No decisive winner in Mongolia presidential vote forces second round www.reuters.com

There was no outright winner in Mongolia's presidential election on Monday, forcing the country's first ever second-round run-off between the two leading candidates, the country's General Election Committee said of Tuesday.

TEPCO aims to complete Fukushima ice wall www.nhk.or.jp

The operator of the crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima has applied for permission to freeze the remaining part of an ice wall that is being built to keep groundwater from entering the reactor buildings.

Alibaba hires top scientist to mastermind AI drive www.chinadaily.com

Internet powerhouse Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has appointed a seasoned scientist at Amazon.com Inc to spearhead its efforts in artificial intelligence, a move that will propel its so-called "NASA plan" to double up on technology research.

Alibaba in March announced a major project at its first technical meeting in Hangzhou, to galvanize the group's technological capabilities, code-named NASA.

Since June, Ren Xiaofeng, former senior principal scientist at Amazon and a Chinese citizen, has taken on the role as chief scientist and deputy dean at Alibaba's Institute of Data Science and Technologies, its global research and development center, the company confirmed on Monday.

Ren is recruiting a world-class computer vision team at a fast-expanding site in Bellevue, in the United States.

That's according to Ren's updated resume on the website of the University of Washington, where he also serves as an affiliate assistant professor of computer science and engineering.
In his four years at Amazon, Ren was the lead scientist at Amazon Go, using computer vision and machine learning, to transform retailing. The research led to the launch of an automatic check-out system that eliminates unnecessary and annoying customer waiting.

Prior to Amazon, Ren also had deep experience in vision-related projects at Intel Lab, working on computer vision and its applications in activity recognition and monitoring, robotics, and human-computer interaction. Ren holds a PhD in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Alibaba said that Ren's coming onboard indicated an accelerated pace to carry out the NASA project, proposed by founder Jack Ma in March, to boost the firm's technological capacity in 20 years.

Ma said at the time that to meet the group's strategic goal of serving 2 billion customers, creating 100 million jobs and enabling 10 million businesses to become profitable, Alibaba should invest in technological infrastructure featuring machine learning, chips, the internet of things and biometric identification, among others.

As a new entrant to the international cloud market, Alibaba is off to a good start, being included for the first time in a Gartner Inc report this month as being "well-positioned to take on bigger players such as Amazon and Microsoft Corp".

Since the start of the year China's tech majors have been plowing in billions of dollars into consolidating a technical arsenal and talent pool to outgun their rivals.

Search engine Baidu Inc hired former Microsoft executive Lu Qi as group president and rolled out its Apollo Project to help drive the development of autonomous cars.

Tencent Holdings Ltd is also betting on cloud technologies and AI, doubling its offshore data centers this year and identifying AI as being synonymous with its services.

Shanghai-based Gartner Research Director Sandy Shen said that Chinese tech firms were becoming a hot draw for talent globally, given the market fluidity, fast pace and the receptive attitude toward new technologies among Chinese consumers.

Kh.Battulga maintains top position in ballot www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The General Election Commission will announce the preliminary results of the presidential election today, June 27.

Mongolia's presidential election tightens, runoff likely www.foxnews.com

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia – Mongolia's presidential election appeared headed for a runoff with the latest vote count early Tuesday showing a business tycoon leading the ruling party's candidate and a nationalist wanting the country to benefit more from its mineral wealth.

Khaltmaa Battulga of the Democratic Party had a clear lead but less than the required 50 percent of the 1.3 million votes cast Monday to avoid a runoff, the General Election Commission said.

The Mongolian People's Party's Miyegombo Enkhbold, speaker of the parliament and a horse dealer, had looked to be shut out of the runoff in the early results but pulled into second place as votes from more remote areas of the landlocked Asian country were counted.

Enkhbold was around 1,700 votes ahead of nationalist Sainkhuu Ganbaatar of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, a vocal critic of mining giant Rio Tinto's operations in the country, according to the latest data from the election commission.

Ganbaatar's party protested the overnight turn in preliminary results that put their candidate, who had earlier been leading Enkhbold by 15,000 votes, in third place, accusing the election commission of fraud. The commission could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

While the nation of 3 million had been an oasis of democratic stability since the end of communist rule nearly three decades ago, its politics have grown increasingly fractious amid an economic crisis and accusations of corruption among the ruling class.

The candidates were seeking to succeed Tsakhia Elbegdorj of the Democratic Party, who has served the maximum of two four-year terms. The winner will become Mongolia's fifth president since 1990.

Enkhbold, whose party won parliamentary elections last year by a landslide, had been widely seen as representing stability at a time when Mongolia is showing tentative signs of recovery from an economic crisis brought about by a dramatic drop in global commodity prices.

Battulga campaigned on a "Mongolia First" policy, borrowing the language of President Donald Trump. He promised to be "a patriotic president" seeking "equal cooperation" with neighbors like China, which he has criticized in the past.

Battulga's company, Genco, is one of Mongolia's largest, with businesses including hotels, media, banking, alcohol, horsemeat and a Genghis Khan-themed complex. He was agriculture minister between 2012 and 2014 and is a former member of parliament, as well as president of the Mongolian Judo Association.

Ganbaatar, a self-described feng shui master and "Robin Hood" for the masses, has claimed Mongolia should get a better deal with Rio Tinto and its copper and gold mine, Oyu Tolgoi.

Around two-thirds of nearly 2 million registered voters cast ballots, the election commission said.

Sandwiched between Russia and China, resource-rich Mongolia has been roiled by financial upheaval and the increasing draw of China's economic and political influence that competes with its ties with the democratic West, especially the United States.

Foreign investment in Mongolia has slumped in recent years following weaker commodity prices and high-profile disputes between the government and large investors including Rio Tinto. Mongolia's economy grew just 1 percent last year, down from 17.5 percent in 2011, when it was the world's fastest-growing. It now has $23 billion in debt, more than double the size of its economy. Unemployment is roughly 9 percent, with about one in five Mongolians living in poverty.

The country recently secured a $5.5 billion International Monetary Fund-led bailout to stem its financial crisis, with a $500 million bond repayment due in January 2018. Enkhbold's party pledges to continue the IMF's program, including higher taxes and spending cuts, while Ganbaatar has criticized the IMF.

For 30-year old district government office worker and mother Tserendejid Bayanbaatar, restoring the economy and creating jobs for young people were top concerns in the election.

"I want the future president to support young people and young families, support their work environment and create conditions for stable incomes," Bayanbaatar said.

Avirmed Dangaa, an accountant and former municipal official, said creating stability was important.

"Trust of foreign investors is restored if the government is stable," said Dangaa, who favored Enkhbold.

Battulga has a large following among urban entrepreneurs and youth.

"I don't like corruption and favoritism, which is prevalent everywhere in all levels of Mongolian government. I voted against these corrupt officials," said Enkhmaa, a 28-year-old entrepreneur who gave only her first name.

Rio brushes off Glencore latest offer for coal mines, sticks with Yancoal www.mining.com

Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO) has dismissed Glencore’s (LON:GLEN) sweetened bid for the coal assets on the block in Australia's Hunter Valley and said it is sticking with an offer from Yancoal Australia (ASX:YAL), a subsidiary of China’s Yanzhou Coal Mining.

Mongolia Awaits Presidential Election Outcome After Bruising Campaign www.bloomberg.com

Mongolia is awaiting the results of a contentious presidential election in which mudslinging and corruption claims overshadowed debate about the nation’s troubled economy. 

The race pits Parliament Speaker Enkhbold Miyegombo, 52, the head of Mongolia’s ruling party, against populist-tinged challenger Battulga Khaltmaa, 54, who promised greater controls on the nation’s vast mineral resources. A third candidate, former lawmaker Ganbaatar Sainkhuu, 46, pledged to “take back the natural resources for each citizen.’’

Polls in the nation of 3.1 million people were scheduled to close at 10 p.m. Monday, with results expected by midnight. If no candidate secures more than half the vote, the top two contenders will head to a run-off. 

Enkhbold’s Mongolian People’s Party has been trying to open more mines and recover from a commodity downturn that battered government finances and the economy. The presidency -- now held by Battulga’s Democratic Party -- could provide a platform to contest policies that underpin a $5.5 billion International Monetary Fund-led bailout package announced in February, which is expected to stay in place no matter who wins.

While Mongolia’s Parliament controls the government, the president serves as commander-in-chief of the military. The president can veto legislation and is also responsible for nominating candidates for prime minister and appointing the intelligence and anti-corruption chiefs. The incumbent, Elbegdorj Tsakhia, is barred from seeking a third term.

Stability, Check

Enkhbold, a career politician who dabbles in horse breeding, has promised stability, arguing that government policies stand a better chance under an MPP presidency. Battulga, a businessman and former agriculture-and-industry minister, said he would provide a check on the ruling party’s power.

While Enkhbold entered the race as the favorite after a landslide victory in last year’s legislative elections, no reliable polling was available ahead of the vote. None of the candidates have been spared from scandal during a three-week campaign marked by corruption allegations.

“I am hoping for a run-off,’’ said Munkhbayasgalan Delgerbat, a marketing-management student at the University of Finance and Economics, who cast a blank ballot. “The candidates were not competing against one another about what they will do for the country. They were just raising black PR.”

Dale Choi, founder of Altan Bumba Financial Group, said Battulga’s outsider credentials could overcome Enkhbold’s advantages of funding and political organization if the MPP failed to secure a victory in the first round.

“Generally anti-establishment young voters who don’t care to vote will be forced to vote,” Choi said. “Typically, young voters are not happy -- frustrated with the system, which does not give many opportunities for them -- and more likely to protest-vote for Battulga, which symbolizes balance and control over establishment.’’

S&P Global Ratings projects that Mongolia’s economy, which grew by an average of more than 10 percent annually before last year’s slowdown, will contract by 0.2 percent this year before stabilizing. The government is counting on mining projects, including the $5.4 billion Oyu Tolgoi site operated by Rio Tinto Group, to bring in new revenue.

‘70% of Czechs reject euro’: Prague still hesitant over single currency www.rt.com

The governor of the Czech Republic’s central bank Jiri Rusnok said the country is generally ready to adopt the common European currency, but it would be better to wait until local wages and prices approached those of core euro members.

Mongolia economy, graft in spotlight as voters elect president www.thestar.com.my

ULAANBAATAR: Polling stations opened throughout Mongolia's cities, townships and prairies on Monday as nearly two million residents were asked to choose a new president amid worries about corruption and the state of the resource-dominated economy.

Most voters expect a two-horse race between the ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP) candidate Miyeegombo Enkhbold, an investment-friendly career politician, and former martial arts star and resource nationalist Khaltmaa Battulga of the opposition Democratic Party.

But Sainkhuu Ganbaatar of the breakaway Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) could win enough votes to force a second round in two weeks.

Herders living in Mongolia's countryside, who represent around a third of the population, have already cast ballots at mobile polling booths in an election seen as a referendum on both economic policy and China's role in Mongolia's development.

Remote and landlocked Mongolia, best known as the birthplace of Mongol emperor Chinggis Khaan, is a parliamentary democracy and elected a new government last year. The presidential vote will serve as a crucial barometer of public opinion as the ruling MPP tries to steer the country out of an economic crisis.

Once Asia's fastest growing economies, Mongolia has seen foreign investment and commodity export earnings collapse, leaving it struggling to pay debts following years of generous government spending. The new government secured a $5.5 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund in May after implementing austerity measures.

"The electorate is not happy with IMF taxes and cuts," said Dale Choi, analyst and chief executive of the Altan Bumba Financial Group in Ulaanbaatar, in an emailed note. "But the MPP campaigned hard to explain why Mongolia is where it is now."

Under Mongolia's parliamentary system, the prime minister runs the government but the president has powers to veto legislation and make judicial appointments.

All three presidential candidates have promised to pull the country out of its current crisis, restore the stagnant economy to its former "boom" status, and reassess ties with neighbours, including China.

Enkhbold has run under the slogan "United Mongolia will win". Polling is not permitted during campaigning, but according to a national survey in March, Enkhbold's MPP - which won by a landslide in the parliamentary vote last year - is more trusted when it comes to running the country.

Battulga, who is suspicious of neighbouring China, Mongolia's major investor, also says he will restore Mongolia's "pride" under the slogan "Mongolia will win".

The populist politician, who derives his fashion attire from mafia boss Vito Corleone in "The Godfather" films and owns a Chinggis Khaan-themed amusement park, told Reuters at a recent rally he will win because his heart is "devoted" to Mongolia.

The election has also been played out under the shadow of corruption allegations engulfing all three candidates.

"(Corruption) is coming to such a level, to its tipping point, and where people may vote for completely new people," Ulaanbaatar-based political commentator Jargalsaikhan Dambadarja said. - Reuters

Voting begins for Mongolia’s Presidential election www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Early morning on June 26, Mongolians started voting for their fifth president nationwide.