1 MONGOLIA MARKS CENTENNIAL WITH A NEW COURSE FOR CHANGE WWW.EASTASIAFORUM.ORG PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      2 E-MART OPENS FIFTH STORE IN ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA, TARGETING K-FOOD CRAZE WWW.BIZ.CHOSUN.COM PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      3 JAPAN AND MONGOLIA FORGE HISTORIC DEFENSE PACT UNDER THIRD NEIGHBOR STRATEGY WWW.ARMYRECOGNITION.COM  PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      4 CENTRAL BANK LOWERS ECONOMIC GROWTH FORECAST TO 5.2% WWW.UBPOST.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      5 L. OYUN-ERDENE: EVERY CITIZEN WILL RECEIVE 350,000 MNT IN DIVIDENDS WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      6 THE BILL TO ELIMINATE THE QUOTA FOR FOREIGN WORKERS IN MONGOLIA HAS BEEN SUBMITTED WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      7 THE SECOND NATIONAL ONCOLOGY CENTER TO BE CONSTRUCTED IN ULAANBAATAR WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      8 GREEN BOND ISSUED FOR WASTE RECYCLING WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      9 BAGANUUR 50 MW BATTERY STORAGE POWER STATION SUPPLIES ENERGY TO CENTRAL SYSTEM WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      10 THE PENSION AMOUNT INCREASED BY SIX PERCENT WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      КОКС ХИМИЙН ҮЙЛДВЭРИЙН БҮТЭЭН БАЙГУУЛАЛТЫГ ИРЭХ ОНЫ ХОЁРДУГААР УЛИРАЛД ЭХЛҮҮЛНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     "ЭРДЭНЭС ТАВАНТОЛГОЙ” ХК-ИЙН ХУВЬЦАА ЭЗЭМШИГЧ ИРГЭН БҮРД 135 МЯНГАН ТӨГРӨГ ӨНӨӨДӨР ОЛГОНО WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     ХУРИМТЛАЛЫН САНГИЙН ОРЛОГО 2040 ОНД 38 ИХ НАЯДАД ХҮРЭХ ТӨСӨӨЛӨЛ ГАРСАН WWW.NEWS.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ЭРДЭНЭС ОЮУ ТОЛГОЙ” ХХК-ИАС ХЭРЛЭН ТООНО ТӨСЛИЙГ ӨМНӨГОВЬ АЙМАГТ ТАНИЛЦУУЛЛАА WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     Л.ОЮУН-ЭРДЭНЭ: ХУРИМТЛАЛЫН САНГААС НЭГ ИРГЭНД 135 МЯНГАН ТӨГРӨГИЙН ХАДГАЛАМЖ ҮҮСЛЭЭ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ENTRÉE RESOURCES” 2 ЖИЛ ГАРУЙ ҮРГЭЛЖИЛСЭН АРБИТРЫН МАРГААНД ЯЛАЛТ БАЙГУУЛАВ WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ORANO MINING”-ИЙН ГЭРЭЭ БОЛОН ГАШУУНСУХАЙТ-ГАНЦМОД БООМТЫН ТӨСЛИЙН АСУУДЛААР ЗАСГИЙН ГАЗАР ХУРАЛДАЖ БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     АЖИЛЧДЫН САРЫН ГОЛЧ ЦАЛИН III УЛИРЛЫН БАЙДЛААР ₮2 САЯ ОРЧИМ БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19     PROGRESSIVE EQUITY RESEARCH: 2025 ОН “PETRO MATAD” КОМПАНИД ЭЭЛТЭЙ БАЙХААР БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19     2026 ОНЫГ ДУУСТАЛ ГАДААД АЖИЛТНЫ ТОО, ХУВЬ ХЭМЖЭЭГ ХЯЗГААРЛАХГҮЙ БАЙХ ХУУЛИЙН ТӨСӨЛ ӨРГӨН МЭДҮҮЛЭВ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19    

Events

Name organizer Where
MBCC “Doing Business with Mongolia seminar and Christmas Receptiom” Dec 10. 2024 London UK MBCCI London UK Goodman LLC

NEWS

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Uber halts California self-driving cars test www.bbc.com

 
Ride-sharing firm Uber has suspended its test of self-driving cars in San Francisco after regulators revoked the registration of the vehicles.
Authorities had threatened legal action if Uber did not obtain a special permit to test the cars.
Passengers had recently been given the option of a booking a self-driving vehicle..
But because they came with a safety driver and were not fully autonomous, Uber argued it did not need the permit.
"We're now looking at where we can redeploy these cars, but remain 100% committed to California and will be redoubling our efforts to develop workable statewide rules," Uber said.
San Francisco is Uber's second trial city for the new technology. In Pittsburgh, the company has been running its driverless trial since September and has not required special permits.
Although the cars are promoted as "self-driving", they must constantly be monitored by an actual driver who can take control any time the software should fail.
Uber says its technology is not sophisticated enough to have cars continuously drive by themselves - and therefore the permit demanded in San Francisco is not needed.
The trials are designed for the firm to identify flaws and glitches in the technology behind the autonomous driving.
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Nokia sues Apple for infringing patents, industry back on war footing www.reuters.com

 
Nokia Corp (NOKIA.HE) said on Wednesday it had filed a number of lawsuits against Apple Inc (AAPL.O) for violating 32 technology patents, striking back at the iPhone maker's legal action targeting the one-time cellphone industry leader a day earlier.
 
Nokia's lawsuits, filed in courts in Dusseldorf, Mannheim and Munich, Germany, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, cover patents for displays, user interfaces, software, antennas, chipsets and video coding.
 
"Since agreeing a license covering some patents from the Nokia Technologies portfolio in 2011, Apple has declined subsequent offers made by Nokia to license other of its patented inventions which are used by many of Apple's products," Nokia said in a statement.
 
Apple on Tuesday had taken legal action against Acacia Research Corp (ACTG.O) and Conversant Intellectual Property Management Inc [GEGGIM.UL], accusing them of colluding with Nokia to extract and extort exorbitant revenues unfairly from Apple.
 
"We’ve always been willing to pay a fair price to secure the rights of patents covering technology in our products," said Apple spokesman Josh Rosenstock. "Unfortunately, Nokia has refused to license their patents on a fair basis and is now using the tactics of a patent troll to attempt to extort money from Apple by applying a royalty rate to Apple’s own inventions they had nothing to do with."
 
Acacia and Conversant did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and Nokia was not immediately available to comment on the Apple lawsuit.
 
The legal action by Nokia and Apple appear to mark a revival of the "smartphone patent wars" that began five years ago, when Apple filed a series of patent infringement cases against Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) around the world, with wins and losses on both sides.
 
Apple's lawsuit against Acacia, Conversant and Nokia was filed only one day after Ottawa-based Conversant named Boris Teksler as its new chief executive. He had worked as Apple's director of patent licensing and strategy from 2009 to 2013, the latter half of his tenure overlapping with the lawsuits against Samsung.
 
Acacia is a publicly traded patent licensing firm based in Newport Beach, California. One of its subsidiaries sued Apple for patent infringement and was awarded $22 million by a Texas jury in September.
 
Similarly, Conversant, which claims to own thousands of patents, announced last week that a Silicon Valley jury had awarded one of its units a $7.3 million settlement in an infringement case against Apple involving two smartphone patents.
 
Nokia, once the world's dominant cellphone maker, missed out on the transition to smartphones triggered by Apple's introduction of the iPhone in 2007.
 
The Finnish company sold its handset business to Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) two years ago, leaving it with its telecom network equipment business and a bulging portfolio of mobile equipment patents.
 
But this year, Microsoft sold its Nokia-feature phone business to a new company called HMD Global.
 
Nokia agreed to a 10-year licensing deal with HMD, which continues to market low-cost Nokia phones and plans to introduce new Nokia smartphone models next year.
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China's Alibaba back on US counterfeits blacklist www.bbc.com

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is back on the US's "notorious markets" list over counterfeit goods sales.

Alibaba was taken off the list four years ago, but US authorities say the firm's online platform Taobao is used to sell "high levels" of fake goods.
The company has rejected the allegations, insisting it polices its market place better than in the past.
The firm also suggested the "current political climate" in the US might be why they are back on the list.
US President-elect Donald Trump had, during his campaign, repeatedly accused Chinese firms of stealing intellectual property.
Alibaba Group President Michael Evans said he was "disappointed" by the decision and questioned whether it was "based on actual facts or was influenced by the current political climate."
The Chinese online retailer and its market place Taobao have long been accused of being a platform for counterfeit goods.
Taobao said earlier this year it had tightened controls on its sale of luxury goods, requiring sellers to show proof of authenticity.
In May though, Alibaba was suspended from the International Anti Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) watchdog over piracy concerns.
More than 250 members, including Gucci America and Michael Kors, had threatened they would leave the IACC in protest at Alibaba's membership.
Alibaba - by far China's biggest online retailer - floated on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2014 and broke records by raising $25bn.

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2020 Olympics to cost a maximum of 1.8 tril. yen www3.nhk.or.jp

The organizing committee of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics says the cost of hosting the Games could reach a maximum of 1.8 trillion yen, or about 15.3 billion dollars.

The estimate was presented at a meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday between 4 groups preparing for the Games.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, the president of the organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, and the cabinet minister in charge of the Tokyo Games, Tamayo Marukawa, attended the meeting. The Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, John Coates, participated through a video-conference system.

At the start of the talks, Governor Koike revealed her decision to build a new volleyball arena in Tokyo's Ariake waterfront district as initially planned for the 2020 Games.
The decision on the volleyball venue had been postponed at their meeting last month.

The organizing committee said the total cost of the games would be between 13.6 billion dollars and 15.3 billion dollars.

It proposed it would pay up to 4.2 billion dollars, and other organizations would shoulder the remaining 11 billion dollars.

Committee president Mori called Wednesday's meeting a new start. He said the Tokyo Metropolitan government and his committee share the same goal of reducing expenses.

Mori added that he hopes to begin discussions on role-sharing arrangements with Tokyo and other related municipalities as soon as possible.

Koike indicated that detailed talks will be needed on ways to divide the costs other than those shouldered by the organizing committee. She said methods to reduce expenses and increase the organizing committee's revenues also need further discussion.

Koike added that the decision on role-sharing is a domestic matter, and she hopes the Japanese government, the organizing committee, and the Tokyo government can start discussions early next year.

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Japan cancels failed $9bn Monju nuclear reactor www.bbc.com

 Japan is a scrapping an experimental reactor which has worked for just 250 days of its 22-year lifespan and cost $9bn (£7.2bn).
The Monju reactor, in western Japan's Fukui city, was designed to burn most of its own spent fuel, eliminating the need to deal with the nuclear waste.
But it suffered its first problems months after it went live, and has not worked properly since.
It would now need billions more for safety upgrades to be restarted.
"We have decided to decommission Monju because restarting it would require significant time and cost," chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said.
But officials are not giving up altogether, as it had been hoped the reactor would prove to be the solution for Japan's scant natural energy resources.
They are understood to be seeking another fast reactor to replace Monju, despite opponents saying Japan should give up the programme and shift to direct burial of spent fuel as waste.
According to the Japan Times, Monju will cost at least 375bn yen ($3.2bn; £2.6bn) to decommission and will only be fully dismantled by 2047.
Local officials oppose losing Monju, which rakes in subsidies and provides jobs.

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BRICS bank issues its first loan for solar project in Shanghai www.rt.com

A rooftop solar power project in China will become the first venture to get financial assistance from the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB). The lender has agreed an $81 million loan.

The financing comes from NDB’s first package of loans, worth a combined $811 million, which was approved by the bank's board in April to fund projects in China, Brazil, India and South Africa.

The project will equip the roofs of office buildings in Shanghai’s industrial parks with solar panels to generate up to 100 MW of electricity for the companies operating there.

"China which is already a world leader in the use of clean energy sources is now to embark on the path of promoting green technologies. In 2015, Beijing invested in renewable energy more than Europe and the United States together. This project is a demonstration of China's green technology commitment," said NDB’s President Kundapur Kamath on Wednesday after the signing ceremony.

Chinese Deputy Finance Minister Yaobin Shi said the project was a good example of "farsightedness and investment in clean technologies" and showed the bank’s commitment to promote infrastructure projects and sustainable development projects among BRICS countries.

The decision to approve the first loans, which are to be handed out in tranches, has been endorsed by the NDB on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank spring meetings in Washington DC.

The NDB decided to provide $300 million to Brazil, $81 million to China, $250 million to India and $180 million to South Africa.

In Russia, the NDB has financed the construction of two small hydroelectric power stations at the cost of $185 million.

The bank estimates that renewable energy projects with a capacity of 2.37MW can help reduce harmful emissions by 4 million tons annually.

Headquartered in Shanghai, the BRICS bank was founded in 2014 by China, Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa and officially opened for business a year later. The goal of the bank, with an initial authorized capital of $100 billion, is to fund sustainable development infrastructure projects in emerging economies.

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Japan's TDK to buy U.S. chip maker InvenSense for $1.3 billion www.reuters.com

 
Japanese electronic parts maker TDK Corp (6762.T) said it had agreed to buy InvenSense Inc (INVN.N), a U.S. chip maker that produces motion sensors for Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Samsung Electronics Co (005930.KS), for $1.33 billion.
 
In a statement on Wednesday, TDK said it will pay $13 per share to buy all of InvenSense, representing a 19.9 percent premium to the U.S. company's closing price on Tuesday.
 
Earlier this month, Reuters reported TDK was in talks to buy InvenSense.
 
The deal would allow TDK, already a major smartphone components supplier, to boost its sensor technology offerings. InvenSense designs gyroscopes which help smartphones calculate motion, enabling augmented reality games such as Pokemon Go.
 
BofA Merrill Lynch was the financial adviser for TDK, while Qatalyst Partners advised InvenSense.
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Coca Cola buys African bottling from AB InBev for $3.15 billion www.reuters.com

 
Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI.BR) has agreed to sell its majority stake in Africa's largest Coke bottler to the Coca Cola Company (KO.N) for $3.15 billion, the final planned divestment following its purchase of rival brewer SABMiller.
 
The world's largest beer maker and Coca Cola said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they had agreed the transfer of AB InBev's 54.5 percent stake in Coca-Cola Beverages (CCBA).
 
CCBA has operations in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Ghana, Mayotte and Comoros.
 
The companies have also reached an agreement in principle for Coca Cola to acquire AB InBev's interest in bottling operations in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, El Salvador and Honduras for an undisclosed amount.
 
The transactions, subject to relevant regulatory and minority approvals, are expected to close by the end of 2017.
 
Coca Cola said it planned to hold all operations temporarily until they can be refranchised to other partners. Its existing bottling partners include Coca-Cola European Partners and Coca-Cola Hellenic (CCH.L).
 
AB InBev has now raised some $27 billion from divestments of SABMiller's European, U.S. and Chinese interests, recouping more than a quarter of the 79 billion pounds ($97.7 billion) it paid for the world's second largest brewer.
 
Coca-Cola Co said in October it would exercise its right to buy AB InBev's stake in Africa's CCBA after the brewer's takeover of SABMiller. AB InBev is a major bottler of Coke rival Pepsi in Latin America.
 
Coke, which formed CCBA along with SABMiller and the South African owners of bottler Coca-Cola Sabco in 2014, had retained the right to buy SABMiller's stake in the event of a change of control at the brewer.
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MPs poised to investigate VAT fraud on Amazon and eBay www.theguardian.com

 
An influential committee of MPs is poised to launch an investigation into Britain’s £1bn online shopping VAT fraud crisis after sellers on Amazon and eBay evaded hundreds of millions of pounds in tax in the run-up to Christmas.
 
Conservative MP Richard Bacon, who sits on the public accounts committee, said: “I think this is absolutely an issue we need to look at.
 
“We’ve already been discussing VAT fraud in online retailing informally and I expect that it is something the committee will want to turn to.”
 
The National Audit Office could also be asked to examine the subject, and how well it has been addressed by HM Revenue & Customs.
 
In recent years, overseas sellers, particularly from China, have come to dominate many popular goods categories on eBay and Amazon, illegally selling goods without VAT.
 
As a result, many small British businesses have been left unable to compete.
 
Parliament’s public accounts committee has previously played a central role in shining a spotlight on other tax scandals involving the likes of Starbucks, Google and Amazon.
 
Its work has helped trigger international tax reforms as well as generating important evidence for European commission inquiries into alleged sweetheart tax deals for multinational corporations.
 
Now the MPs are expected to turn their attention to the issue of overseas traders committing VAT fraud on an industrial scale through well-known online shopping sites – a scandal first highlighted by a Guardian investigation last year.
 
HMRC has since admitted VAT evasion in online shopping had become a “very big issue”, estimating it cost up to £1.5bn a year in lost tax. But officials have been frustrated by what is seen as the uncooperative approach taken by some big websites, including Amazon.
 
In January, Lin Homer, then head of HMRC, told a parliamentary committee: “We do feel, just as with beer and alcohol, that those people who manage the supply chain should ensure enough diligence is built into it. Marketplace providers [such as Amazon and eBay] have responsibilities.”
 
Two months later, the Treasury announced new powers for HMRC to make large marketplace websites liable – in some circumstances – for VAT revenues lost to fraudulent overseas sellers.
 
News of a likely parliamentary inquiry came as the Treasury minister Jane Ellison claimed HRMC’s new measures, which came into force in September, were already proving successful.
 
Latest figures show 7,185 overseas sellers have come forward to register for VAT since January, compared with just 695 in 2015 – a rush, she said, in anticipation of tough action from HMRC.
 
But Ellison’s claim that HMRC was now tackling online VAT fraud “in time for Christmas” was greeted with scepticism by Bacon and tax fairness campaigners.
 
“I think it’s a bit early to declare HMRC’s actions an unbridled success,” said Bacon, who added the public accounts committee would want to scrutinise such claims closely.
 
Last month, a second Guardian investigation showed widespread evidence of ongoing VAT fraud by sellers on Amazon and eBay – despite the HMRC’s new powers.
 
HMRC insists action is being taken. “We are already using new powers granted from September to directly tackle these overseas businesses,” it said.
 
Meanwhile, Amazon and eBay have repeatedly said they cooperate with HMRC where required, but that they are not responsible for policing the VAT compliance of independent sellers.
 
A spokesman for Ellison would not comment on whether HMRC had recovered back taxes and penalties from the influx of overseas traders now belatedly registering for VAT.
 
A spokesperson for campaign group VATfraud.org said: “It’s all well and good HMRC handed out 7,185 VAT numbers to internet retailers in the last year; it just proves this fraud is enormous.
 
“What HMRC failed to say is how much undeclared VAT they have recovered from these retailers. We want to know if HMRC is simply giving out VAT numbers without any due diligence or investigation into these retailers’ online trading history.”
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National Council on EITI reviews annual report for 2015-2016 www.en.montsame.mn

 
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The 15th meeting of the National council on Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative chaired by Prime Minister of Mongolia J.Erdenebat was held in Ulaanbaatar on December 20 to review the 2015-2016 annual reports and to consider a number of important issues.
 
The meeting discussed a new working plan for 2017, rules of on-line delivery of documents, policy of information access, a road map of making public owners of mining companies who are benefitting from the mineral resources.
 
Currently, EITI Standard is implemented in 51 countries around the world. Each of these countries has to publish an annual EITI Report to disclose information on: contracts and licenses, production, revenue collection, revenue allocation, and social and economic spending and goes through an EITI Validation process at least every three years. Validation serves to assess performance and promote dialogue and learning at the country level. It also safeguards the integrity of the EITI by holding all EITI implementing countries to the same global standard.
 
Mongolia joined the EITI in 2006. The last annual report was the 10 report for Mongolian EITI.
 
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a global standard to promote the open and accountable management of extractive resources. It seeks to address the key governance issues in the oil, gas and mining sectors.
 
The EITI Standard requires information along the extractive industry value chain from the point of extraction, to how the revenue makes its way through the government, to how it benefits the public. This includes how licenses and contracts are allocated and registered, who are the beneficial owners of those operations, what are the fiscal and legal arrangements, how much is produced, how much is paid, where are those revenues allocated, and what is the contribution to the economy, including employment.
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