China's Tencent buys 5% stake in Tesla www.bbc.com

Chinese tech giant Tencent has spent $1.78bn (£1.4bn) on buying a 5% stake in electric carmaker Tesla.
Tencent, best known for its WeChat mobile app, has been investing in a number of sectors, including gaming, entertainment, cloud computing and online financing.
Tesla said the stake was passive, meaning Tencent would not get a say in how the US firm was run.
Shares in Tesla rose 2.3% in early trading following the announcement.
Tesla's range of electric cars has included the Model S and the Roadster, which was billed as the world's first electric sports car.
The company also specialises in battery storage, and, through its SolarCity subsidiary, residential solar panels.
The firm has been raising capital ahead of the launch of its mass-market Model 3 sedan, and gained about $1.2bn through a bond and share sale earlier in March.
Tencent, one of Asia's largest technology firms, has backed several electric vehicle companies in the past.
It was an early investor in NextEV, a Shanghai-based start-up which since has rebranded itself as Nio and has offices in San Jose, California, close to Tesla's base.
Tencent is now the fifth-largest shareholder in Tesla behind chief executive Elon Musk and investment companies Fidelity, Baillie Gifford and T Rowe Price.
Mr Musk remains the largest shareholder, with a stake of about 21% as of the end of 2016.

Rio Tinto may take over Pistol Bay’s uranium assets sooner than expected www.mining.com

Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) may become the sole owner of Pistol Bay Mining’s. (TSX-V: PST) uranium assets in the Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan, Canada, sooner than originally planned, as it has decided to pay the junior miner $750,000 before April 17.

Park to attend hearing on her arrest warrant www.nhk.or.jp

Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye will attend a court hearing at which it will be decided whether an arrest warrant for her will be issued.

Why the Belt and Road Initiative has exceeded expectations www.chinadaily.com

BEIJING - New Zealand on Monday became the first developed Western country to sign a cooperation agreement with China on the Belt and Road Initiative.

As a signature initiative of China's blueprint for economic globalization, the Belt and Road has the participation of more than 100 countries and international organizations, with over 40 signing cooperation agreements with China, outstripping global expectations

The initiative has reaped an early harvest as it has helped stimulate economic growth, create jobs and improve quality of life in countries along the routes.

People cannot help but wondering how the China approach has achieved such an effect despite a sluggish economic recovery, flagging international trade and a degree of backsliding on globalization.

The key lies in abandoning the law of the jungle, hegemonism and power politics as a zero-sum game, while replacing them with cooperation, partnerships and sharing.

Wisdom, responsibility and genuine pursuit of common development are embodied in the initiative, which has been recognized by more economic players and has even transcended ideology and traditional geopolitics.

For instance, China have been working with Australia and New Zealand to transcend differences in national conditions, culture and tradition to achieve successful outcomes on the basis of respect and equality.

Instead of merely emphasizing trade like the old days, China's Belt and Road Initiative is more about investment, infrastructure, shared opportunity and interconnectivity for a shared future, evident in China's cooperation with Saudi Arabia and Israel, two important countries along the Silk Road economic belt.

China and Saudi Arabia signed 14 cooperative agreements during a visit by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Beijing earlier this month, including projects involving production capacity and investment cooperation worth about $65 billion.

During Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to China in March, the two sides announced an innovative comprehensive partnership and signed agreements for cooperation in economy, science and technology, commerce and civil aviation.

China hopes to boost Belt and Road cooperation with Middle Eastern countries as development is both the root and solution to solving thorny issues in the conflict-torn region.

Opening-up has been a driving force to lift China to become the world's second largest economy during the recent decades.

The country has long been a staunch champion of free trade, as it knows all too well that the benefits outweigh the costs for countries at either end of the balance sheet.

Despite its trade deficit with Australia and New Zealand, for instance, China remains committed to greater mutual openness in both markets.

In the global reality that seems to be tilting towards protectionism and anti-globalization, the Belt and Road Initiative brings hope that openness, shared development and cooperation will cross walls and barriers.

In hard times, the world needs wisdom and unity to move forward. The early harvest of the Belt and Road Initiative has proved it is a good choice.

Amazon buys Souq in big play for Middle East market www.cnn.com

Amazon has had its eye on the Middle East for some time. Now it's finally made a move.
It has agreed to buy the region's biggest e-commerce platform, Souq.com.
"Joining the Amazon family will enable souq.com to continue growing while working with Amazon to bring even more products and offerings to customers worldwide," Souq said in a statement.
The statement did not disclose the size of the deal. CB Insights valued Souq at more than a billion dollars, after it raised $275 million from investors last year. Souq does not disclose financial information.
Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) had to beat off local competition for the online marketplace.
Emaar Malls, an arm of Dubai's biggest real estate developer, said on Monday it bid $800 million for Souq.com.
Founded 10 years ago by Ronaldo Mouchawar, Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury, Souq has become the biggest player in the market. Mouchawar estimates online shopping in the Middle East was worth $20 billion in 2016.
Related: Saudi Arabia and Burj Khalifa developer launch Gulf answer to Amazon
When Souq started out, e-commerce was virtually unknown in the Middle East. Back then, the company employed five people in Dubai. Now it has 3,000 workers across the Arab world and sells more than 8 million products in 31 categories.
Analysts at Standard Chartered estimate that e-commerce in the region is growing by 30% each year, and that many markets remain untapped.
The acquisition is expected to close this year.

Samsung plans to sell refurbished Galaxy Note 7s www.reuters.com

Tech giant Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) plans to sell refurbished versions of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, the company said late on Monday, signaling the return of the model pulled from markets last year because of fire-prone batteries.

Samsung's Note 7s were permanently scrapped in October after some phones self-combusted, prompting a global recall roughly two months after the launch of the near-$900 devices.

A subsequent investigation found manufacturing problems in batteries supplied by two companies - Samsung SDI Co and Amperex Technology.

Analysis from Samsung and independent researchers found no other problems in the Note 7 devices except the batteries, raising speculation that Samsung will recoup some of its losses by selling refurbished Note 7s.

A person familiar with the matter told Reuters in January that it was considering the possibility of selling refurbished versions of the device or reusing some parts.

Samsung's announcement that revamped Note 7s will go back on sale, however, surprised some with the timing - only days before it launches its new S8 smartphone on Wednesday in the United States, its first new premium phone since the debacle last year.

Under pressure to turn its image around after the burning battery scandal, Samsung had previously not commented on its plans for recovered phones.

"Regarding the Galaxy Note 7 devices as refurbished phones or rental phones, applicability is dependent upon consultations with regulatory authorities and carriers as well as due consideration of local demand," Samsung said in a statement.

South Korea's Electronic Times newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said on Tuesday that Samsung will start selling refurbished Note 7s in its home country in July or August and will aim to sell between 400,000 and 500,000 of the Note 7s using safe batteries.

Samsung said in a statement to Reuters that the company has not set specifics on refurbished Note 7 sales plans, including what markets and when they would go on sale, though it also said it does not plan to sell refurbished Note 7s in India or the United States.

The company said refurbished Note 7s will be equipped with new batteries that have gone through Samsung's new battery safety measures.

"The objective of introducing refurbished devices is solely to reduce and minimize any environmental impact," it said.

The company estimated that it took a profit hit of $5.5 billion over three quarters because of the Note 7's troubles. It had sold more than 3 million of the phones before taking the model off the market.

Samsung also plans to recover and use or sell reusable components such as chips and camera modules, as well as rare metals such as copper, gold, nickel and silver from Note 7 devices it opts not to sell as refurbished products.

Environment rights group Greenpeace and others had urged Samsung to come up with environmentally friendly ways to deal with the recovered Note 7s. Greenpeace said in a separate statement on Monday that it welcomed Samsung's decision and that the company should carry out its plans in a verifiable manner.

Czech-Mongolia Business seminar (Mining sector) www.mongolianbusinessdatabase.com

Embassy of the Czech Republic in Mongolia is inviting you to the visiting Czech companies and their product introductory meeting at EEIBC at Galaxy tower on April 04. 2017 between 15.00-17.30

Mongolia-China cross country transportation service opens www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Cross country transportation service through Khavirga-Ar Khashaat border crossing from Choibalsan city of Dornod aimag to Manzhouli, China opened on March 27.

Minor corruption spreads in education sector www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Asia Foundation and Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports (MECSS) conducted a survey on “Transparency, ethics and corruption issues in Education sector” and on March 27, yesterday, they presented the results of the survey to officers of the Ministry.

Japanese firms entering India's smartphone market www3.nhk.or.jp