Aeroflot Privatization Delayed to 2020 www.themoscowtimes.com

Russia's flagship national airline, Aeroflot, will be excluded from the government's privatization plans until at least 2020.

President of Mongolia is to pay an official visit to the Republic of Cuba www.gogo.mn

President of Mongolia is to pay an official visit to the Republic of Cuba on September 15-18 and is to attend the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 19-24.
President Ts.Elbegdorj is to give a speech, expressing Mongolia’s position on the global issues. He will be visiting Philadelphia, USA, on September 23.

European Commission plans free wi-fi in public spaces www.bbc.com

The European Commission wants free wi-fi to be provided in public spaces across its member states within four years.
The goal was announced by the president of the European Union's executive body, Jean-Claude Juncker, in his annual state of the union address.
He also wants at least one city in each EU country to have deployed a 5G mobile network by 2020.
However, one expert cast doubt over whether the public would benefit.
European officials have struggled to deliver an earlier promise to abolish mobile roaming fees.

Mr Juncker said digital technologies were "permeating every aspect of life", so everyone should be able to get online.
"Everyone benefiting from connectivity means that it should not matter where you live or how much you earn," he said.
"So, we propose today to equip every European village and every city with free wireless internet access around the main centres of public life by 2020."
A factsheet for his Wifi4EU plan states that it applies to parks, squares, libraries and public buildings.
However, it makes clear that the commission plans to spend a maximum of €120m (£102m) to install the necessary equipment, and that local bodies will have to cover subscription costs, maintenance and other expenses.
Mark Newman, chief analyst at the telecoms consultancy ConnectivityX, said: "€120m doesn't sound like a huge amount of investment.
"In many towns and cities, people can already find free wi-fi on the High Street.
"I would question whether frugal councils will really see it as a priority to deliver free wi-fi in all their buildings and squares."
Mr Newman said the 5G pledge was also less impressive than it sounded.
"The 5G standard itself won't be ready until 2018," he said.
"And I can't see any spectrum licences being allocated until the next year or the one after that.
"So, the only deployment in 2020 would be in highly targeted areas - something like a shopping precinct or Trafalgar Square.

Additional goals set for 2025 included:
minimum download speed of 100Mbps for all European households
minimum download and upload speeds of 1GBps for all hospitals, administrations and other public services reliant on digital technologies
uninterrupted 5G access for all major roads and railways
The EU's digital economy commissioner backed his president, suggesting the targets would help focus minds.
"Europe has the ambition to lead on the deployment of 5G," said Gunther Oettinger.
"It is time to move to a gigabit society and make sure all Europeans, whether in the countryside or the cities, can get access to a quality internet connection."
Roaming row
The European Commission has faced criticism of its handling of a promise to stop its citizens being charged roaming fees when using their handsets in a different European country to their own.
The executive first proposed the idea in 2013.

Its intention was to prevent people living in one country buying a plan from another to cover their day-to-day use.
But the move caused a backlash, and last week Mr Juncker called for the scheme to be rethought.
"The draft was not technically wrong," Mr Juncker said in his state of the union address.
"But it missed the point of what was promised.
"And you will see a new, better draft as of next week.
"When you roam, it should be like at home."

Global upstream oil and gas spending to fall 24% in 2016 -- IEA www.asia.nikkei.com

Russia prepares for gas divorce from Europe www.rt.com

Renesas to buy Intersil for $3.2 bil. www3.nhk.or.jp

Bank of England to buy Apple bonds www.bbc.com

The Bank of England has included Apple on a list of companies that qualify for its new economic stimulus bond-buying scheme.

This means the central bank views the company as making a "material contribution" to the British economy.
The decision will anger the Silicon Valley giant's critics, who accuse it of avoiding tax on UK sales by routing them via Ireland.
The European Commission has attacked Ireland's tax arrangements with Apple.
It said they allowed the iPhone maker to pay almost no tax on international sales, which amounted to illegal state aid.
Bond programme
On Monday, Apple was put on a list of 100 companies that will qualify for the Bank of England's new corporate debt purchase initiative.
Introduced as a stimulus measure after the Brexit vote, the scheme will see the Bank enter the market for company bonds - tradeable IOUs - for the first time. The Bank says it will buy the bonds in an attempt to drive down borrowing costs and encourage businesses to invest more.
The test for inclusion was whether companies make a "material" contribution to the economy. Relevant factors include if headquarters are located in Britain, or whether a company has a significant volume of sales.
Apple does not have its headquarters here and a proportion of its sales in the UK are legally recorded in Ireland.
The Bank of England declined to comment on individual companies on the list, but a source at the Bank said the bond-buying programme was designed to influence market prices and that including the Apple bond increased its chances.
There are other companies on the list that might raise eyebrows - including the two British tobacco giants British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands - and the US fast food giant McDonald's, whose tax affairs are also under investigation in Brussels.

Three ships chartered to troubled Hanjin Shipping sold www.reuters.com

Three ships chartered to Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd (117930.KS) have been sold, the first of dozens of vessels expected to be hawked following the failure of the world's seventh largest container shipper.

Around $14 billion of cargo has been tied up globally as ports, tugboat operators and cargo handling firms worried about not being paid refuse to work for Hanjin, which filed for receivership in a Seoul court on Aug 31.

Three bulk carriers, used for carrying commodities such as iron ore, coal and grain, have been sold for a total of almost $39 million, according to data from ship valuation firm VesselsValue.

The largest, the 180,000 deadweight tonne (DWT) capesize Hanjin Matsuyama, was bought by Singapore-based Winning Shipping for $22.75 million, according to the data.

A man who identified himself as the head of the purchasing department in the Qingdao branch of Winning Shipping but declined to give his name said the deal had been agreed but not yet completed.

"We began talking about the deal before the news about Hanjin began emerging, we were already in the process of buying it."

The five-year old ship was sold charter-free, meaning it is no longer chartered by Hanjin Shipping, a sale and purchase broker told Reuters.

The two smaller 37,000 DWT handyside vessels have been sold to Greek buyers.

"After news of (Hanjin's) collapse they were redelivered early to financiers and sold charter free," the broker added.

With ship prices already depressed by over-capacity, the values achieved were in line with recent similar sales and estimates from shipping services firm Clarkson.

Shipbrokers expect more Hanjin ships to be put on the market although uncertainty about the company's future could delay progress.

OVER-CAPACITY TO REMAIN

While uncertainty around Hanjin Shipping has caused a spike in freight prices, few expect it to last.

Cargo ships of around 257.8 million DWT, equal to about 14.6 percent of the global fleet, are due for delivery from now to around 2019 and global seaborne trade growth is just 2.4 percent, Clarkson data shows.

That points to little short-term improvement in the shipping markets with no real return to profitability until 2019-2020, at least, analysts say.

"The industry needs to break the trend of halting demolition activity as soon as the Baltic Dry Index (a basket of freight rates) improves marginally," said Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at shipping lobby group BIMCO.

The fleet of 63 ships Hanjin owns is worth around $1.76 billion, VesselsValue estimates, well short of the $5.5 billion in debt the company reported as at the end of June, 2016. It charters a further 78 vessels.

Around two-thirds of the total are not operating properly, including vessels seized, barred entry to ports or terminals, denied services or moving slowly, according to Hanjin Shipping data on Monday.

The chairman and former chairwoman of parent company Hanjin Group on Tuesday transferred around $45 million to help unload cargo stranded on the troubled shipper's vessels.

However, Hanjin estimates at least $100 million more is needed to clear the cargo and regulators have warned securing further funds from Hanjin Shipping shareholders could take "considerable time."

South Korea has said no government or central bank money would be directly injected into the firms restructuring in the ailing shipping and shipbuilding industries, though it is helping small-to-medium sized businesses hit by the restructuring.

(Editing by Lincoln Feast)

Bayer 'closes in' on $66bn deal to take over Monsanto www.bbc.com

A deal by German drugs and chemicals giant Bayer to take over US seeds company Monsanto is imminent, media reports suggest.
The takeover would follow several months of talks and is thought to value Monsanto at more than $66bn (£50bn).
According to German media, Bayer has increased its offer to $129 per share while the Reuters news agency says the deal will be announced Wednesday.
The takeover would create the world's biggest seeds and pesticides company.
Combining Bayer and Monsanto would make it the market leader in the US, Europe and Asia.
Bayer's farm business produces seeds as well as chemicals to combat weeds and insects, but it is better known for its healthcare products such as Aspirin and Alka-Seltzer.
Monsanto is primarily known for its genetically modified seeds for crops including corn, soybeans, cotton, wheat and sugar cane. Such seeds have attracted criticism from some environmental activists.

Transit transport might be 2nd OT for Mongolia www.en.montsame.mn