Recently, some Russian high-level officials have allegedly claimed on media that “US side talked to Mongolia on establishing biological laboratories following the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine”.

Mongolia officially states that this is a false and unsubstantiated claim.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia

Mongolia's health ministry confirmed 12 new COVID-19 infections on April 18.

10 new cases were recorded in Ulaanbaatar, 2 cases were detected in the regions.

No new related deaths have been recorded in Mongolia since March 10, and the country's COVID-19 death toll remains at 2,108 as of April 18.

In an attempt to protect one of its most critical industries, tourism, the Turkish government is reportedly planning to launch three programs aimed at increasing the number of Russian guests at the country’s resorts.

The conflict in Ukraine led to sanctions on Russia-linked companies, which has made it difficult for tour operators in Russia to continue bringing tourists into Turkey.

Ankara has announced a series of measures intended to increase the number of tourists from Russia, the Turkish daily Sabah reports. The plan will reportedly be implemented by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, as well as by the Ministry of Finance.

The government-backed scheme will provide Turkish travel companies operating in Russia, such as Anex Tour, Pegas Touristic and Coral Travel, with a $300-million loan backed by the Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF).

The country’s flag carrier Turkish Airlines has reached an agreement with tour operators to fly 1.5 million tourists from Russia to Turkey over the year. Moreover, Turkey’s second-largest carrier, Pegasus Airlines, along with Russian airlines flying to Turkey, will reportedly allocate up to 500,000 seats.

As part of the plan, Ankara has created a brand-new charter airline, called Southwind, which will fly visitors from Russia to Turkey and back. The new carrier will reportedly be based in Antalya, a popular resort getaway along Turkey’s southern coast. The airline’s first flights are scheduled for the end of May and the fleet so far consists of five Airbus aircraft, the news portal Airport Haber reports.

Prior to the launch of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB) was expecting seven million visitors from Russia and two million visitors from Ukraine in 2022. The two nations make up over a quarter of international tourist traffic to Turkey annually.

On the second day of the ‘Food supply and security – Crop farming’ forum, meetings of vegetable and fruit/berry farmers took place.

Minister of Food Agriculture and Light Industry Z.Mendsaikhan stressed that special emphasis is being placed on providing support and long-term investments in the sector as it takes fruits and berries at least 3 years to bear fruit and that the business requires many years of effort and investment and research-based technologies. “The government implemented the Seabuckthorn national program in 2010-2016, providing support in growing seedlings, conducting research, processing the fruits and berries, and boosting export in addition to making efforts to increase seabuckthorn berry production and giving 2.5 million seedlings to farmers on soft loans,” said the Minister, adding that further efforts will be made to promote export.

Vegetable farmers and crop storage facility operators also convened for a meeting on the same day, at which the Agriculture Minister gave information on the current state of the country’s potato and vegetable farming industry and government’s measures and other speakers gave speeches on global food supply, traceability system, and other topics.

There were 338 businesses and 2,511 self-employed people in the country’s fruit and berry farming industry as of 2021, the year when the total area of fruit and berry production reached 6,686 hectares and a record 3,760 tons of fruits and berries were harvested, which indicate a 4.4-fold increase in the production area and a 9.8-fold growth in harvest volume compared to 2009. However, the country could meet only about 2 percent of the domestic demand with such an amount and continues to import 20-24 thousand tons of fruits every year.

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry plans to increase the total area of fruit and berry production by 13.5 thousand hectares to 20 thousand hectares, plant 24 million fruit and berry trees, create agro-forestry businesses in rural areas and the capital city.

Even though the country is growing seabuckthorn and blackcurrant seedlings locally, 95 percent of seedlings of other fruits and berries including apples, plums, and cherries that can be grown in Mongolia are imported.

‘Uvs Chatsargana’, seabuckthorn berries from Uvs aimag, has been registered in the EU as the first Protected Geographical Indication from Mongolia in 2022, which enables to increase export of the berries.

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Greco-Roman wrestling team departed for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Saturday morning.

Iran, headed by Mohammad Bana, has sent 10 wrestlers to the competition.

55kg: Ali Nourbakhsh

60kg: Mehdi Mohsennejhad

63kg: Iman Mohammadi

67kg: Shahin Bodaghi

72kg: Mohammad Reza Mokhtari

77kg: Aref Habibollahi

82kg: Rasoul Garmsiri

87kg: Nasser Alizadeh

97kg: Mehdi Bali

130kg: Amir Ghasemi Monjazi

The 2022 Asian Wrestling Championships will be the 35th edition of Asian Wrestling Championships of combined events, and will take place on April 19 to 24 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

April 16 (Xinhua) -- The regional final of the 15th "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for secondary school students in Mongolia was held here Saturday.

This year's competition was organized with the theme "Fly High with Chinese."

During the final round of the competition, a total of 15 finalists from schools across the country showcased their skills of Chinese language and culture through speeches, quiz and cultural performances.

Enkhee Narangerel, a 10th-grade pupil from a secondary school of the northern Mongolian province of Darkhan-Uul, won the contest.

Wind turbines in the U.S. produced more electricity than coal or nuclear plants on March 29 for the first time on record, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Thursday. That made wind the second-biggest source of electricity that day, behind only natural gas and narrowly ahead of nuclear.

Wind farm capacity has increased rapidly in the U.S. over the past 15 years and is widely seen as an important weapon in the push to decarbonize the power grid and the fight against climate change.

However, due to the natural variation in wind speeds leading to different amounts of power generation, the EIA doesn’t expect wind to surpass coal or nuclear for an entire month in 2022 or 2023.

The EIA data go back to 2018 and don’t include Alaska or Hawaii.

(By Josh Saul)

The US has linked North Korea-backed hackers to a massive cryptocurrency heist worth $615m (£469m) from players of the popular online game Axie Infinity last month.

Players can earn crypto through game play or trading their avatars.

The hack is likely one of the biggest ever to hit the crypto world.

US officials say they linked the breach to a group called "Lazarus", believed to be controlled by North Korea's primary intelligence bureau.

"Through our investigations we were able to confirm Lazarus Group and APT38, cyber actors associated with [North Korea], are responsible for the theft," the FBI said in a statement on Thursday.

Lazarus Group gained notoriety in 2014 after they were accused of hacking into Sony Pictures and publicly leaking confidential data.

The group demanded that Sony withdraw its then-upcoming film The Interview, a satirical comedy staring Seth Rogen and James Franco, about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

A United Nations panel that monitors sanctions on North Korea has accused Pyongyang of using stolen funds to support its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes as a way to avoid international sanctions.

"The United States is aware that the DPRK has increasingly relied on illicit activities - including cybercrime - to generate revenue for its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs as it tries to evade robust US and UN sanctions," Reuters quoted a Treasury Department spokesperson as saying.

A 2020 US military report says North Korea's hacking programme dates back to at least the mid-1990s and has grown to a 6,000-strong cyber warfare unit, known as Bureau 121, which operates from several countries including Belarus, China, India, Malaysia and Russia.

Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis said North Korean hackers stole almost $400m (£291m) worth of digital assets in at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms in 2021- one of most successful years on record for cyber-criminals in the closed-off east Asian state.

On April 14, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia B.Battsetseg received Deputy National Security Adviser of the Republic of India Mr. Vikram Misri.

The Minister noted that the strategic partnership between Mongolia and India is developing rapidly, noting that security and defense cooperation between the two countries is becoming an important part of bilateral relations. They also discussed the possibility of diversifying food imports and supplying rice and sugar from India to prevent the global economic crisis and food shortages following the pandemic.

For his part, Mr. Vikram Misri said that the two countries will further strengthen the Mongolia-India Strategic Partnership, deepen political and security cooperation, and actively cooperate in promoting trade and supplying food, medicine, and pharmaceuticals to the Mongolian market.

The sides also reaffirmed their commitment to work closely to ensure the timely and successful completion of the Oil Refinery Project, a symbol of Mongolia-India cooperation.