FORMER Keighley and Ilkley Labour MP John Grogan has been chosen by the party to contest the seat again at the next general election.

He was selected during a meeting at Keighley's Central Hall yesterday (November 27), which saw more than 300 party members take part in a vote.

Mr Grogan served as Keighley and Ilkley MP for two years, until 2019, and had previously represented Selby between 1997 and 2010.

He says: "Keighley and Ilkley is a classic marginal seat. It is 23rd on the target list of seats for Labour at the next general election in terms of the swing required. I feel a big responsibility to win this seat for Labour again and help put Keir Starmer into Number 10 Downing Street.

"We need a competent Labour Government with a plan for a fairer and greener Britain.

"Since 1983, when it was first contested, Keighley and Ilkley has been a two-horse race between Labour and the Conservatives. I look forward to robust, but always civil, debates with the current Member of Parliament. On some issues – such as the need to rebuild Airedale Hospital, which I first raised during the last Parliament – I hope we will be able to work together."

Tokyo, Nov. 29 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and visiting Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh affirmed on Tuesday that their countries will never tolerate the use of force to change the status quo, with China and Russia, which border Mongolia, in mind.

This was included in a joint statement issued after the two leaders held talks at the prime minister's office in Tokyo.

At a joint press conference following the meeting, Kishida said Japan will work to strengthen its cooperation with Mongolia to resolve global challenges.

The president voiced hope to expand and deepen bilateral cooperation to contribute to regional peace and prosperity.

In the statement, the two leaders vowed to strengthen cooperation between Japan and Mongolia in the security field, while promoting Japanese investments in Mongolia and working on exploring rare earths in Mongolia.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]

Zavkhan — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Mongolia inaugurated a grid-connected renewable hybrid energy system in Zavkhan province. The system includes a 5 megawatt solar photovoltaic and 3.6 megawatt-hour battery energy storage system (BESS), along with an advanced energy management system in Uliastai, servicing mostly rural areas in the western region.

“Thanks to this project, more than 48,000 consumers of more than 8,000 households in Altai-Uliastai region will receive clean and reliable energy,” said the Head of Renewable Energy Division of the Ministry of Energy Byekbolat Khalik. “In addition to reduced electricity loss and improved quality of and access to electricity, the system is estimated to cut 223,813 tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 25 years.”

The hybrid system will provide about 8.8 million kilowatt-hour (kWh) solar-generated and 1.3 million kWh charged and discharged energy in the Altai-Uliastai energy system, under the ADB’s Upscaling Renewable Energy Sector Project. The project was approved in September 2018 with loan financing from ADB and grant cofinancing from the Strategic Climate Fund and the Japan Fund for the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JFJCM). The project supports 41 MW of distributed renewable energy systems through subprojects that will use a range of renewable energy technologies to supply clean electricity and heat in the less-developed region of western Mongolia. The Uliastai grid-connected solar photovoltaic and BESS hybrid system subproject is cofinanced with a $6 million grant from the JFJCM.

“The Uliastai subproject builds the very first utility and mega-scale battery system in the country combined with grid-connected renewable energy,” said ADB Principal Energy Specialist for East Asia Shannon Cowlin. “The system will provide secure power supply to the residents and reduce localized air pollution, which affects even isolated regions of Mongolia during winter months.”

Among the Uliastai subproject’s innovations is the adoption of a sodium–sulfur battery, also known as a NAS battery, which can operate for longer period than other types of BESS technologies (up to 15 years), has better fire safety, and is more robust against Mongolia’s harsh winters. The BESS is designed to supply the Altai-Uliastai energy system during its peak hours in the evening by time-shifting excess solar energy generated during the daytime, increasing the share of renewable energy in the system.

The JFJCM is an ADB trust fund that aims to provide financial incentives for the adoption of advanced low-carbon technologies in ADB-financed and administered sovereign and nonsovereign projects.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh is paying a state visit to China just two days after the Zuunbayan-Khangi Railway, the third railway to connect Mongolia with China, started operations on November 25.

Apart from boosting connectivity, the two neighbors joined hands to fight the COVID-19 pandemic by gifting one another with sheep and tea as well as deepened cooperation and exchanges in various fields.

The two countries have set a good example for state-to-state relations, Chinese President Xi Jinping noted on Monday during his meeting with President Khurelsukh.

In the face of the rising instability and uncertainty in the international environment, China is willing to work with the Mongolian side to build a community with a shared future and promote the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership so as to better benefit the people of both countries, Xi vowed.

China, Mongolia inject impetus into ties through three engines

Three engines

President Xi urged the two sides to deepen the three alignments between the Belt and Road Initiative and Mongolia's Prairie Road development strategy, the Global Development Initiative and Mongolia's New Revival Policy, and China's "two-stage" strategic plan and Mongolia's long-term development policy, so as to create three engines for further development of bilateral relations.

In 2013, Xi proposed the Belt and Road Initiative to improve regional connectivity and economic integration. The Prairie Road development strategy, an economic plan introduced by Mongolia, aims to boost trade with neighboring markets.

Mongolia's New Revival Policy covers comprehensive reforms in the areas of port, energy, industry and green development, among others. While Xi on Monday voiced China's willingness to deepen bilateral cooperation in areas such as economics and trade, energy and mining, connectivity, information technology and deep processing of livestock products.

Xi said China supports Mongolia's "Planting One Billion Trees" plan and is willing to explore the possibility with the Mongolian side of setting up a Sino-Mongolian cooperation center for desertification control.

The Chinese president also called for promoting the construction of the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor and the project of laying the China-Russia gas pipeline traversing Mongolia.

The first China-Europe freight train from Jinzhou Port in northeast China's Liaoning Province to Helsinki, Finland, via Choibalsan City in Mongolia, was launched in August this year, which is in line with the construction of the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor.

China, Mongolia inject impetus into ties through three engines

Exceeding $10 billion

As China is pursuing national rejuvenation by following the Chinese path to modernization, Xi told Khurelsukh that China will not only achieve own prosperity and development but will also deliver more development dividends to its neighbors and the world.

China has been Mongolia's top investment source and trade partner for 18 consecutive years. Last year, the trade volume exceed $10 billion for the first time.

Total trade between China and Mongolia accounts for more than 60 percent of Mongolia's foreign trade volume, according to data from the Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences.

Customs data also showed that bilateral trade hit $9.68 billion in the first 10 months of this year.

Join efforts for world peace, development

The two leaders agreed on Monday to make joint efforts for world peace and development.

The Chinese president urged the two sides to team up to foster a new type of international relations and contribute to the building of a community with shared future for mankind.

China and Mongolia are both developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region and have extensive common interests in international and regional affairs, Xi pointed out, adding China is willing to coordinate closely with the Mongolian side to jointly defend genuine multilateralism, resist bloc rivalry and maintain international solidarity and cooperation.

Stressing that the current international and regional situation is undergoing a profound and complex evolution, Khurelsukh believes the two sides should promote Asian values and work together to maintain peace, stability and development in Asia.

The Mongolian side highly values China's positive contribution to the maintenance of world peace, stability and development as well as the international system with the United Nations at its core, and is willing to strengthen communication and cooperation with China in international affairs and contribute to the maintenance of regional peace and development.

He added Mongolia backs the China-proposed Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative.

The Government of Mongolia announced 2023 and 2024 as “The Years to Visit Mongolia". In this regard, the Law on Tourism that was approved in 2000 was revised to improve the legal framework of the tourism industry. The Prime Minister of Mongolia, L. Oyun-Erdene, presented the bill to Chairman of the State Great Khural G. Zandanshatar and requested to discuss it in the urgent procedure.

In the framework of this bill:

100 percent of VAT on goods and products purchased by tourists will be refunded

The number of countries eligible to apply for “E-Visa” will be doubled, and visas will be issued online within 48 hours.

Liberalization of air transport will be carried out, restrictions will not be imposed for flights to Mongolia for three years, receiving aircraft from all other countries.

Rio Tinto (NYSE, ASX: RIO) has reached a restitution agreement with an Aboriginal group whose rock shelters in Western Australia it destroyed two years ago for an iron ore mine, the groups said on Monday.

The destruction of the Juukan Gorge sites that showed evidence of human habitation stretching back into the last Ice Age 46,000 years ago caused deep distress to the traditional owners, the Puutu Kunti, Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) peoples.

It also fueled a global uproar, cost three senior leaders and two board members their jobs, a parliamentary inquiry, and an overhaul of the mining industry’s agreements with Indigenous Australians.

Financial terms were not disclosed by either party at the request of the PKKP, the parties said.

“Nothing can compensate for or replace the loss suffered at Juukan Gorge, so this is an outcome orientated legacy to ensure something positive will come from it for years to come,” PKKP Aboriginal Corp Chairperson Burchell Hayes said.

The Juukan Gorge Legacy Foundation will focus on education and training opportunities, financial independence through business development, preservation and an increased voice over heritage, culture and land, the PKKP said in a statement.

The two groups are in advanced talks about a co-management of mining agreement, the PKKP added.

“We fell far short of our values as a company and breached the trust placed in us by the PKKP people by allowing the destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters,” Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm said.

“As we work hard to rebuild our relationship, I would like to thank the PKKP people, their elders, and the Corporation for their guidance and leadership in forming this important agreement,” he said in a separate statement.

As well as the legacy foundation, remedy discussions have centred on ongoing rehabilitation of the rock shelters and their surrounds at Juukan Gorge, Rio said.

Australia said last week that it would strengthen laws to better protect Aboriginal cultural heritage following the enquiry, although it did not offer a time frame for completion.

(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Tsaikhir Valley, Mongolia – Myagmar-Ochir may be just three years old, but he already has big plans for his future.

“I want to be a horseman”, he says. “I want to catch horses with a rope”.

Myagmar-Ochir outlines his career aspirations while playing near a rocky stream 50 metres (164 feet) from a small ger, the traditional Mongolian tent he calls home.

Among the rocks and snow melt, the toddler spends his days straddled atop a wrought-iron bar — his pretend horse.

He whips the bar, willing it into a gallop, in imitation of his 29-year-old father, Octonbaatar, who lives among a small community of Mongolians eking out a life as herders in the Tsaikhir — a frigid, desolate valley 800km (500 miles) west of Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar.

They are nomads, shifting location with the seasons. And for generations, Octonbaatar’s family has relied on the small stream that now serves as his son’s playground.

He and his wife, Chuluunchimeg, 30, and their three children move to this quiet corner of the valley each autumn for the long grass to feed their horses and yak and the steady flow of water in their private creek.

But for the third year running, the stream has slowed to a trickle while the hills, once vibrant and healthy, are now barren and lifeless.

“We don’t have green summers anymore”, Octonbaatar wistfully tells Al Jazeera. “And there is less water here than last year.”

Myagmar-Ochir, 3, playing on the steppe next to a stream. He looks happy and excited.

He points towards a distant hilltop, lightly dusted in greying, barely-visible snow.

“[The mountain] used to be snow-capped all year round. But it has been melting,” Octonbaatar added.

Abandoning the steppes

The Tsaikhir Valley may be one of the world’s coldest places, with winter temperatures routinely plummeting below -50C (-58F), but the increasing intensity of its drought conditions, fuelled by ever-warming summers, have left local people wondering how much longer they can hold on. Myagmar-Ochir’s dream of following in his father’s footsteps — and maintaining a culture that has survived for millennia — is under threat.

The Tsaikhir may be on Mongolia’s climate front line, but its herders are not alone in their environmental struggle.

One-third of Mongolia’s three million citizens continue nomadic traditions that are intimately entwined with their natural environment.

As the climate becomes more extreme, both droughts and worsening winter storms, known as dzuds, are disrupting ancient traditions across Mongolia’s steppe.

Many of the Tsaikhir’s young boys and girls no longer see a future in the valley where they were raised; instead, most have eyes on a career in the city, a trend that has seen the Mongolian capital swell in recent years as herders flee the volatility of nomadic life for the relative stability and modern comforts of Ulaanbaatar.

For Tsaikhir locals, the dramatic transformation of their landscape has taken place within only a single generation.

Bayarkhuu is a 32-year-old herder based in the valley.

Shwara, 18, hopes to join the Winter Herd one day. He is sitting in the brown grass looking pensive with his horse grazing behind him

Al Jazeera spoke to him at the end of a local horse-wrangling competition, in which Bayarkhuu was victorious.

He remembers a childhood rich in greenery.

“We used to have grass to our knees”, he said, recounting his childhood while looking out over the now brown landscape.

Although the summer droughts are the most obvious sign of climate degradation in the Tsaikhir, it is in the depths of winter that the cultural ramifications of climate change are most felt.

Traditionally, the valley’s families assemble a huge winter herd of more than 2,000 horses each October. By gathering the animals into a single mass, families’ horses — their most valuable possessions — are protected from the arctic conditions.

For five months, three young men nominated by the Tsaikhir community will watch over the horses.

The men camp alongside the animals in the harsh conditions, often firing warning shots at the hungry wolves that opportunistically follow the herd.

Protecting the winter herd may be risky and a potentially dangerous coming-of-age ritual, but it is also an honourable tradition and one the young men who seek a future in the valley aspire to participate in.

The only son among five children, 18-year-old Shwara left school at 14 to pursue a nomadic life. He has long hoped to be honoured with the protection of the winter herd.

“My friend advised me ‘if you go and follow the winter herd, it will be very good for you physically, and you will become an excellent horseman,” he told Al Jazeera via a translator.

“I want to go. I want to join the herd.”

But the changing climate means Shwara might never get his chance.

Tsaikhir’s 48-year-old governor, Batsehen, spoke to Al Jazeera while he travelled the valley raising donations for a community member stricken with cancer.

“The winter herd used to assemble every year,” he said. “But it hasn’t happened since 2018.

“We haven’t been able to gather the herd for three years,” Batsehen stressed.

Because the droughts have so damaged the grass cover, there is not enough undergrowth to sustainably feed the herd during the winter. Recognising this, in 2019, Batsehen and other community leaders made the difficult decision to cancel the winter herd for the first time in memory, fearing that if they went ahead with the tradition, they might irreparably damage what remained of their grasslands.

They have been unable to hold it since and families have been left to protect their horses on their own throughout winter, with often devastating consequences.

“One family lost 12 horses to wolves,” said Governor Batsehen.

China, Russia effect

The environmental threat facing the herding community of the Tsaikhir has been made worse by Mongolia’s tenuous economic position.

Wedged between a war-time Russia to the north and a zero-COVID China to the south, Mongolia’s economy has been hampered by the unprecedented isolation of its two largest trading partners.

Many herder families survive by selling animal products — mainly lamb, yak and sheep wool — to markets in China and Russia.

As border trade has slowed, a domestic glut of these products has lowered prices, reducing incomes in the Tsaikhir.

“[The] sheep wool price has declined so much because the border has been closed”, said Bakhtur, the 22-year-old elder son of a herder family.

Octonbaatar, 29, Chuuluunchimeg, 30, and their family inside their traditional ger. They look quite formal but happy

Even more exotic exports have been smashed by the ruptures in trade with China and Russia.

Bahktur and his neighbours used to collect the antlers of deer, which the animals drop each season. Before China closed its borders, Bakhtur would gather the antlers and sell them to traders bound for China, where they are used in traditional medicines.

But with China’s border closures, demand for the antlers has also collapsed.

“The horn of the deer has decreased to only 20,000 Tugrik [$6],” Bakhtur said.

Mongolia’s President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh was at COP27 in Egypt this month, promoting his country’s climate efforts.

“Mongolia is one of the countries most affected by climate change”, the president said, using the event to promote the country’s ‘One Billion Tree’ campaign, an ambitious national effort aimed at reversing Mongolia’s years of deforestation and turning swathes of sprawling steppe land into a carbon sink.

Mongolia was also among the emerging economies pushing for a ‘loss and damage’ fund — a compensation mechanism agreed after much haggling that would see the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases, and wealthiest countries, compensate developing nations that are vulnerable to climate change.

As the people of the Tsaikhir fear for its future, they are finding solace in the spiritual protection they believe their valley enjoys.

At the Tsaikhir’s entrance, tombs of two partially frozen monks, believed by residents to be in a semi-alive state, keep watch over the valley.

Tsaikhir Valley herders at a horse event. They are leaning over a fence with their backs to the camera. The sky is a bright blue and the landscape brown.

Life in the Tsaikhir Valley has also been made more difficult by Most local gers have shrines to the monks, who Tsaikhir families believe continue to provide good luck and protection from whatever their valley might throw at them.

“Once, someone brought a snake to Tsaikhir, but it got sick”, laughed Governor Batsehen. “We are protected from the snakes here.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

Rosneft will supply Mongolia with diesel fuel at a 10% discount from the global market price beginning in 2023, Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry of Mongolia Jambal Ganbaatar announced on Monday.

"Negotiations have been held with Rosneft on supplies and price issues. Starting at the beginning of 2023, diesel fuel will be supplied at a 10% discount from the price on the international market. We agreed to set the price of AI-92 gasoline at $815 per ton for a period of five years. Also, due to the recent shortage of diesel fuel, Rosneft will increase the number of its deliveries to 83,000 tons in December," the minister said.

The minister also convened a separate briefing due to a diesel fuel shortage in various districts, threatening mineral mining and exports. Mongolia's mining industry accounts for 23% of the country's GDP and 93% of exports.