Its Football Money League, based on season 2016-17, also shows the combined revenues of the 20 clubs has risen 6% to €7.9bn (£6.97bn), a new record.

Real Madrid, which held top spot for 11 years, were second and Barcelona third.

There were a record ten English Premier League clubs in the top 20. The number in the top 30 was up from 12 to 14.

The list only looks at revenues accrued and does not take into account club debts.

This year's battle for first place was the closest ever, with just €1.7m separating Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Big Five leagues
Manchester United's €676m revenues were boosted by €44.5m from Uefa after winning the Europa League against Ajax.

Deloitte said this sum was "the critical factor in keeping them ahead of Real Madrid and Barcelona".

Bayern Munich and Manchester City completed the top five, retaining their positions from last year.

Arsenal, Paris St-Germain, Chelsea, Liverpool and Juventus occupied places six to ten. Tottenham were in 11th spot, Leicester City 14th, West Ham 17th, Southampton 18th and Everton 20th.

All the 20 clubs represented are from the "big five" European leagues, with Italy, Germany and Spain contributing three clubs each and France one.

Other findings include:

AC Milan fall out of the top 20 for the first time and AS Roma for only the third time
Southampton is the only debutant in the top 20 after broadcast revenues soared
AFC Bournemouth is the only debutant amongst clubs ranked 21 to 30
China and the USA may see a member club enter the list in future
"Next year, we expect the eight billion euros [revenue] barrier will be broken, but revenue growth is not expected to be as significant as seen in 2016-17," said Dan Jones, partner in Deloitte's Sport Business Group.

"Germany's new domestic broadcast deal commences and will increase revenue, but Premier League and La Liga distributions will remain relatively stable, as both enter the second year of existing TV deals.

"Looking further ahead, the long term composition of the Money League is an intriguing topic. English clubs' dominance will depend heavily on the outcome of the Premier League's ongoing tender for the next three year TV deal starting from 2019-20."

DELOITTE FOOTBALL MONEY LEAGUE

•1. Manchester United: €676.3m

•2. Real Madrid: €674.6m

•3. Barcelona: €648.3m

•4. Bayern Munich; €587.8m

•5. Manchester City: €527.7m

•6. Arsenal: €487.6m

•7. Paris Saint Germain: €486.2m

•8. Chelsea: €428m

•9. Liverpool: €424.2m

•10. Juventus: €405.7m

Source: Deloitte, revenues for 2016-17 season.

According to new statistics, Russia is currently the sixth-largest gold owner after the United States, Germany, Italy, France, and China. Analysts say if the current pace of gold purchases continues, Russia may dethrone China as the fifth-largest bullion holder as early as the first quarter of 2018. Chinese gold reserves currently stand at 1,842 tons.

Acquisitions of the precious metal by Russia reached a record 223 tons last year, accounting for 17.7 percent of overall Russian reserves. Since June 2015, the country has added over 558 tons of gold.

The CBR has more than doubled the pace of its gold purchases, according to Gold.org data. It has been increasing the country’s gold reserves to meet a goal set by President Vladimir Putin to make Russia less vulnerable to geopolitical risks. The Russian gold hoard has increased by more than 500 percent since 2000.

According to the World Gold Council, Russia is not only the largest official buyer of gold but also the world's third-biggest producer, with the central bank purchasing from domestic miners through commercial banks.

In the past 10 years alone, the country has mined more than 2,000 tons of gold, with annual production expected to rise to 400 tons by 2030.

As estimated USD 1.25 billion is needed to build 542km long railway from Erdenet city of Orkhon aimag to Ovoot mine of Khuvsgul aimag, which is considered as one of the biggest construction works in road and transport sector. ‘Northern Railways’ LLC will tackle funding collaboratively with the China Gezhouba Group International Company of China.

The railway will be connected with Russia and China, and become a part of an economic corridor which connects Asia and Europe. Regarding this, the project executor requested from the Minister to carefully define the route to be connected with railways of Russia and China.

Minister J.Bat-Erdene said that the Ministry of Road and Transport Development is ready to take necessary actions. "At present, preparation works of the project are going slow. So, it is necessary to finish the preparation works by the fall of 2018 and launch the construction work in the spring of 2019."

He also added that it is vital to make ongoing activities of the project transparent to the state and public.

In return, representatives of the Northern Railways Company agreed with the Minister's request and expressed their willingness to closely cooperate. 
E.Altanzul

The engine that drives his confidence comes in the form of electric vehicles which, according to investment manager U.S. Global Investors, need up to four times the amount of copper traditional cars need and whose demand is expected to grow so much that, by 2027, 1.74 million tonnes of copper will be needed to meet it. Today’s demand is of 184,000 tonnes.

China is the main consumer of the world’s copper, with imports reaching 17.35 million tonnes in 2017. In its quest to curb pollution, the Asian giant is forecast to become one of the largest EV manufacturers in the coming years, thus increasing its copper needs even more.

Precisely talking to U.S. Global Investors about this topic, Friedland said that within this context people are going “to need a telescope to see copper prices in 2021.” Besides increased demand, he thinks prices could hit higher notes due to global supply disruptions such as those caused by labour negotiations in the world’s No.1 producer -Chile.

Ivanhoe Mines chairman, however, is confident his own project is going to continue to move forward smoothly. Located in an uninhabited area within the Central African Copperbelt, Kamoa-Kakula is set to become the third largest copper mine in the planet, only topped by Escondida in Chile and Australia's Olympic Dam in terms of sheer size. Its resource base was lifted above a billion tonnes and its average copper grade is estimated at 7.3 per cent.

Even though copper experienced a considerable fall this week, it had been on a tear since May 2017, reaching $7,000 a tonne for the first time in three years. Together with prices, China’s imports climbed to 17.35 million tonnes in 2017, up 2.3 per cent from the previous year.

A team of banking and technology managers, and US regulatory commissioners who launched the digital currency claim it would provide users with a safe haven from cryptocurrency volatility.

RT talked to Alexandre Kateb, president of Competence Finance SAS, to understand if the new digital currency could one day become a real safe haven like gold.

“OilCoin will try to replicate the movement of oil prices, very much like a financial instrument called an oil future,” said Kateb, who explained that this contrasted with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the value of which is determined by supply and demand for the tokens in circulation, and the cost of issuing new tokens.

He added that OilCoin would have to be backed by physical oil inventories, unlike oil futures, which have to be rolled over periodically and is purely a financial instrument.

Kateb said that “very much like a traditional currency, it is possible to back a cryptocurrency by a physical asset” but expressed doubts that OilCoin could become a real safe haven.

He believes “commodity-backed currencies are a thing of the past, because in the modern world it is technological innovation that drives the economy, not the supply of physical commodities.”

Talking about the possibility of a new cryptocurrency affecting oil prices, Kateb said gigantic quantities of physical oil and other oil-related assets would have to be bought in order to have any such impact.

“It has been said that oil futures can affect oil prices, but according to the studies conducted by the IMF and other financial watchdogs, financial instruments backed by oil may affect the volatility of oil prices but not their level which is determined by the traditional supply and demand for the physical commodity,” he explained.

The economist said that OilCoin would be as volatile as oil itself, adding that it would also have the same kind of cost as oil, namely the "carry cost" incurred by storing physical oil.

“Therefore, the real value of an OilCoin could be subject to a continuous depreciation as time goes by. This is akin to the so-called "contango" effect, which is normally observed with oil futures,” said Kateb.

Former Politburo member Dinh La Thang was found guilty of economic mismanagement over losses in state oil firm PetroVietnam.

The former head of the firm was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The trial is part of a crackdown on corruption that involves high-profile energy and banking executives.

Twenty other people were sentenced on Monday in Hanoi, receiving jail terms ranging from three years suspended to nine years.

The trial is seen as a showcase of the Communist Party's fight against corruption but also an act of internal purging, correspondents say.

Representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sport, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the Ministry of Energy, the National Emergency Management Agency and the Institute for Strategic Studies of the National Security Council joined the US representatives from the Department of State, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, US Agency for International Development, and U.S. Embassy in the Annual Bilateral Consultations .

The meeting was co-chaired by State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ts.Davaasuren and the US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan A.Thornton.

During the meeting, Mongolia reported on the activities of the Government, foreign policy priorities, latest developments in political, social and economic spheres, implementation of the International Monetary Fund’s Extended Fund Facility program and measures taken to attract foreign direct investment and restore investors’ trust.

The sides noted how bilateral relations advanced in 2017 in the margins of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations. In particular, bilateral relations have seen developments such as the re-selection of Mongolia as eligible country for a Second Compact Agreement of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, launch of USD 10 million project to boost Mongolia’s meat export, the first consultation on energy policy, re-establishment of Mongolia group in the US Congress, addition of Mongolia to the list of countries eligible for the H-2A/B visa program and implementation of LEAD and FLEX programs.

The meeting agenda included bilateral trade and economic cooperation, US investment into Mongolia, broadening of cooperation in defense, peacekeeping, agriculture, energy and security, finalization of the Second Compact Agreement and cooperation within the H-2A/B visa program.

Moreover, the meeting also touched upon on global issues, including security in the Asia Pacific region and the Korean Peninsula, and the US’ policy in the Indo-Pacific region.

The annual consultations have been held since 1998 in Ulaanbaatar and Washington in turn, with an aim to review the bilateral relationship and determine the future directions and priorities in bilateral relations.
Kh.Aminaa