained the cooperation of the Japan Fair Trade Commission to train Authority for Fair Competition and Consumer Protection investigators as well as provide advice in drafting reforms for the Law on Competition. The results of the project will help strengthen the ability of the Mongolian government to develop an environment for fair competition and promote a market economy.

JICA’s support aims to help Mongolia create a fair business environment which provides high-quality products and services at a fair price to consumers. In Mongolia, while an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with Japan takes effect, where it is expected that businesses will begin to cooperate more freely, these initiatives are intended to improve the business environment as well as open the country for investment by entrepreneurs and investors alike.

In the 2020 Budget, equilibrated revenue is projected to be MNT 11.8 trillion and total expenditure MNT 13.9 trillion which means the deficit amounts to MNT 2.1 trillion or 5.1 percent of GDP. Next year, the Government will implement a policy to promote sustainable economic growth, maintain budget discipline and reduce deficit at stages. The budget also targets to completing projects that started and got investment in previous years, launching some necessary social projects and programs and implementing tax reforms that support business, investment and employment.

75.4 percent of MPs, who attended the plenary meeting supported to approve the Bill on State Budget for 2020.

“The investment of EUR 1.7 billion put by the EBRD with a view to develop private sector in the last two decades has brought impetus in economic diversification process and economic growth of Mongolia” said PM U.Khurelsukh at the beginning of the meeting. He further expressed gratitude for the USD 300 million General Financing Agreement established between the Government of Mongolia and the EBRD for several government projects, such as construction of two-lane paved auto road from Ulaanbaatar to Darkhan, projects for energy and green apartments and improvement of disaster resilience.

Sir Suma Chakrabarti remarked that the EBRD attaches great significance to its relations and cooperation with Central Asian countries, especially Mongolia and that there are ample opportunities of active cooperation between Mongolia and the EBRD towards enhancement of public utility services in Ulaanbaatar city and other settlement areas, development of renewable energy, auto, railway and small and mid-sized manufactures and increase of employment. Then, he pledges to broaden the bilateral cooperation with Mongolia and keep on with the investment and financing to the country.

“As Mongolia has set a goal to supply its own domestic oil, energy and food demands and to develop mining, manufacturing sector, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure and air transportation, Mongolia is eager to maintain close partnership with the EBRD’ said the Mongolian Premier at the end of the meeting.

The scheme involved importing more than 10,000 counterfeit iPhones and iPads from China, United States Attorney Robert Brewer said in a press release. The counterfeit devices were intentionally damaged and exchanged at Apple stores for authentic products, which were then shipped to China and other countries and sold at a markup, according to the release.
Genuine Apple (AAPL) iPhones and iPads have International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) and serial numbers that are unique to each device. As part of the scheme, the counterfeit devices were equipped with IMEI and serial numbers that matched those of real devices covered by an Apple warranty in the US or Canada, according to the release.

"The manufacture of counterfeit goods -- and their use to defraud US companies -- seeks to fundamentally undermine the marketplace and harms innocent people whose identities were stolen in furtherance of these activities," Brewer said.
Using other people's IMEI or serial numbers is a form of aggravated identity theft, according to the indictment, because the perpetrator "knowingly and without lawful authority, transferred, possessed, and used a means of identification of another person, that is, telecommunication identifying information."
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The FBI's investigation took years and spanned across many jurisdictions.
The scheme allegedly involved 14 people who now face dozens of fraud, conspiracy, identity theft and money laundering charges. The FBI arrested 11 people but is still looking for three others.
The release noted that the bust occurred early Wednesday in San Diego, California, where law enforcement seized roughly $250,000 in cash and 90 iPhones that may be counterfeit.
It also noted that the alleged ringleaders, three brothers, were arrested with their wives. The brothers are naturalized US citizens born in China, according to the release from the US Attorney's Office in the Southern District of California. Most of the others allegedly involved are US citizens, naturalized from China, Vietnam and Russia.

The Mongolian capital has the most incidents of road rage in the world, according to an index compiled in the U.K. by Mister Auto, a supplier of car parts. Moscow, Karachi in Pakistan, Kolkata and Mumbai in India, and Lagos in Nigeria also feature in the top six.

Japan and Singapore have the fewest such incidents, with drivers in the Japanese cities of Osaka and Tokyo rated best.

Road Rage
Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia has the most incidents, Osaka the fewest

On the European mainland, Istanbul is the next-worst place after Moscow, with St. Petersburg also featuring as a road-rage hub of the region. The southern Italian port of Naples and the Irish capital Dublin are the continent’s next entries on the list. By contrast, Copenhagen, Oslo, Zurich and the Austrian city of Graz are relatively anger-free.

The Russian capital is notorious for its traffic jams. In 2018, Moscow saw more than 9,000 traffic accidents, leading to death of 465 people and injuring more than 10,000, according to road police. City hall has launched paid parking in the center, increasing fees for parking in the historic downtown, and narrowing some traffic lanes.

Don’t Drive Angry
Moscow is the road-rage capital of Europe

Mister Auto combined 15 factors, including road quality, fatalities, congestion and air quality, to rank the best and worst cities around the world for drivers. That overall ranking puts Calgary in first place, followed by Dubai and Ottawa.

“We have gained expertise and potentially after 2021–2022, when the main number of metros are completed, we can start building in other countries too,” Khusnullin said, adding that a preliminary agreement with the Chinese side has already been signed.

Since August 2017, CRCC has been building a 4.6km section and three stations on the Large Circle Line in Moscow, which will be completed by the end of 2020. In February, CRCC won another metro construction contract and is expected to start tunneling next month.

The Chinese firm may also invest around $1 billion in the construction of the first stage of Russia’s administrative and business center, Kommunarka.

The Moscow metro is one of the busiest in the world and is famous for its efficiency and elegance. It features some of the most beautiful stations, many of which are decorated with frescoes, marble columns and ornate chandeliers. It is one of the cleanest metros, with more than nine million passengers every day.

Opened in 1935 with 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2019, the Moscow Metro, excluding the Moscow Central Circle and Moscow Monorail, has 232 stations (263 with Moscow Central Circle) and its route length is 397.3km (246.9 miles), making it the fifth longest in the world. The system is mostly underground, with the deepest section at a depth of 84 meters (276ft), one of the world’s deepest.

The Mongolian capital has been one of the most polluted cities for a long time. The situation has changed.

According to Greenpeace and AirVisual, 22 out of 30 most pollutted cities in the world are located in India. The first positions in the ranking belong to Gurgaon, India, which is home to 900,000 people followed by Lahore (Pakistan), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Djakarta (Indonesia), Mumbai (India), Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) and Tehran (Iran).

The Mongolian capital is placed among the cities of Osaka (Japan) and Vancouver (Canada) gaining the 64th place on air quality.

The World Health Organization says that 7 million people die prematurely every year due to polluted air in the world, and the World Bank estimates that the global economy is losing 225 billion dollars due to labor shortages.

The revised population projection of Mongolia indicated that the population is expected to increase to four million by 2030 and to five million by 2045. Notwithstanding the stable population growth, the number of older population will outgrow and the share of older population in the total population becomes 12.9 percent in 2030 and 16.3 percent in 2045, increasing twofold than today. In this regard, it is deemed necessary to take tangible actions promoting population growth, youth development and social protection.

As reflected in the projection, provision of social services to become more effective focusing on target group, pensions allotted from the social insurance to be raised annually to keep up with inflation rate and differences of pension benefits to be eliminated, followed by introduction of multi-layer pension system. In addition, youth employment to be supported through reduction of unemployment and poverty and implementation of policy to prepare on-demand workforce. Wages to be increased to satisfy for real living wage and lower income groups to be decreased by raising the minimum wage.

Other measures include establishing regional nursing homes for seniors and rehabilitation center for abused children, training center for specialized education organizations,service center for senior citizens in Ulaanbaatar city, foster home for children with special needs, research hospital for occupational diseases, children camp and child protective service center.