Mongolia starts manufacturing steel ball www.gogo.mn

Steel ball manufacturing plant was opened at Darkhan Metallurgical Plant on January 28, 2017. The plant manufactures steel balls with 100-140 mm diameter by forging method and within this year, steel balls with 60-80 mm diameter will be manufactured using casting method.
Darkhan Metallurgical Plant used to produce steel ball semis of 300-350 thousand tons and export to China, while some mineral processing companies has imported steel balls of USD180-200 thousand annually from China.
“- We are proud that we now can manufacture value added final product. Our plant is the first biggest steel ball manufacturing plant, using hammering method. It has control system and is fully automated, and eco-friendly. Basic facilities and equipment is supplied from German ‘Schuler Group”, which has 177 years of history. When plant with casting method starts operating, the two plants will have annual capacity of 55-60 thousand tons and we will provide some 80 per cent of domestic demand. Therefore, money outflow of USD60 million will be stopped and remain in the country. It is estimated that over 100 new jobs will be created. Our high quality products meet euro standard, allow our customers to save their cost by 15-30 per cent” said Executive Director of the plant D.Batjavkhlan.
The plant expects its new product to be used mainly in Oyu Tolgoi and Erdenet, copper and gold mine and processing plant. Minister of Construction and Urban Development G.Munkhbayar attended the opening ceremony and said that the Government stated in its action plan that it would boost industrialization and job creation, thus, the Government will support and cooperate with Darkhan Metallurgical Plant. “-Job creation and stable employment is vital. I hope we will supply our steel demand in construction sector fully at home very soon”.
Darkhan Metallurgical Plant was built in 1990 and it owns the Tumurtolgoi, Tumurtei and Khust iron ore deposits.

Volkswagen overtakes Toyota as the world's biggest carmaker www.bbc.com

Volkswagen has overtaken Toyota to become the world's best-selling carmaker, the first time the German company has held the position.
Japan's Toyota, which had topped sales for the past four years, sold 10.175 million vehicles globally in 2016.
That fell short of the 10.31 million sales which VW reported last week.
The milestone comes despite VW's scandal over emissions tests cheating, which sparked a global backlash and multiple lawsuits.
Volkswagen, which makes the Audi, Porsche and Skoda brands, saw a 3.8% increase in sales buoyed by demand in China.
And it has been making inroads in other markets too. In Sweden for example, the Volkswagen Golf was the most popular new car in 2016 - the first time in more than half a century that a Volvo hadn't topped the country's sales.
Toyota's sales grew by 0.2% - though it appears to have suffered from a slowdown in the US car industry.
General Motors reports its figures next week, but it is expected to lag both the Japanese and the German firms.
GM was the world's third-largest carmaker in 2015. It held the number one title in 2011 after Toyota's production was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami in north-eastern Japan.

Starbucks to hire 10,000 refugees worldwide after Trump ban www.afp.com

Toshiba to review overseas nuclear power business www3.nhk.or.jp

Mongolians protest over air pollution: 'Wake up and smell the smog' www.bbc.com

Steelworkers to vote on Port Talbot rescue plan www.theguardian.com

Russian Football Clubs Spent More Than $114 Million on Player Transfers in 2016 www.themoscowtimes. com

Russian football clubs spent over $114 million on player transfers last year, FIFA's press service has announced. FIFA said this figure is 383 percent higher than the amount spent during the previous year.

Mark Zuckerberg criticizes Trump on immigration www.cnn.com

Mark Zuckerberg has decided to speak up against President Trump.
The Facebook (FB, Tech30) CEO and cofounder expressed concern on Friday over Trump's executive orders this week on immigration and refugees.
"Like many of you, I'm concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post, which cited his family's immigrant background and his volunteer work with undocumented schoolchildren.
"We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help," Zuckerberg wrote. "That's who we are. Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla's family wouldn't be here today."
On Friday, Trump signed an executive order calling for "extreme vetting" of refugees, following through on promises on the campaign trail. Earlier in the week, Trump signed an executive order prioritizing the deportation of criminals, but with a more sweeping definition of "criminal."

Former VW boss investigated over emissions fraud www.bbc.com

The former boss of VW may have known the carmaker was cheating on emissions tests earlier than he admitted, German prosecutors have said.
Martin Winterkorn quit in September 2015 after VW admitted to using software to lower the emissions from its diesel vehicles during tests.
He has since denied knowing of the violations until late in August 2015, shortly before the board reported them.
But German authorities said they were now investigating him for fraud.
Prosecutors from the German region of Braunschweig said they had searched 28 homes and offices this week in connection with the scandal.
As a result, the number of people accused of misconduct had risen from 21 to 37, including Mr Winterkorn.
"Sufficient indications have resulted from the investigation, particularly the questioning of witnesses and suspects as well as the analysis of seized data, that the accused [Mr Winterkorn] may have known about the manipulating software and its effects sooner than he has said publicly," the prosecutors said in a statement.

Alibaba's Ant Financial buys MoneyGram for $880m www.bbc.com

Ant Financial, the digital payments arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba, is buying US-based MoneyGram for $880m (£700m).
MoneyGram has about 350,000 outlets in nearly 200 countries. Ant Financial has more than 630 million users.
The takeover by the Chinese group will need regulatory approval from the US Committee on Foreign Investment.
The inter-agency committee reviews foreign acquisitions of domestic American assets on grounds of national security.
Eric Jing, chief executive at Ant Financial, said in a statement that the marriage of the two companies will "provide greater access, security and simplicity for people around the world to remit funds, especially in major economies such as the United States, China, India, Mexico and the Philippines".
Ant Financial has a big market share in the online payments industry in China. The acquisition could help the company extend the lead as well as expand overseas, as competition is growing in China with rival Tencent's WeChat payment system.
US-listed Moneygram's shares rose by nearly 9% on the news. The takeover has been approved by MoneyGram's board of directors.
Politics over profits?
Ant Financial's shopping spree in the US comes against a backdrop of rising tensions between China and the world's biggest economy.
Before he took office, then president-elect Donald Trump was questioning whether the US should continue its "One China" policy, sparking fury from Chinese state media. And during his presidential campaign, Mr Trump threatened to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese imports.
But Jack Ma, the founder and chairman of Alibaba, held a meeting with Mr Trump in December last year.
While President Trump has been critical of China, he said he had a "great meeting" with Mr Ma, who chose to float Alibaba on the New York Stock Exchange. The share sale in September 2014 was a record-breaker, as Alibaba raised $25bn in its initial public offering.
If the MoneyGram deal goes through, it will be Alibaba's second acquisition in the US. Last year the e-commerce giant purchased EyeVerify in a $70m deal.
EyeVerify is a start-up based in Missouri, which uses biometric authentication technology for securing user's online data and transactions.