Russia is the largest seller of oil to both Europe and China. An analyst interviewed by RT has said that shipping more crude to Asia can be regarded as a defensive mechanism in the time of Western sanctions. “Given the current geopolitical conditions, the shift towards China from Europe is a protective measure. This shift in oil trade allows the Russian Federation to some extent to secure the oil industry from the sanctions of the West,” said Anton Pokatovich, chief analyst of Binbank.

The Chinese economy has been developing at a high pace, and selling more oil is also profitable for economic reasons as well, the analyst explains. China is the largest buyer of oil, and has been increasing its imports. “This perspective makes the Chinese energy market one of the most desired for Russian exporters,” he told RT. Russia supplied 5.052 million tons, or 1.32 million barrels per day (bpd), to China in February – up 17.8 percent from a year earlier.

The increase in volume happened as a result of a second Sino-Russian oil pipeline, which began operations on January 1. It doubled China’s capacity to pump oil from the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) system. ESPO connects Russia and China with a direct pipeline. With the launch of oil futures in renminbi, both China and Russia have said they could reduce the use of the US dollar in oil trade.

The deputy minister added that the experts are going to make the necessary estimates and to set a time limit for constructing the bridge crossing. Earlier this year, the head of the Far East Ministry, Aleksandr Galushka, said that the Ministry of Transport had created a workgroup on the crossing.

North Korea borders South Korea, China and Russia. The land frontier with the latter runs for about 17km (10.5 miles), following the Tumen River and its estuary in the far northeast. The two nations are currently connected with a rail bridge over the river. The crossing, dubbed the Korea Russia Friendship Bridge, was opened in 1959 and offers Russia and North Korea a basic rail connection.

The neighboring nations have long-contemplated a bridge that could allow more vehicles to move across the border without a lengthy by-pass through China.

“There are 23 automobile checkpoints between North Korea and China, and none with Russia,” North Korean minister Ro Tu Chol said in March. “Currently, when importing goods from Russia’s Far East, they do not come across the border with Russia, but through China. This greatly lengthens the journey.”

According to a file sent to Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Limited, Xiaomi has enlisted CLSA, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as joint sponsors for its listing.

The filing didn't disclose details about the size of its planned offering. However, Xiaomi said the company will use the proceeds received from the IPO to research and develop core products, including smartphones, smart TVs, and laptops, as well as global expansion.

A valuation of at least $70 billion was generally accepted by sponsors, investment banks and potential investors, and it's likely to surpass $100 billion in the short term, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Chinese business media outlet Yicai.

It could be the biggest IPO since Alibaba's $25 billion debut in 2014, and might be the first IPO when IPO applications under dual-class shares structures were accepted starting April 30.

Xiaomi said its revenue for last year was 114.6 billion yuan, compared with 6.84 billion yuan in 2016 and 6.68 billion yuan in 2015. However, the company posted a net loss of 43.9 billion yuan in 2017, reversing from a profit a year earlier.

Four additional drills, retrofitted with autonomous drilling system technology, were recently deployed at the company’s Yandicoogina mine, Rio said, which add to the existing seven autonomous drills at the West Angelas mine.

A further nine drills will be deployed by the end of the year, bringing the total fleet to 20. All of them will be monitored remotely by operators in Rio Tinto’s Operations Centre in Perth, more than 1,500 kilometres away, as it has been done so far with no reported injuries to date.

Kellie Parker, managing director, planning, integration and assets, iron ore, said the expansion will bring significant productivity gains, bringing improved accuracy and consistency while also enabling safer drilling.

Rio Tinto has also announced plans to have a network of driverless trains in Western Australia by the end of this year.
“The deployment of additional rigs, operated from our operations centre in Perth, offers significant advantages as part of our integrated system, which optimizes our autonomous trains, trucks and drills and provides increased operability and flexibility,” Parker said.

“As pioneers of automation and innovation, we continue exploring new technologies to ensure Rio Tinto remains a leader in the global mining industry.”

The mining giant is currently focused on adopting automated technologies across different areas of its operations. About 20% of its almost 400 haul trucks currently operating in the Pilbara are autonomous and Rio Tinto expects to boost that number too.

“We are studying future additions to our autonomous truck fleet that we expect will contribute to our $5 billion productivity program, specifically Iron Ore’s commitment to deliver $500 million of additional free cash flow from 2021 onwards,” Rio Tinto iron ore chief executive Chris Salisbury said in January.

Rio has also announced plans to have a network of driverless trains in Western Australia by the end of this year. In October, it completed its first long-haul journey with a completely autonomous locomotive.

Getting to this point hasn’t been easy. The actual commissioning of the autonomous trains project has been put off a few times, partly due to software problems.

Delays with the implementation of autonomous iron ore trains hurt Rio Tinto’s output in 2016. The miner ended up producing 330 million tonnes, down from the original target of 350 million tonnes.

All automation initiatives are part of the “Mine of the Future” project the company launched in 2008, which also included setting up an operations centre near Perth airport.

The first MON-30 bus will be ready for its road trials before the Naadam Festival which will be held on 10-12 July.

Mongolian companies remodelled 126 electric buses in 2007-2017.

The corporation has been fighting for more than a year to stave off the Mongolian government’s push to gain full control of the Erdenet mine by buying MCC’s 49 percent holding for about $400 million.

The battle is being watched closely by international investors who are hoping that Mongolia’s copper potential can help to meet increasing demand linked to electric vehicles and electrification across the globe.

In the latest in a series of court hearings, Mongolia’s administrative court on Monday said that the government had no legal right to take over the Erdenet shares without any formal engagement with MCC.

MCC Chairman Munkhbaatar Myagmar issued a statement on Wednesday, saying the government had broken bilateral investment treaties as well as domestic laws.

“MCC is taking legal advice on commencing possible international arbitration proceedings,” the statement said.

A government spokesman referred to a constitutional court ruling in February that found MCC never had the right to the 49 percent stake.

“The administrative court’s decision cannot challenge or deny the constitutional court’s ruling,” he told Reuters.

MCC said it expects the government to appeal against Monday’s decision and the case could return to the supreme court.

MCC purchased the Erdenet mine from Russia in 2016 with the approval of then prime minister Chimed Saikhanbileg, though parliament says it never endorsed the sale.

Erdenet is one of the region’s largest copper mines, producing 530,000 tonnes of copper concentrate a year.

Mongolia’s proximity to China, the world’s biggest copper consumer, adds to its appeal to international investors who can provide foreign direct investment to help Mongolia to meet the terms of its IMF bailout deal.

Howevr, concerns over governance and rising resource nationalism are a deterrent, investors say. (Reporting by Barbara Lewis in London and Munkhchimeg Davaasharav in Ulaanbaatar Editing by David Goodman)

Higher commodity prices and resurgent Chinese demand for coal has powered growth and government revenues, pulling the landlocked economy back from the brink of a classic emerging market crisis. Controls on government spending have also helped.

The scorecard speaks for itself. Twelve months ago yields on government bonds were almost 20 percent, debt was close to 100 percent of GDP and reserves had slumped to just two months of imports, according to the IMF. The currency had fallen by 20 percent.

Now, a growth rate of 5.1 percent in 2017 means the fiscal balance has improved by 15 percentage points of GDP and the government is ticking all boxes required by its creditors.

The short-term macroeconomic stabilization is really very dramatic and very strong," Markus Rodlauer Deputy Director, Asia and Pacific Department at the IMF told reporters last month.

Still, the $11-billion economy nestled between China and Russia isn’t yet out of the danger zone. The IMF has warned that structural reforms still need to be implemented and much depends on the longevity of the upswing in commodity prices. Ratings firm Moody’s Investors Service has cautioned that Mongolia’s credit profile is vulnerable to that price cycle.

While China’s coking coal imports from Mongolia surged 132 percent in March from a month earlier, they were 5.6 percent lower from a year ago -- falling 26 percent in the first quarter, according to customs data.

"The turn around is more based on good luck as commodity prices recovered due to the economic upturn globally," said Lutz Roehmeyer, CIO of Capitulum Asset Management, who has previously invested in Mongolian bonds.

— With assistance by Terrence Edwards

"We're very happy to welcome Papua New Guinea and Kenya as prospective members of AIIB," AIIB Vice President and Corporate Secretary Danny Alexander said.

"AIIB now has 86 approved members from six continents. This shows a strong commitment to promoting infrastructure development through rules-based multilateral cooperation with high standards of governance," Alexander said.

The two prospective members will officially join AIIB once they complete the required domestic processes and deposit the first installment of capital with the bank.

The shares allocated to the new prospective members come from AIIB's existing pool of unallocated shares, according to AIIB.

With 57 signatories at its launch in January 2016, the Beijing-headquartered AIIB aims to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia and beyond by investing in sustainable infrastructure and other productive sectors.

S&P warned about risks in revenue generation, despite positive performances in economic and budget indicators due to commodity price increases.

As there remains a need to improve institutional governance, S&P has left its credit ratings for Mongolia unchanged. According to S&P, Mongolia's ratings could rise if the country’s economy performs better than the agency’s projections for the coming year.

However, S&P warned that it would lower its ratings for Mongolia in the case of negative performances in external sectors and if government debt rises. S&P analysts have projected that Mongolia's GDP will grow by five percent in 2018.