The company has received interest from several buyers for its China stores and was evaluating the proposals, according to a Reuters report.

"We are in detailed talks with some of those companies," Lim Byung-yun, an executive vice-president at Lotte Corp, the group's newly launched holding company, said at a news conference.

The size of the deal is expected to be small at a couple of hundred million dollars, a banking source said, declining to be identified as the talks were confidential. Goldman Sachs has been picked to manage the sale, according to Reuters.

Jason Yu, general manager of Kantar Worldpanel China, a research firm, said the likely buyers would be from North or East China. "I do not know who they are, but some local players are still looking for store expansions in Beijing or Jiangsu and the stores are at good locations," he said. Yu had earlier said that Lotte Mart has been facing competition from Chinese retailers and e-commerce giants. Because of its limited presence, it could not build economies of scale or create an efficient supply chain, he said.

Hypermarkets, supermarkets, and convenience stores in China grew by 3.5 percent in the second quarter of the year, according to Kantar's latest report. Sun Art Group, Auchan and RT-Mart, which are among the country's top 10 retailers, saw their market share grow or stabilize in the second quarter compared to the previous year, as they set up more stores to expand their footprint and pursued multichannel strategies to cope with changing consumer demand.

Among international retailers, Carrefour saw its market share recover on a quarterly basis as it opened 30 small format neighborhood stores under the name "Easy Carrefour" to appeal to younger shoppers who want convenience and a relevant mix of merchandise.

Local retailers continued to outpace their global counterparts with Wu-Mart's market share rising from 1.7 percent to 2.0 percent year-on-year.

The revenue was made up 83 per cent from interest income, 13.4 per cent from non-interest income and 3.6 per cent from non-operating income.

In the first half of this year, a total of 533 non-bank financial institutions opened, of which 409 or 76.7 per cent have earned MNT 32.4 billion, whereas 97 or 18.2 per cent had a deficit of MNT 4.3 billion. It has been observed that non-bank financial institution sector is operating profitably.

In the second quarter of 2017, entire non-bank financial institution system has made net profit of MNT 28.1 billion, which showed an increase of MNT 3.1 billion or 12.4 per cent against first half of 2016. 
E.Altanzul

The Russian president was speaking at a meeting with German business leaders in Sochi on Thursday.

"I think you will agree that the cooperation of our countries should not be limited only to major projects, an important driver for the development of the modern economy is small and medium businesses. In Germany, small business accounts for more than half of the country's GDP," said Putin.

"The share is much less in Russia, unfortunately, but we set a goal to make small and medium businesses account for 30 to 40 percent of the Russian economy by 2030,” Putin stressed.

The president said he would be interested to hear proposals from German businessmen on how to connect small and medium-sized businesses to Russian-German economic links.

"Of course, we are interested in the opinion of our foreign partners, what in general makes it difficult to do business in Russia, what additional support from the state is needed to our partners from abroad," he said.

Russian economists have said small and medium-sized businesses often face limited domestic demand, the dominance of large economic and financial structures in the economy, expensive loans, and red tape.

Putin has repeatedly stressed the importance of small and medium-sized business for the Russian economy.

Data from 2016 says that only 5.8 percent of Russians of working age start their own business, the lowest among the BRICS countries, while almost one in five Brazilian starts his own business. To boost entrepreneurship in Russia, the government has offered better tax terms, a three-year moratorium on scheduled inspections and a quota in procurements by Russia’s big corporations.

Evergrande's Xu has seen his net worth soar by an eye-watering 272% over the past year.
He owns more than 70% of Evergrande, which has seen its shares gain more than 450% since the start of 2017.
The developer has been buoyed this year by China's red-hot property market, where prices have continue to rise despite government efforts to cool them.
But Evergrande's business is built on a huge pile of debt -- nearly $50 billion at the end of 2016 -- prompting concerns about whether it can sustain its growth. In a report earlier this year, rating agency Fitch warned that Evergrande's high interest expenses and payouts to shareholders would prevent it from reducing its debt significantly.
Xu isn't the only real estate mogul to benefit from this year's property boom. Yang Huiyan, the 36-year old heiress of property firm Country Garden and China's richest woman, saw her fortune triple to $24 billion.
She now ranks fourth on Hurun's China rich list.
But the latest ranking will be humbling for Dalian's Wang, who has become one of the most recognizable faces of Chinese wealth in recent years. His net worth is now $23 billion, according to the list.

Wang originally made his money in Chinese real estate before expanding his empire overseas to include everything from movie theater chain AMC Entertainment (AMC), Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment and a stake in Spanish soccer club Atletico Madrid.
The tycoon's overseas dealmaking has been curbed this year as the Chinese government cracked down on cash leaving the country. State-owned banks have reportedly been ordered to stop financing Wanda's overseas deals.
Wang, who once vowed to crush Disney (DIS) in China, was forced to sell Wanda's theme park business earlier this year for $9.3 billion to reduce the company's debt burden.

China's booming tech industry, meanwhile, was well represented at the top of the Hurun list.
Pony Ma, founder of social media giant Tencent (TCEHY), climbed to second place. His wealth is up over 50% to $37 billion thanks to his company's soaring stock price.
Alibaba (BABA, Tech30) founder Jack Ma fell one place to third, with his fortune inching down to $30 billion after he reduced his stake in lucrative Alibaba subsidiary Ant Financial.
The co-founders of Chinese search engine Baidu (BIDU, Tech30) and of electric carmaker Geely (GELYF) also made it into the top 10.

"The first phase drilling program consisting of reverse circulation and percussion pre-collars with diamond tails totaling 3145 meters has been completed at the East TS target and been successful, in line with our expectations for the program, said Peter Leaman, senior vice president of exploration.

He said the group's efforts at East TS provided a template to systematically replicate across the rest of the group's commanding portfolio in the world-class Oyu Tolgoi-Tsagaan Suvarga Devonian copper belt.

It saw 3,145 metres sunk for 13 holes, the company said in a statement.

Interpreted results for the first phase drilling programme, including traditional assay results, age dating, fertility and green rock analysis, ongoing and proposed geophysical programmes, and their integrated interpretations and follow up programmes for the next stage of systematic target testing will be provided following Kincora's next Technical Workshop, it added.

The BTIC sits almost half way between the Oyu Tolgoi and Tsagaan Suvarga Devonian porphyry systems.

Such a structural setting is common for most large-scale porphyry deposits globally.

Limited exploration so far, including drilling has returned copper-gold mineralization (up to 18 metres (m) at 0.66% Cu Eq (copper equivalent) and 18m at 0.75% Cu Eq) on the margin of a large target under shallow to moderate cover.

A two-drill rig programme has recently started at the license.

Outcropping mineralization and systematic exploration integrating geology and geophysics has refined multiple potential drill targets that are the focus of the ongoing first phase 2,850 metre, hole 6 drill programme.

Yesterday, Kincora said it had closed its second tranche placing with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and raised C$1.4mln.

It follows the closing of the first tranche on August 22, 2017, with total gross funds raised being now C$5.92mln.

Shares in Kincora shed 2.86% to US$0.34.

Prairie, which is also listed in Australia, is developing the Jan Karski mine in south eastern Poland and bought the Debiensko mine last year with a view to becoming a supplier of cheap coking coal in Europe where most steelmakers import their coal.

Upfront capital costs for the development of the Jan Karski mine totals $630 million with Chinese lenders expected to financing 85 percent of it, Chief Executive Ben Stoikovich told Reuters.

The company signed a deal with state-owned China Coal No. 5 Construction Ltd in November last year for the construction of the mine and to help secure Chinese funding.

"We want their technology, we want their expertise and that is why we have partnered with them," Stoikovich said, adding that China Coal had a good track record of developing mines quickly and at competitive costs.

Chinese coking coal futures jumped over 160 percent in 2016 as years of oversupply came to an end but prices are mostly flat this year.

Prairie's London-listed shares are up about 50 percent this year, adding to gains of around 200 percent in 2016. The price was unchanged at 33 pence on Thursday.

The company is also embarking on a drilling programme to inform its redevelopment plan for the newly acquired Debiensko mine. The mine, which was mothballed in 2000, will be modernised to make it a low cost producer at a cost of about $500 million.

"The mine tended to use old fashioned mining methods," Stoikovich said. "We are going in with a very Australian view – how do we automate this as much as possible."

In addition to tapping Chinese banks for funding, Prairie could look at raising cash from London investors for further development in future, Stoikovich said.

(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

On October 11, the MPP Governing Council confirmed the candidates for 12 Ministers and met again on Friday prior to the MPP Group’s meeting to conclude the nomination.

“Now, the candidacy will be submitted to the President. A confirmation letter from the Independent Authority Against Corruption regarding the candidates is also awaiting. After that the issue will be submitted to the Parliament for discussion. We intend to solve the appointment of ministers in coming two days.” said D.Khayankyarvaa, MPP Group Head.

The 15 candidates are:

1. O.Enkhtuvshin for Deputy PM
2.G.Zandanshatar for Minister of Head of the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government 
3.Ch.Khurelbaatar for Finance Minister
4.Ts.Davaasuren for Energy Minister
5.S.Chinzorig for Minister of Labor and Social Protection
6.D.Sarangerel for Health Minister
7.Ts.Tsogzolmaa for Minister of Education, Culture, Sciences and Sports
8.Ts.Nyamdorj for Minister of Justice and Home Affairs
9.B.Batzorig for Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry
10.J.Bat-Erdene for Minister of Road and Transportation Development
11.D.Tsogtbaatar for Minister of Foreign Affairs
12.D.Sumyabazar for Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry
13.N.Tserenbat for Minister of Environment and Tourism
14.H.Badelkhan for Minister of Construction and Urban Development
15.N.Enkhbold for Defense Minister. 
B.Ooluun

"We have agreed on the following: the state should regulate the process of issuing cryptocurrencies, the process of mining, the process of circulation," said Finance Minister Anton Siluanov on Wednesday.

"The state should head this situation and regulate it legally," the finance minister said, adding that he was not yet ready to disclose the details.

The meeting was held on Tuesday and was attended by Siluanov, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina, the CEO of the Qiwi payment system Sergey Solonin and others.

At the meeting, Putin stressed that the state should regulate cryptocurrencies, but not create barriers for investors.

“We need, based on international experience, to build a regulatory environment that will systematize relations in this area, to protect, of course, the interests of citizens, business, and the state, to provide legal guarantees for working with innovative financial instruments," he said.

However, Putin said digital money lacks transparency. As the cryptocurrencies “are issued by an unlimited number of anonymous sources,” in case of any problems, including “system malfunctions” or the emergence of currency bubbles, there will be no one liable, warned the president.

In Russia, the status of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, is not currently regulated by law.

Central bank chief Nabiullina has repeatedly said the regulator is studying the use of cryptocurrencies but sees risks of their use, including fraud and the financing of terrorism.

The Prosecutor General's Office said it considers cryptocurrencies as money surrogates, the issue, and turnover of which in Russia is a criminal offense

The delegation also met with the director of the American Center for Mongolian Studies, which offers logistical support and fellowships for faculty working in Mongolia. These partnerships have already resulted in the exchange of librarians from both countries, in Western hosting Mongolian English instructors as well as Mongolian language and culture instructors, and in Western faculty and students conducting learning and research projects in Mongolia.

The John C. Street Endowment supports Western’s partnerships in Mongolia.