Bitcoin crashes as Beijing orders cryptocurrency exchange shutdown www.rt.com

The price of bitcoin plunged on Thursday after Chinese authorities crack down on cryptocurrencies, with the country’s biggest exchange announcing the suspension of operations.

The virtual currency fell more than 11 percent, trading at $3,544.14 as of 14:00pm GMT. This is far below the all-time high of $5,013.91 set earlier this month.

Polish company seeks to establish tractor-assemnling factory in Mongolia www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Mongolia will receive a soft loan of EUR 50 million from Poland pursuant to an intergovernmental agreement. Money of EUR 32 million of the sum is projected to be spent on the agricultural sector.

EU parliament: Review easing food import rule www3.nhk.or.jp

A plan to partially ease restrictions on EU food imports imposed after the Fukushima nuclear accident could be postponed. The restrictions were due to be relaxed this autumn but the European Parliament has adopted a resolution to review them.

Mongolia's blossoming Buddhism faces money problems www.au.news.yahoo.com

Ulan Bator (AFP) - On a barren patch of land outside Mongolia's capital, a former herder guards a half-finished pedestal and abandoned golden Buddha's head -- testament to the money problems keeping Buddhism from flourishing in the country.

When 68-year-old Tsegmid Lunduv, a longtime nomad, was hired to patrol the spot in 2013, the project seemed full of promise: a proposed sprawling complex of meditation centres and spiritual retreats, tucked into the rolling steppes outside Ulan Bator and under the spiritual guidance of the Dalai Lama.

But two years ago, construction was suspended pending additional funding, leaving two partially built legs, the unattached head and a hand with fingers curled into the gesture for teaching and understanding.

Only Lunduv, his wife, grandson and their yellow puppy were standing sentry on a recent visit to the holy site-to-be.

"Once the project comes to fruition, all of Mongolia's troubles will go away," said Lunduv, a portly man with a tattered white tunic and a gap-toothed smile.

He added: "It will usher in a new era."

One of the project's main financial backers, the Genco group, is owned by new Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga, who took office in July and must now navigate the country out of its maze of debt with a $5.5 billion International Monetary Fund-led bailout.

Buddhism has returned to prominence after being quashed over years of Soviet control, with over half of the population now identifying as Buddhist, according to official figures.

But the debt-laden country's money troubles have severely limited the infrastructure needed for the religion to fully flourish, with monasteries lacking proper residential facilities for monks.

- Sacred vodka -

Buddhist traditions in Mongolia predate the rule of Genghis Khan, who established close ties with a Tibetan Buddhist school. Khan's grandson, Kublai Khan, even commissioned his spiritual guru to create an easier form of the Tibetan script to be used in the territories under his command.

Even under Tibetan Buddhism's heavy influence, however, Mongolians gave the religion their own cultural touch: inspired by shamanistic invocations using vodka, Mongolian Buddhists consider the Russian liquor sacred just as wine is to Christians.

And because the Mongolian Empire suffered from a population shortage, the Dalai Lama at the time permitted Mongolian monks to marry and have children -- though mistresses remained strictly forbidden.

The biggest challenge to Mongolian Buddhism came during the country's years as a Soviet satellite state, from 1924 to the early 1990s, when the Arts Council of Mongolia estimates that more than 1,250 monasteries and temples were demolished and countless religious artifacts lost.

Monks, if they were not killed, were forced to marry.

"After 60 years of oppression, (Mongolia's) monkhood was pretty much destroyed," said Glen Mullin, an expert on Tibetan Buddhism.

Only one monastery, Ulan Bator's Gandan monastery, was permitted to stay open during that period to support the Soviets' claims of religious tolerance.

In 1996, in a newly democratic Mongolia, 18-year-old Batchunuun Munkhbaatar left his countryside home in central Tuv province to join the monastery in the capital.

Gandan was home to just 25 monks then, but Munkhbaatar stayed and immersed himself in the Buddhist practice. Now 800 monks belong to the monastery, the country's largest.

"During the (Soviet era), the party controlled the faith of the people, but they couldn't control their inner devotion," Munkhbaatar said, recalling that his grandfather "didn't quit his chanting or prayers, even during the communist time".

"He would do all these things behind locked doors. If someone approached the house, the dog would bark and he'd put away his scriptures and images of Buddha."

- 'A Buddhist country' -

The revival of Buddhism has been a sticky issue for the Mongolian government, which pledged not to extend any more invitations to the Dalai Lama after his visit to Ulan Bator last November angered China, its neighbour and biggest trade partner.

There are now 3,500 monks across the country, said Munkhbaatar, who handles Gandan's foreign relations.

Mullin expects these numbers to swell as the first wave of young Mongolian Buddhists return from studying in India and Tibet.

Back in their homeland, they will face a tough financial reality.

"Most Mongolian monasteries do not offer the proper conditions for monks to actually live in them," said Vesna Wallace, a religious studies scholar at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

"Monasteries receive funding only when they are building something, not for their day-to-day operations. They rely on donations, so many monks are quite poor and have had to marry because they can't live off their own income."

At the site of the Grand Maitreya project, Lunduv has faith the money will come.

The project's official Facebook page said in March that the first building phase would be completed by the end of this summer if $25,000 in donations was raised.

Every morning, Lunduv pours a freshly brewed cup of tea out onto the field around the construction area as a prayer to the gods.

"It will be finished," Lunduv says. "The government will support us because our country is a Buddhist country."

"Our history is tied to our religion."

EBRD boosts small business in Mongolia www.ebrd.com

The EBRD is continuing to support micro and small businesses in Mongolia with a loan to microfinance institution, Transcapital. The loan of MNT 6 billion will be provided in the local currency, Mongolian tugrik.

World Bank to support pre-school education in Mongolia www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ G.Chuluunbaatar, Acting Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Sports, received James Anderson, World Bank’s country manager for Mongolia, on September 13.

BoM issues 1-week bills www.mongolbank.mn

The Bank of Mongolia traded 604 billion MNT worth 1-week maturity central bank bill (“CBB”), with weighted average yield of 12.0 percent per annum. /For previous auctions click here/.

Copper rout continues as price dips below $3.00 www.mining.com

Copper futures trading on the Comex market in New York suffered another sharp decline on Wednesday as analysts warn of a likely correction following week of speculative buying.

Five stranded Israelis rescued in Mongolia www.jpost.com

Five Israelis who were stranded in the snowy, mountainous Tavan-Bogd region of Western Mongolia for four days were rescued yesterday and are on their way back to Israel.

NATO supports Mongolia in transforming its defence education system www.nato.int

Mongolia recently marked the successful achievement of goals set under its Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) with NATO. Through DEEP, Mongolia has completed an ambitious multi-year plan for the modernisation of its professional military education system. Since 2013, the National Defence University of Mongolia (MNDU) has implemented a new core curriculum for staff officers, reviewed instructors’ teaching methods and placed greater emphasis on English and other foreign language teaching.

German Deputy Dean of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies Sven Gareis visited Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from 5 to 12 July 2017, for the review of DEEP Mongolia, made possible through NATO, the Partnership for Peace Consortium, and the Marshall Center.

With NATO’s support over the last four years, Dr Gareis, Army LtC Klaus Huettker of the German General Staff and Command College in Hamburg and many other experts from Canada, Slovakia, Ukraine and the United States, have worked with their Mongolian colleagues to develop a state-of-the-art Mongolian Staff Officer Course (MSOC) and to implement modern teaching methodologies in the University’s curricula.

“Our involvement with Mongolia’s DEEP programme isn’t over,” said Dr Gareis. “This visit marked the end of the assistance phase of the programme. The next phase is a sustainment phase to secure the achievements and further develop curricula and governance at the MNDU.”

Launched in 2015, the MSOC has become a prerequisite for advancement as an officer in the Mongolian Armed Forces. The MNDU teaches the curriculum, developed with NATO, on international security, leadership skills and operational planning to a civil-military audience. The 2016 MSOC included participants from the Law Enforcement University, Police Academy, the Border Control Forces and the National Emergency Management Agency. This made the MSOC a comprehensive-approach endeavour that will continue.

MNDU President Major General Yadmaa Choijamts emphasised the programme’s success:

"This programme is providing Mongolian officers the opportunity to prepare for multinational operations' staff headquarters. DEEP changed the mind-set of the MNDU, increasing the impulse for reform," said President Choijamts. "As a result of the programme, 45 military personnel from the Mongolian Armed Forces, the General Authority for Border Protection and National Emergency Management Agency have participated in the Mongolian Staff Officer Course and gained knowledge and skills to carry out their duties in international peacekeeping operations staff," he continued.

While in Mongolia, Dr Gareis met with NATO country representatives and with Mongolian Minister of Defence Badmaanyambuugiin Bat-Erdene.

“Minister Bat-Erdene, who attended a special tailored seminar for Mongolian parliamentarians at the George C. Marshall Center in December 2014, expressed to me his appreciation of the successful work of the DEEP team,” said Dr Gareis.

Mongolia will continue to engage with NATO, in the sustainment phase of this programme and has already offered experts to contribute to new DEEP efforts in other partner countries. In addition, Mongolia is taking steps to build upon the results of this programme in the defence education system. The MNDU is now sharing its new teaching experience with civilian universities such as the University of Science and Technology in three common curricula with the MNDU Engineering School.

DEEPs are tailored programmes through which the Alliance advises partners on how to build, develop and reform educational institutions in the security, defence and military domain. Projects are currently running in 12 countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia1, Tunisia and Ukraine. They focus in particular on faculty building and curriculum development, covering areas such as teaching methodology, leadership and operational planning.