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    

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

NEWS

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McDonald's hopes tech convenience will help lock-in customers www.chinadaily.com.cn

McDonald's Corp, which replaced its CEO last year in the hope of turning around sales, plans to increase its investment in digital endeavors, including self-serve kiosks and a mobile-ordering application.
 
The investment marks a "very significant acceleration" from current levels, Jim Sappington, executive vice-president of operations and technology systems, said in an interview. He declined to give specific numbers, but said the spending will continue during the next two years and will be booked as capital expenditures and general and administrative costs.
 
"Enhancing the overall experience is a critical part of us growing our business," he said. "If we're more convenient, our customers are going to be more willing to come to McDonald's."
 
While the world's largest restaurant chain has managed to revive same-store sales growth, it has lagged behind competitors on the technology front. Starbucks Corp and Dunkin' Donuts boast millions of rewards-program members, while Taco Bell allows diners to order via a mobile app. Those types of programs frequently allow restaurants to lock in customers.
 
McDonald's has had success since it started all-day breakfasts in the US more than a year ago. But that growth has slowed, and the company may need something new to sustain sales. It also has seen a positive customer response since declaring its chicken antibiotic-free in the US, adding real butter to its breakfast muffins and promising cage-free eggs.
 
A boost in technology may help－the push will be focused on McDonald's 10 largest markets, which include the US, Australia, Canada, France and China.
 
Next year, McDonald's will begin introducing smartphone ordering and paying to its domestic locations, building on its current app, which mainly features discounts. The Big Mac seller plans to add mobile order-and-pay capabilities to as many as 25,000 of its approximately 36,500 locations globally next year and in 2018.
 
After ordering, customers will be able to pick up their food curbside in a McDonald's parking lot, or by going through the drive-through. The company is still trying to pick a digital partner to help it deploy the mobile app.
 
Another focus will be kiosks, digital menu boards, table service and the chain's so-called Experience of the Future, which highlights burger customization. The touch-screens are now in about 7,000 of its restaurants across the globe, heavily concentrated in Europe.
 
Self-serve kiosks and mobile ordering may ultimately speed up McDonald's service, which has been criticized as being too slow in the past. Customers can build meals at their own pace, taking time to tailor fare, check nutrition facts and compare prices, Sappington said.
 
"It's very difficult now to ask for something to be added to your double cheeseburger, or ask for no onions," he said. "Doing that through the kiosks, doing that through the app, is very easy, is very natural."
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China to become Asia Pacific's largest cruise tourism market www.chinadaily.com.cn

BEIJING - China looks set to be the largest cruise tourism market in the Asia Pacific region as marine tourism gains steam among domestic travelers.
 
China's cruise liner ports reported 629 cruise liners leave for trips in 2015, up 35 percent, with cross-border cruise travelers up 44 percent, according to Li Shihong, deputy head with China National Tourism Administration.
 
The world's top five cruise liner giants have all made forays into the Chinese market, helping China to become the largest and most dynamic cruise tourism market in the Asia Pacific region, Li explained during a conference on cruise tourism cooperation between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong and Macao. The government is looking to develop cruise tourism, with ports at Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macao as important bases, according to Li.
 
South China's largest cruise liner home port Prince Bay in Shenzhen opened Saturday, which can support cruise liners with up to 220,000 tons of displacement.
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Japan economy: Exports help faster-than-expected growth www.bbc.com

Japan's economy expanded at a faster-than-expected rate between July and September, due to higher exports.
Gross domestic product rose at an annualised rate of 2.2% in the three months to September, the third consecutive quarter of expansion.
Japanese firms have relied on overseas sales to make up for lacklustre domestic demand.
There are concerns a Donald Trump US presidency will hurt Japan if anti-free trade rhetoric became a reality.
But since the election result, the yen has fallen against the dollar. That makes Japanese goods cheaper abroad, which is good news for the country's exporters.
The latest official data showed the world's third-largest economy expanded by 0.5% compared with the three months to June - better than the forecast of 0.2% growth.
Export reliance
It was some rare good news for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's projects to help stimulate the economy - dubbed Abenomics.
However, analysts said this pace could not be sustained given Japan's reliance on exports.
"Consumption is barely there, and in capital expenditure there no growth ... so Japan is relying very much on the outside," Takuji Okubo, chief economist of Japan Macro Advisers, told the BBC.
And Kohei Iwahara, an economist at Natixis Japan Securities, said the figures could be a "one-off windfall", predicting a slowdown in the last three months of 2016.
In August, Japan's cabinet approved an economic stimulus package worth more than 28 trillion yen ($275bn; £207bn) - Mr Abe's latest attempt to boost growth through spending.
However economists were largely disappointed with both its scope and likely impact.
And last month Japan's central bank again pushed back the timeline for hitting its 2% inflation target to March 2019 - a move that raised more questions about the country's economic recovery.
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Lonmin ups stake in Pandora platinum mine www.mining.com

Consolidation in South African's platinum mining sector continued on Friday with Lonmin's decision to buy Amplats' stake in the Pandora platinum mine.
 
According to a press release from Lonmin (LON:LMI), the world's third largest platinum producer, the company will pay between 400 million and 1 billion rand for Amplats' 42.5% stake, thereby giving Lonmin a 92.5% stake in the project. Northam Platinum (JSE:NHM) would be left with a 7.5% stake.
 
Lonmin will pay for the acquisition with 20% free cash flow generated from the Pandora mine over the next six years, with the final price dependent on platinum prices.
 
The Pandora mine is currently a joint venture between Lonmin's subsidiary Eastern Platinum Limited (EPL), Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) through Rustenburg Platinum Limited, and Northam Platinum. It accounts for 5% of Lonmin's production.
 
"The acquisition of AAP’s 42.5% stake in the Pandora JV allows Lonmin to consolidate its position in this relatively shallow and high-grade mineral resource providing an attractive option for development by EPL in both the short and longer term. The Pandora JV area, which is contiguous with our existing EPL operations, relies on Lonmin’s mining and processing infrastructure and is already operated by EPL. The Pandora JV contributed 37,553 Platinum ounces(74,019 platinum group metal (“PGM”) ounces) to Lonmin in the 2015 financial year," Lonmin states in the PR.
 
Reuters reported the transaction will "[bring Amplats] closer to its goal of offloading its labor intensive mines to focus on mechanized mines."
 
It's the second arrangement made between major South African platinum miners in recent weeks – evidence of the troubled South African platinum industry as miners struggle to meet labour demands from unions representing workers who mine the precious metals in some of the deepest and difficult conditions in the world.
 
On Oct. 11 Northam Platinum agreed to buy a mining right from Anglo American Platinum for 1 billion rand, which will enable it to extend the life of its Zondereinde mine, the world’s deepest platinum mine, beyond 30 years.
 
This will be possible, said Northam, because part of Amplats’ Amandelbult mining right is contiguous with the north-western boundary of Zondereinde.
 
Last week Amplats completed the sale of its Bathopele, Siphumelele and Thembelani mining operations to Sibanye Gold (NYSE:SBGL). Sibanye paid 1.5 billion rand for the mines upfront, along with two concentrating plants, a chrome recovery plant, and a tailings facility.
 
 
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Saudi Arabia admits owing billions of dollars to contractors over oil slump www.rt.com

The Saudi Arabian finance minister has admitted billions of dollars are owed to private construction firms and foreign workers following the fall in oil revenue. Workers have been struggling for months without pay.
 
The kingdom has already paid off 70,000 redundant laborers, but tens of thousands remain stranded and unpaid. It has also suspended new contracts. The Council on Economic Affairs and Development (CEDA) does not expect all the workers to be paid off until the end of the year.“I don’t recall the exact amount now, but its billions of dollars,” said the new Finance Minister Mohammed Aljadaan, according to the Guardian.
 
“The ministry is now every day seeking to make thousands of payment orders,” he added.According to the official Saudi news agency, “the sharp decline in oil revenues and the measures taken by the kingdom to reduce spending on a number of projects” is what led to the delays in payment.
 
Saudi Arabia gets three-quarters of its revenue from oil. The 2014 slump in energy prices created a $98 billion budget deficit in 2015.
 
To curb this year’s deficit it raised $17.5 billion in its first international bond sale. According to CEDA – which is headed by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – “a package of solutions” is being prepared to “complete payments of amounts owed to the private sector.” The council said the awarding of future contracts has been stopped, as “the scale of spending was not compatible” with returns and development.
 
These contracts could be worth as much as one trillion riyals ($267 billion).
 
The government appears to have delayed payments and canceled contracts to offset losses, but in doing so it has sunk many of the country’s biggest construction companies into near bankruptcy, including the Saudi Binladen Group and Saudi Oger, which is run by Lebanon’s new premier, Saad Haririr. Oger’s workers have gone unpaid for months.
 
The kingdom has spent $1 billion paying off a portion of the stranded Asian workers with Saudi Binladin, according to sources familiar with the matter. This was intended to prevent a labor crisis and help send the workers home after massive layoffs.
 
The wider strategy of holding back payment and canceling contracts also threatened to have an adverse effect on subcontractors and smaller companies, which in turn threatened the country’s banks.
 
Currently, Saudi Arabia is expected to have a deficit of $87 billion in 2016. According to economist Giyas Gokkent, from the US-based Institute of International Finance, this is around 13 percent of the country’s GDP.
 
But the Saudis aren’t out of the woods yet, as more financial maneuvering is expected in view of the oil revenue decline.This may mean further “rearranging priorities of spending", according to their significance and efficiency. Recommendations are also being made to include better oversight of new contracts to help the country curb its reliance on oil, something the government says would help save “tens of billions” of dollars.
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Trump election: Wall with Mexico 'to be part fence' www.bbc.com

US President-elect Donald Trump has said his planned wall along the Mexican border could be partly fence.
In some areas, "a wall is more appropriate", he told US broadcaster CBS, but "there could be some fencing",
Mr Trump repeatedly promised during his election campaign to build a wall to keep out illegal migrants.
He said he planned to deport or jail up to three million undocumented migrants with criminal records, such as gang members and drug dealers.
Other undocumented migrants would be assessed once the border was secured, Mr Trump added.
Forcing Mexico to pay for a border wall became a rallying cry among Trump supporters during the campaign.
Their candidate caused outrage by suggesting Mexicans were exporting "their rapists" to the US, along with drugs and other crime.

The Republican defeated Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's presidential election, shocking many who had expected the Democratic candidate to win following favourable opinion polls.
In his first major interview to a US broadcaster since the election, Mr Trump told CBS: "What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate."

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Zuckerberg promises Facebook action over fake news www.bbc.com

Mark Zuckerberg has said Facebook will do more to tackle fake news, and again denied it had in any way aided Donald Trump's presidential election victory.
In a post on his Facebook profile Mr Zuckerberg said he hoped to announce measures to tackle fake stories "soon".
He said this work "often takes longer than we'd like in order to confirm changes we make won't introduce unintended side effects or bias".
And he said that more than 99% of content on Facebook "is authentic".
"Only a very small amount is fake news and hoaxes. The hoaxes that do exist are not limited to one partisan view, or even to politics," he added.
He said that made it extremely unlikely hoaxes "changed the outcome of the election in one direction or the other".
'Progress'
Mr Zuckerberg continued: "That said, we don't want any hoaxes on Facebook. Our goal is to show people the content they will find most meaningful, and people want accurate news.
"We have already launched work enabling our community to flag hoaxes and fake news, and there is more we can do here. We have made progress, and we will continue to work on this to improve further."
Some data has shown that fake stories were being far more widely shared on the platform than follow-up stories debunking the claims.
For an increasing number of people, particularly Americans, Facebook is becoming the primary source of news coverage.
The site's News Feed is specifically designed to show users content it thinks will be of most interest, creating what some describe as a "filter bubble" that reinforces a person's view without injecting differences in opinion.
Earlier this year, Facebook was accused of being anti-Trump after it was alleged its human moderators were favouring liberal stories appearing in people's "trending stories" box.
While denying that claim, the site did sack its human team, instead relying solely on an algorithm to determine which stories were shown to be most popular.
'Mainstream sources'
Mr Zuckerberg said any new changes to the way hoaxes and fake news were flagged up had to be taken with caution.
"This is an area where I believe we must proceed very carefully though," he said.
"Identifying the 'truth' is complicated. While some hoaxes can be completely debunked, a greater amount of content, including from mainstream sources, often gets the basic idea right but some details wrong or omitted.
"An even greater volume of stories express an opinion that many will disagree with and flag as incorrect even when factual.
"I am confident we can find ways for our community to tell us what content is most meaningful, but I believe we must be extremely cautious about becoming arbiters of truth ourselves."

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S.Korean prosecutors request to question Park www3.nhk.or.jp

South Korean prosecutors say they plan to question President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday or Wednesday over a political scandal involving her friend and close aides.

Prosecutors announced on Sunday that they have notified the presidential office of their intention and are waiting for response.

Park will be South Korea's first sitting president to be investigated by prosecutors.

Prosecutors are expected to indict Park's friend and businesswoman Choi Soon-sil around next Saturday.

Choi is at the center of the scandal. She has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to abuse power and of attempting to defraud 2 foundations said to have been launched with the help of the presidential office. Two former presidential officials have also been arrested.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Seoul on Saturday night to demand Park's resignation. A spokesperson for the presidential office says Park is aware of the severity of the situation and is working hard to fulfil her responsibility to normalize the country's political situation.

Prosecutors have also begun questioning the heads of Hyundai Motor, Samsung Electronics and other conglomerates as part of their investigation into the scandal.

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Toyota agrees to $3.4bn rust dispute settlement in US www.bbc.com

The world's biggest carmaker, Toyota, has agreed to settle a US Federal class action for up to $3.4bn (£2.7bn).
It was brought by US owners of pickup trucks and SUVs whose claimed their frames could rust through.
The proposed settlement covers 1.5 million Tacoma compact pickups, Tundra full-size pickups and Sequoia SUVs.
Court papers alleged that the vehicles had received inadequate rust protection, and that corrosion could jeopardise their structural integrity.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs estimated the cost of frame replacements at about $3.375bn.
That was based on a cost of about $15,000 per vehicle and inspection costs of about $90m, at $60 per vehicle.
The Japanese carmaker Toyota admitted no liability or wrongdoing in the proposed settlement.
"We want our customers to have a great ownership experience, so we are pleased to resolve this litigation in a way that benefits them and demonstrates that we stand behind the quality and reliability of our vehicles," Toyota said in a statement.
Under the terms of the agreement, Toyota will inspect the vehicles for 12 years from the day they were first sold or leased in order to ascertain if frames need to be replaced at company expense.
They will also reimburse owners who previously paid for frame replacement.
The settlement covers Tacoma trucks from the model years 2005 to 2010, Sequoias from 2005 to 2008 and Tundras from the 2007 and 2008 model years.

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China says concerned about EU protectionism on steel imports www.reuters.com

China is greatly concerned about the European Union's protectionist measures against Chinese steel products, the commerce ministry said on Saturday.

"The Chinese side has expressed great concerns and worries about the EU's trade protectionist tendency over steel," the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The ministry was responding to the EU's latest decision to take temporary anti-dumping measures against imports of Chinese seamless steel pipes, based on preliminary investigations, it said.

A worldwide steel glut has stoked trade disputes between China, the world's top maker of the construction material, and other producers such as the United States and the European Union.

High duties levied on Chinese products could seriously hurt Chinese companies, the ministry said.

"China is willing to strengthen exchanges and communication with the European side and properly solve problems that the steel industry is facing," it said.

(Reporting by Coco Li and Kevin Yao; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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