1 MONGOLIA PM FACES LIKELY CONFIDENCE VOTE AMID CORRUPTION CLAIMS WWW.AFP.COM PUBLISHED:2025/06/02      2 RIO TINTO FINDS ITS MEGA-MINE STUCK BETWEEN TWO MONGOLIAN STRONGMEN WWW.AFR.COM PUBLISHED:2025/06/02      3 SECRETARY RUBIO’S CALL WITH MONGOLIAN FOREIGN MINISTER BATTSETSEG, MAY 30, 2025 WWW.MN.USEMBASSY.GOV  PUBLISHED:2025/06/02      4 REGULAR TRAIN RIDES ON THE ULAANBAATAR-BEIJING RAILWAY ROUTE TO BE RESUMED WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/06/02      5 MONGOLIAN DANCE TEAMS WIN THREE GOLD MEDALS AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CHOREOGRAPHY LATIN 2025 WWW.MONTSAME.MN  PUBLISHED:2025/06/02      6 RUSSIA STARTS BUYING POTATOES FROM MONGOLIA WWW.CHARTER97.ORG PUBLISHED:2025/06/02      7 MONGOLIA BANS ONLINE GAMBLING, BETTING AND PAID LOTTERIES WWW.QAZINFORM.COM PUBLISHED:2025/06/02      8 HOW DISMANTLING THE US MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION WILL UNDERMINE MONGOLIA WWW.THEDIPLOMAT.COM PUBLISHED:2025/05/30      9 ORBMINCO ADVANCES BRONZE FOX PROJECT IN KINCORA COPPER PROJECT IN MONGOLIA WWW.DISCOVERYALERT.COM.AU PUBLISHED:2025/05/30      10 MONGOLIA SOLAR ENERGY SECTOR GROWTH: 1,000 MW BY 2025 SUCCESS WWW.PVKNOWHOW.COM PUBLISHED:2025/05/30      ЕРӨНХИЙЛӨГЧ У.ХҮРЭЛСҮХ, С.БЕРДЫМУХАМЕДОВ НАР АЛБАН ЁСНЫ ХЭЛЭЛЦЭЭ ХИЙЛЭЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/02     Н.НОМТОЙБАЯР: ДАРААГИЙН ЕРӨНХИЙ САЙД ТОДРОХ НЬ ЦАГ ХУГАЦААНЫ АСУУДАЛ БОЛСОН WWW.ITOIM.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/02     Л.ТӨР-ОД МҮХАҮТ-ЫН ГҮЙЦЭТГЭХ ЗАХИРЛААР Х.БАТТУЛГЫН ХҮНИЙГ ЗҮТГҮҮЛЭХ ҮҮ WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/02     ЦЕГ: ЗУНЫ ЗУГАА ТОГЛОЛТЫН ҮЕЭР 10 ХУТГА ХУРААЖ, СОГТУУРСАН 22 ИРГЭНИЙГ АР ГЭРТ НЬ ХҮЛЭЭЛГЭН ӨГСӨН WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/02     УУЛ УУРХАЙН ТЭЭВЭРЛЭЛТИЙГ БҮРЭН ЗОГСООЖ, ШАЛГАНА WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/02     ГАДНЫ КИБЕР ХАЛДЛАГЫН 11 ХУВЬ НЬ УИХ, 70 ХУВЬ НЬ ЗАСГИЙН ГАЗАР РУУ ЧИГЛЭДЭГ WWW.ZINDAA.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/02     НИЙТИЙН ОРОН СУУЦНЫ 1 М.КВ-ЫН ДУНДАЖ ҮНЭ 3.6 САЯ ТӨГРӨГ БАЙНА WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/02     ГОВИЙН БҮСИЙН ЧИГЛЭЛД УУЛ УУРХАЙН ТЭЭВЭРЛЭЛТИЙГ БҮРЭН ЗОГСООНО WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/05/30     СОР17 УЛААНБААТАР ХОТНОО 2026 ОНЫ НАЙМДУГААР САРЫН 17-28-НД БОЛНО WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/05/30     НИЙСЛЭЛИЙН ТӨР, ЗАХИРГААНЫ БАЙГУУЛЛАГЫН АЖИЛ 07:00 ЦАГТ ЭХЭЛЖ 16:00 ЦАГТ ТАРНА WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/05/30    

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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Deutsche Bank agrees to $7.2 billion mortgage settlement with U.S. www.reuters.com

 
Deutsche Bank has agreed to a $7.2 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over its sale and pooling of toxic mortgage securities in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.
 
The agreement in principle, announced by Deutsche Bank's Frankfurt headquarters early Friday morning, offers some relief to the German lender, whose stock was hit hard in September after it acknowledged the Justice Department had been seeking nearly twice as much.
 
It also highlights the Justice Department's recent efforts to hold European banks accountable for shoddy securities that contributed to the U.S. housing market collapse.
 
The department sued Barclays PLC on Thursday over similar claims, after having reached $46 billion in settlements with U.S. banks over the last three years.
 
Deutsche Bank does not plan a capital increase to cover the settlement, a person close to the bank said. The lender expects the agreement to be finalized in early 2017, before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
 
Deutsche does expect to record a pretax charge of about $1.17 billion in its fourth quarter because of the civil monetary penalty, according to its press release.
 
As part of the agreement, Deutsche Bank would pay a civil monetary penalty of $3.1 billion and provide $4.1 billion in consumer relief, such as loan forgiveness. The bank cautioned that there is "no assurance" the two sides will agree on the final documents.
 
A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment.
 
Settling the mortgage-securities case would mean Deutsche Bank has shaken off one legal headache. Three major probes remain.
 
Deutsche faces investigations into the alleged manipulation of foreign exchange rates, suspicious equities trades in Russia, as well as alleged violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran and other countries.
 
Since 2012, Deutsche Bank has already paid more than 12 billion euros for litigation, including a deal with U.S. mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
 
Deutsche Bank's "troubling practices" were widespread, including when trader Greg Lippmann told colleagues that many home loans the bank was packaging into securities were "crap" and "pigs," according to a 2011 U.S. Senate subcommittee report.
 
Lippmann has declined to comment on the report.
 
There has been fear among investors, companies and regulators that the penalties are too much for Deutsche Bank to withstand.
 
Its shares plunged to a record low of 9.90 euros in September, after the bank confirmed the Justice Department was demanding $14 billion. The stock has recovered substantially, but is down from the beginning of 2016.
 
OTHER BANKS
 
The Justice Department is still pursuing mortgage allegations against other lenders in addition to Barclays.
 
Credit Suisse Group AG is in late-stage negotiations and has resisted a demand by the agency that it pay between $5 billion and $7 billion over its sale of mortgage securities, sources have said.
 
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, Wells Fargo & Co, UBS Group AG and HSBC are also under investigation, according to company disclosures.
 
U.S. banks have paid tens of billions of dollars over the past three years to settle with U.S. authorities over misleading investors about the quality of mortgages underlying securities.
 
In 2013, JPMorgan Chase & Co agreed to pay $13 billion. The following year, Bank of America Corp agreed to pay $16.65 billion, while Citigroup cut a deal for $7 billion. In February this year, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $2.6 billion, and in April, Goldman Sachs Group Inc negotiated a $5 billion deal.
 
Deutsche is not the first bank to announce a settlement amount before both sides have agreed on the final documentation. Morgan Stanley disclosed its agreement a year before it was finalized and formally announced.
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Chinese consortium buys 49% stake in UK data firm www.chinadaily.com.cn

 
A Chinese consortium has bought a 49 percent stake in British data center company Global Switch for 2.5 billion pounds ($3.09 billion), in a strategic move aimed at sharing data center technology and locations.
 
The consortium was set up by data center company Daily-Tech Beijing, although the majority of the funding comes from Jiangsu Shagang Group, China's largest private steelmaker.
 
Wednesday's deal came as Chinese and Western companies expand into each other's markets, creating a big demand to store data in international locations.
 
The partnership allows both data center companies to follow their clients' expansion footsteps overseas and help them store data in convenient locations.
 
Global Switch has begun building data centers in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Singapore, using high quality technology to help Daily-Tech Beijing's clients store data.
 
John Corcoran, CEO of Global Switch, said the investment will help Global Switch's global expansion and, in particular, help it serve Chinese companies expanding overseas and Western companies growing in China.
 
Founded in 1998, Global Switch now has 10 data centers in Europe and Asia. The company is owned by the billionaire Ruben Brothers, who purchased it in 2004 for reportedly 585 million pounds, but have invested more than 1 billion pounds in expanding the business.
 
Daily-Tech Beijing was founded in 2009 and now owns five data centers in China, providing data storage for Chinese and multinational companies, including Schneider Electric, Johnson Controls, China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile.
 
"We believe that bringing together the high quality data centers and operational excellence of Global Switch with the rapidly growing demand from Chinese customers creates a perfect match that will deliver future growth opportunities," said Li Qiang, president of Daily-Tech Beijing.
 
Alan Barrell, entrepreneur in residence at the University of Cambridge's Judge Business School, said the partnership will help Daily-Tech Beijing achieve a bigger international reach in data handling and storage and help Global Switch to grow its business with the new investment.
 
"There will also be synergy for technology development, to enable data centers to become ever more efficient and secure and enhance the quality of their offering," Barrell said.
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Japan Exchange Group attracting Saudi Aramco www3.nhk.or.jp

 
Saudi Arabian officials are preparing for an initial public offering of the world's largest state-run oil company, Saudi Aramco. They are eyeing several global markets for the 2018 debut, including the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
 
Saudi Industry and Mineral Resources Minister Khalid al-Falih met in Riyadh with the CEO of the Japan Exchange Group, Akira Kiyota. The group operates the TSE.
 
Saudi Aramco's market capitalization is estimated at more than 1.7 trillion dollars. There is also speculation the company will debut in New York or London.
 
After the meeting, Falih told NHK that the TSE will be given a sufficient chance.
 
He said the number of international companies that are listed on the TSE is not as large as other stock exchanges, so Saudi Arabia has to do its due diligence to make sure there is no reason to prevent an international company from being listed.
 
Kiyota said he believes the Saudi Arabian officials understood the TSE's appeal. He said he will visit the country again any time if necessary.
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Volkswagen reaches deal with 80,000 U.S. 3.0-liter vehicle owners www.reuters.com

 
A federal judge said on Thursday that Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) has reached an agreement in principle to provide "substantial compensation" to the owners of about 80,000 3.0-liter polluting diesel vehicles, a key hurdle to resolve the German automaker's emissions scandal.
 
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer did not disclose the amount of owner compensation, which is not included in a $1 billion settlement announced earlier this week between VW and U.S. regulators. Half of the compensation will be paid at the time Breyer gives final approval of the settlement. Some fixes for the 3.0 liters may not approved until 2018, Breyer said.
 
Earlier this week, Volkswagen reached the $1 billion settlement with U.S. regulators, offering to buy back about 20,000 of the vehicles, fix the remaining 60,000 and pay $225 million into an environmental trust fund to offset the vehicles' excess emissions.
 
The settlement covered luxury VW, Audi and Porsche vehicles with 3.0-liter engines. With the agreement, Volkswagen would spend as much as $17.5 billion in the United States to resolve claims from owners as well as federal and state regulators over polluting diesel vehicles in addition to compensation for the 3.0-liter owners.
 
Volkswagen spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan said the automaker was pleased with the agreement in principle, but said details will remain confidential for now.
 
Breyer said the final agreement must be filed with the court by Jan. 31, and he expects to hold a Feb. 14 hearing to approve the deal.
 
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is also expected to back the deal, Breyer said.
 
Volkswagen, the world's No. 2 automaker, could still spend billions of dollars more to resolve a U.S. Justice Department criminal investigation and federal and state environmental claims and come under oversight by a federal monitor.
 
It is possible a deal could be reached before the end of the Obama administration, said sources briefed on the matter.
 
Breyer in October approved VW's earlier settlement worth about $15 billion with regulators and the U.S. owners of 475,000 polluting diesel vehicles with smaller 2.0-liter engines, including an offer to buy back all of the cars.
 
VW lawyer Robert Giuffra said Thursday the automaker has offered buybacks to nearly 200,000 customers and 104,000 have accepted the offer at a value of nearly $2 billion.
 
VW had agreed to pay $5,100 to $10,000 in compensation to each of the U.S. 2.0-liter owners. If the new settlement follows the pattern, it could add $400 million to $800 million to the 3.0-liter settlement. But funds from a separate settlement with German auto supplier Robert Bosch GmbH [ROBG.UL] are expected to defray VW's compensation costs.
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Ikea in $50m settlement over child deaths from falling drawers in US www.bbc.com

 
Ikea has agreed to pay $50m (£40m) to the families of three toddlers killed in the US by falling chests of drawers, according to lawyers for the families.
The lawyers said the payout, one of the biggest of its kind, reflected the seriousness of the case.
Camden Ellis, 2, Curren Collas, 2, and 23-month-old Ted McGee were crushed after Malm drawers from Ikea toppled onto them.
Ikea confirmed a "tentative settlement" had been reached.
"The settlement is not yet approved by the court and it would be inappropriate for us to comment on it at this time," the Swedish furniture firm said in a statement.
In June, Ikea issued a recall for millions of Malm chests of drawers in North America.
Initially, the company had warned customers to use wall mounts with them, but the third death in February prompted the recall.
Wooden chest of drawersImage copyrightIKEA
Image caption
Lawyers at Feldman Shepherd said the $50m would be split evenly between the families.
They added that, as part of the settlement, Ikea had also agreed to make three separate $50,000 donations to hospitals in memories of the children and a $100,000 contribution to a charity focused on child safety.
"This is one of the biggest recoveries in a child death case, a reflection in part of the seriousness of what happened," Alan Feldman, a partner at the law firm, told the BBC.
"Three toddlers were crushed to death in three entirely preventable accidents," he added.
Camden Ellis, from Washington State, was found trapped under a three-drawer Malm in June 2014, the law firm said.
Curren Collas, from Pennsylvania, was crushed by a six-drawer Malm in February 2015, and Theodore McGee was killed by the same sized chest a year later.
Under the settlement, Ikea has agreed to only sell chests in the US that meet or exceed the national voluntary safety standard for clothing storage units, the law firm said.
It added that Ikea would also spend more to raise awareness of the problem, including TV adverts, internet and digital communications and in-store warnings.
The deaths prompted the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to launch an education campaign about the risk of falling chests of drawers.
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Italy approves bailout for Monte dei Paschi www.bbc.com

 
Italy's cabinet has approved a state-bailout for the country's third-largest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena.
Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said his government had authorised a €20bn ($21bn, £17.9bn) fund to support Italy's embattled banking sector.
The announcement came after Monte dei Paschi had failed to raise €5bn from private investors.
The Italian bank said it would request a capital injection from the state to stay afloat.
Under new EU rules on bank bailouts, the bailout will entail a forced conversion of the bank's junior bonds into shares.
A state bailout risks losses for thousands of ordinary retail investors. Small investors are estimated to hold some €2bn of Monte dei Paschi's bonds.
However, the government will need to stick to new European Union rules designed to stop tax payers bearing the brunt of supporting weak banks.
The Italian parliament had already authorised the government to create a fund to prop up the bank sector.
Founded in 1472, Monte dei Paschi is said to be the oldest surviving bank in the world.
It failed an EU stress test in July due to billions of euros of risky loans on its books, made to clients who cannot afford to repay them.
The situation has worsened since then.
On Wednesday, Monte dei Paschi revealed that it could run out of funds by next April, using up nearly €11bn.
Previously it had said it had the funds to stay afloat for 11 months.
It added that by next May, it could burn through even more - €15bn in total.
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Meet the Chinese Billionaire Who's Moving Manufacturing to the U.S. to Cut Costs www.msn.com

While it has been said for a long time that the U.S. is bleeding manufacturing jobs overseas, particularly to China, some businesses have been moving operations the other way round.

And now, the head of a leading Chinese glass maker making the same move has openly questioned if his country really is such a lucrative destination for offshore factories, reports Hong Kong newspaper the South China Morning Post.

Overall speaking, the tax burden for manufacturers in China is 35% higher than in the U.S., Cao Dewang told China Business Networkin an interview. He added that a combination of cheap land, reasonable energy prices and other incentives means that, despite higher manufacturing costs, he can still make more money by making glass in the U.S. than by exporting Chinese-made panes to the U.S. market.

His company, Fuyao Glass, has invested over $1 billion stateside, according to the Post, the most significant move of which is opening its U.S. factory in the Ohio town of Moraine, a suburb of Dayton, back in October. The glass maker is re-purposing the town's former General Motors assembly that had been standing empty since late 2008, as the Dayton Daily News reports.

According to Ohio TV station WDTN, the plant now employs a workforce of almost 2,000, and Cao expects that the fully operational facility will employ up to 3,000 workers.

Wage and transportation costs are getting higher in China, Cao says. Compared with four years ago, labor wages [in China] today have tripled, he told China Business Network. Meanwhile, transportation in the U.S. costs the equivalent of less than one yuan ($) per kilometer, while road tolls [in China] are higher, he added, pointing out that some mid- and small-sized Chinese enterprises have already started moving to Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Cambodia for cheaper wages and materials.

Fuyao is not the first Chinese business making the move across the Pacific in recent years. According to the Wall Street Journal, Chinese companies invested over $20 billion in the U.S. last year -from a practically nonexistent total investment back in 2006.

And yet, it would probably be mistaken to write off the world's second largest economy as a manufacturing powerhouse once and for all. As Fortune reported in early December, the latest data indicates that China's manufacturing sector is in its strongest position in some years, buttressing the country's economic growth along the way.

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Facebook lurking makes you miserable, says study www.bbc.com


A University of Copenhagen study suggests excessive use of social media can create feelings of envy.
It particularly warns about the negative impact of "lurking" on social media without connecting with anyone.
The study suggests taking a break from using social media.
The study of more than 1,000 participants, mostly women, says that "regular use of social networking such as Facebook can negatively affect your emotional well-being and satisfaction with life".
'Unrealistic social comparisons'
Researchers warn of envy and a "deterioration of mood" from spending too long looking at other people's social media stories, induced by "unrealistic social comparisons".
If this suggests a picture of long irritable hours over a screen, depressed by the boasts and posts of others, then the researchers say that it does not need to be this way.
Actively engaging in conversation and connecting with people on social media seems to be a much more positive experience, suggests the study, published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking.
This seems to be much less gloomy than "passive" users who spend too long "lurking" on social networking websites without getting involved.
Another approach to improve well-being, says the study, is to stop using social media altogether for a week.
That's if you can resist the temptation to look at all those unbearably smug pictures of skiing holidays...
 
 
 
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Google avoided billions in taxes by funneling money offshore www.rt.com

Alphabet Inc.'s Google managed to save $3.6 billion in 2015 by shifting its profits to a Bermuda shell company, according to filings in the Netherlands. Google used Ireland and the Netherlands as intermediaries.

According to files obtained by Bloomberg, Google used the so-called "Double Irish" and a "Dutch Sandwich" tax avoidance method.

The scheme is complicated. First, Google’s taxes outside the US are sent to Ireland to Google Ireland Limited. Then, the profits are sent to the Netherlands, which is also acknowledged for low corporate taxes.

Then, the money is sent from the Dutch subsidiary to a Bermuda shell company known as Google Ireland Holdings Unlimited, which has no employees but has the rights to Google's intellectual property.

Bloomberg further reported that using the tax avoidance scheme Google sent 40 percent more of its profits in 2015 than in 2014. In total, Google has sheltered $58.3 billion from US taxation, according to parent company Alphabet’s filings.

While Ireland closed the loophole last year, corporations may still enjoy it until 2020.

The report may be of interest to the EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, who has recently been tackling inappropriate behavior of US companies on the European market.

Just on Tuesday, the European Commission found Facebook guilty of providing misleading information before winning approval to buy the WhatsApp messenger in 2014. The company is facing a fine of up to one percent of annual sales.

In August, Apple was fined €13 billion after a European investigation concluded Ireland provided the iPhone maker with a favorable tax rate.

Vestager is also digging into major US corporations like McDonald’s, Starbucks and Chrysler.

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U.S. returns China's Taobao shopping website to market blacklist www.reuters.com

 
The United States on Wednesday returned Taobao, China's most popular consumer-to-consumer shopping website, to its blacklist of "notorious marketplaces" known for the sale of counterfeit goods and violations of intellectual property rights.
 
The move by the U.S. Trade Representative's office against the online bazaar run by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd followed complaints from U.S. and international trade groups for apparel and luxury goods that Taobao was not doing enough to police sales of fakes and pirated products.
 
Inclusion on the blacklist does not carry any direct penalties but is a blow to Alibaba's efforts to shed perceptions its websites are riddled with fakes - a key to gaining a bigger international customer base and taking market share from global competitors such as eBay Inc and Amazon.com.
 
The company expressed disappointment with the move.
 
Taobao was put on the USTR blacklist in 2011 but removed in 2012 after it made efforts to address concerns of intellectual property rights holders and committed to cut the number of pirated and counterfeit goods on its website.
 
In unveiling its 2016 list, USTR acknowledged that Alibaba had taken steps to combat piracy, including addressing the misuse of brand keywords, blurred trademarks in product images and developing technology to prevent counterfeit sellers from reopening under new names.
 
USTR said, however, the current levels of reported counterfeiting and piracy were "unacceptably high," with such goods posing a "grave economic threat" to U.S. creative and innovative industries and posing public health threats in some cases.
 
"One large motor vehicle manufacturer reported that at least 95 percent of the merchandise bearing its company's brand names and trademarks found on Alibaba platforms is suspected to be counterfeit," USTR said.
 
Alibaba Group President Michael Evans said in a statement the company was "very disappointed" to be put back on the list as it was far more advanced in protecting intellectual property rights than it was four years ago. He added that the decision ignored Alibaba's work to remove more than twice the number of product listings this year than in 2015.
 
"We question whether the USTR acted based on the actual facts or was influenced by the current political climate," Evans said.
 
In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she did not know the details of the blacklisting, but that in principle China-U.S. trade and business relations should be mutually beneficial and win-win.
 
"If some specific problems arise, we hope that both sides can appropriately resolve them via friendly consultations," she told a daily news briefing.
 
Alibaba touts Taobao as China's largest online shopping destination by gross merchandise volume and among the top five websites in China and top 15 globally.
 
Alibaba shares fell 0.7 percent on the New York Stock Exchange to $89.25.
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