Tel Aviv, Israel has won the unenviable title of world’s most expensive city to live in, according to a newly released biannual report by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The city jumped to the top of the list, from fifth place last year, for the first time ever, the EIU’s December 2021 worldwide cost of living index, released on Tuesday, shows.

According to the EIU, Tel Aviv climbed up the rankings due to the rise in the Israeli currency, the shekel, “buoyed against the [US] dollar by Israel’s successful Covid-19 vaccine rollout,” which was one of the quickest in the world. The Israeli shekel was up 4% against the US dollar year-to-date early last month, which prompted prices on nearly one-tenth of goods to surge. Food and transportation costs were hit the hardest.

Last year’s leader – Paris – slipped to second, closely followed by Singapore. Among other cities in the most expensive top 10 are, in succession, Zurich, Hong Kong, New York, Geneva, Copenhagen, Los Angeles, and Osaka. Rome dropped the furthest in the rankings, amid a decline in prices for food and clothing.

The fastest-rising city is the Iranian capital, Tehran, which jumped 50 places to number 29, amid shortages and price increases due to US sanctions. Damascus, Syria was ranked the least expensive city in the survey.

Overall, the EIU survey shows that supply-chain bottlenecks, changes in consumer demand, and swings in currency exchange rates over the past year have increased the cost of living in many of the world’s largest cities, and analysts expect prices to rise further in the coming year. The largest increase was recorded in transportation, with the average price of gasoline per liter up by 21%.

Also, according to EIU figures, the inflation rate of the prices it tracked is currently the fastest recorded in the past five years, surging from 1.9% in 2020 to 3.5% year-on-year as of September 2021.

The EIU’s survey assessed the cost of living across 173 global cities and compared the prices of over 200 everyday products and services.

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) renovated and equipped the Center for the Elderly of Nalaikh Municipality in Mongolia.

Established in 1988 to carry out social activities and organize various events for the elderly and help the elderly use their time more productively, the Center for the Elderly of Nalaikh Municipality could not provide adequate services due to wear and lack of equipment.

TİKA renovated and equipped the Center for the Elderly as part of the project it implemented upon the request of Nalaikh Municipality for support for the renovation of the center.

The opening ceremony held for the center was attended by Amarsaikhan Sainbuyan, Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia; Zulfikar Sarkıt, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection; Zafer Ateş, the Republic of Turkey’s Ambassador to Ulaanbaatar; Radnaabazar Choijinsambuu, Mayor of Nalaikh; Emrah Ustaömer, TİKA’s Coordinator in Ulaanbaatar; Narantuya Purevdorj, Chair of the Town Council of Nalaikh; and Otgonpurev Batsukh, Director of the Center for the Elderly in Nalaikh.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Amarsaikhan Sainbuyan, Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia, stressed that the friendly relations between the Turkish and Mongolian people were centuries old and that the Republic of Turkey implemented projects all around Mongolia. Sainbuyan thanked the Republic of Turkey and TİKA for their support.

Otgonpurev Batsukh, Director of the Center for the Elderly, delivered a speech and stated that the building and equipment of the center were very old, that they requested TİKA’s support in this context, and that their request was fulfilled in a short time. Batsukh said he was happy that the elderly would have a modern building, and thanked the people of Turkey and TİKA.

SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- DEVITA Global ("DEVITA") together with the Bodi Insurance Group ("Bodi Insurance") have agreed on a cooperation partnership for the joint development of a decentralized health data sharing economy by employing blockchain technology to create a network of trust on which platform participants, characterized as either "Data Owner" or "Data User", can securely store and exchange personal health data.

This agreement comes at a time when the global health insurance sector faces a major data management crisis, which has only accentuated higher demand for high-quality, auditable, and reliable health data. After all, data is the lifeline of healthcare today, with reliable and censorship-resistant exchanges crucial to quality and efficiency.

DEVITA's decentralized health data sharing economy enables Data Owners to profit from providing their personal health information to the Decentralized Health Database or through the sale of their data on the DEVITA Marketplace to Data Users who require the acquisition of untampered health data collected through reliable means. Data is directly sourced from the patients and securely recorded to an immutable and interconnected decentralized ledger, made available on a permission basis to Data Users for research, market analysis, or in the case of insurance companies, specifically, Bodi Insurance, to gain accurate and reliable insight about individuals' health information in the evaluation of health risks.

Commenting on the partnership with DEVITA, B.Zolbayar (CEO of Bodi Insurance) remarks: "We are delighted as this (DEVITA) presents a way to reliably, securely, and efficiently source high-quality personal health data directly from the data owners in our evaluation of health risks to yield cost-effective insurance products for our consumers."

Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia recorded 554 new infections of COVID-19 and two more related deaths over the past 24 hours, bringing the national counts to 383,270 and 1,932 respectively, the country's health ministry said on Wednesday.

One of the latest confirmed cases was imported case, the ministry said.

Currently, 5,448 COVID-19 patients are being hospitalized across the country, while 10,370 are receiving home-based care, it added.

So far, over 66 percent of Mongolia's population has received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, with over 674,925 Mongolians aged over 18 having received a booster dose.

Mongolian mining sector is expected to have rapid growth until the year of 2030, specifically for the fields of copper and coal. As investment is made to increase its capacity, the two fields are estimated to expand two times in the next 10 years, according to a study carried out by ‘CRU Consulting’ on the outlook for Mongolia’s mining sector.

In connection with the increased production and positive expectations in 2020-2030, total income in the mining sector will increase from USD 5.3 billion to USD 12.5 billion, highlighted the study, which was presented at a discussion took place yesterday on setting up a sovereign wealth fund in Mongolia.

Currently, the mining and extraction sector make up 22 percent of the GDP, 71 percent of direct foreign investment, and 94 percent of exports in Mongolia.

If Mongolia’s GDP grows by 5 percent annually, the mining sector’s contribution will grow from 19.7 percent (as of 2020) to 32.7 percent by the year of 2030, estimates the company.

In the framework of the works being carried out to set up a sovereign wealth fund, the company, ‘CRU Consulting’, is providing consulting services on ways to efficiently develop the fund through the commissioning of the Ministry of Mining and Heavy and Industry with financing from the World Bank.

Turquoise Hill Resources’ (TSX, NYSE: TRQ) board has approved a bridging budget of $75 million that allows the parties involved in the vast Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia to progress the operation’s underground expansion.

The Canadian miner, in which Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO) has a 50.8% stake, said the board’s decision reflected the progress made in the ongoing negotiations between the Government of Mongolia, Rio Tinto and the company.

Turquoise noted that, while it believes the budget approval was a “necessary and positive step”, there can be no assurance that the board of Oyu Tolgoi LLC will approve any future crucial additional investments to continue progressing the mine’s underground section.

Shares in the company climbed on the news and were trading 2.5% higher at $15.2 in New York at the opening.

Rio Tinto’s chief executive Jakob Stausholm met last week with Mongolia’s Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, aiming to iron out issues still threatening the future of the huge copper mine.

The ongoing expansion of the project in the Gobi desert has been plagued by delays and costs overruns, which have triggered the Mongolian government’s ire to the point of threatening to revoke the 2009 investment agreement, which underpins the mine development.

On shaky ground

Relations between Rio Tinto and the Central Asian nation hit a low in August, when an independent review rejected the mining giant’s explanation for the project’s delays and climbing costs.

Mongolia’s position is that Rio should cover cost overruns while debts accrued on Ulaanbaatar’s share of the project (34%) should be fully removed.

The Prime Minister reportedly wants Rio Tinto and Turquoise Hill to revisit the economic benefits that the expansion will bring to the state’s coffers.

Sources familiar with the matter told MINING.COM earlier this year that Rio is prepared to make concessions to the Mongolian government to complete the troubled project, including reducing interest rates on loans to the nation to fund its share of the construction costs.

Rio may also consider a “restructuring” of Oyu Tolgoi’s ownership order, the sources said.

Fourth largest copper mine

First production from Oyu Tolgoi’s underground section, initially expected in late 2020, has been rescheduled a few times since 2015, when Rio approved the expansion project.

The latest estimate, announced in October, sees the underground mine kicking into commercial production not earlier than January 2023.

Oyu Tolgoi is Rio Tinto’s main copper growth project. Once completed, the mine’s underground section will lift production from 125,000–150,000 tonnes in 2019 to 560,000 tonnes at peak output, which is now expected by 2025 at the earliest.

By 2030, the operation would be the world’s fourth largest copper mine, according to Rio Tinto.

The mine is the country’s biggest source of foreign direct investment, having created thousands of jobs and generating almost $3 billion in taxes and fee revenue over the past decade.

The cost of electricity in Finland exceeded €400 per megawatt-hour during peak consumption hours this week, according to data from the Nord Pool electricity exchange.

The highest price was recorded on November 29, at €422 per MWh (including taxes). That’s about five times higher than a year ago.

Finland is energy-dependent, with about 10% of its electricity supplied by Russia. Experts attribute the increased price to high energy costs in Central Europe, where a large amount of electricity is generated from natural gas, the price of which has increased significantly. They say electricity in Finland is likely to remain expensive until next summer, when the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant is expected to become operational.

Natural gas costs have been rising for European consumers with the winter season approaching. On Tuesday, the price of January futures on the TTF exchange in the Netherlands exceeded $1,170 per thousand cubic meters, or €100 per MWh in household terms.

“According to our forecast, the price of electricity will remain high in winter but will start to decline in spring. It is likely that it will not be as high as it is today, but the overall level remains elevated,” a spokesman for Finnish electricity company Fingrid, Mikko Heikkila, told journalists.

He added that “Finland is very dependent on imports. In winter we need energy from neighboring countries but if the electricity market and domestic electricity production work normally, then next winter there will be enough electricity.”

According to Fingrid, the share of electricity imports from Russia amounted to 10% of consumption in Finland in the first nine months of 2021.

The average price of Russian electricity was €57.98 per MWh. Russian energy company Inter RAO said last week that most of its electricity export volume goes to Finland (37%), the Baltic countries (23%), and China (18%)

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia, Nov. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Steppe Gold Ltd. (TSX: STGO) (“Steppe Gold” or the “Company”) today announces the filing of a technical report (the “Technical Report”) on its 100% owned Altan Tsagaan Ovoo Project located in Mongolia regarding the Phase 2 Expansion Project.

The Technical Report titled “NI 43-101 Technical Report – Feasibility Study for the Altan Tsagaan Ovoo (ATO) Phase 2 Expansion Project Mongolia” has been prepared by DRA Global Limited (DRA). The Technical Report is available under the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company’s website at www.steppegold.com.

Steppe Gold is Mongolia’s premier precious metals company.

Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and first Deputy Defense Minister of the Russian Federation, Army General V.V. Gerasimov paid a courtesy call on President of Mongolia and Commander-in-Chief of the Mongolian Armed Forces U. Khurelsukh today, November 30.

President U.Khurelsukh noted that the Mongolian and Russian people have been together in difficult times of war and even in building peace. The President expressed confidence that the visit of the Chief of General Staff will give an important impetus to the bilateral relations and cooperation in defense sector, in particular the Armed Forces.

Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and first Deputy Defense Minister of the Russian Federation, Army General V.V. Gerasimov expressed satisfaction with the relations and cooperation between defense sectors of the two countries, citing the example of the Selenge joint military exercise being organized every year, as well as training of Mongolian servicemen at military academies and universities in Russia.

During the meeting, the parties exchanged views on further development of military and military-technical relations and cooperation between the two countries.

On November 29, Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry G.Yondon presented the bill to make amendments to the Law on Petroleum to Speaker G.Zandanshatar.

Currently, Mongolia imports 100 percent of its demand for petroleum, which in turn makes its domestic market price reliant on global market price, foreign exchange rate as well as the price set for import from Russia and other countries.

As aviation fuel is 28.8 percent more expensive in Mongolia compared to the price in other countries, domestic civilian aviation companies prefer to refuel their aircrafts abroad: 57 percent of the fuel filled abroad.

In connection with the project for the new Chinggis Khaan International Airport, the Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry was tasked to take necessary measures to resolve the matter concerning the supply of fuel for the new airport by expanding the operations of Mongol Refinery State Owned LLC. Thus, a subsidiary was established under the name, ‘Erchis Oil’ State Owned LLC per the Minister’s order issued in 2020.

During the talks held with foreign investors that expressed their interest in supplying fuel for the airport, ‘Erchis Oil’ State Owned LLC received a suggestion for cooperation from RN-Aero, a subsidiary of the Russian oil company Rosneft.

However, Article 7.2 of the Law on Petroleum states that a foreign entity, who is solely supplying no more than 30 percent of total oil to Mongolia, is prohibited to sale its products on the domestic market through its invested entity or its units. This article limits the opportunity for the state-owned company to cooperate with foreign supplier for fuel supply at the airport. Thus, in the framework of the measures being taken to expand the operations of Chinggis Khaan International Airport as well as to support the supply of fuel at a competitive price for various aircraft operating in Mongolia and going through the country’s territory, a bill was drafted to make amendments to the article.