US health authorities say more than 70 percent of new COVID-19 cases reported across the country last week were likely caused by the Omicron variant.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its latest analysis on Monday.

The report showed that Omicron accounted for an estimated 73.2 percent of new cases during the week ending Saturday. That's nearly a six-fold increase from the 12.6 percent estimated for the previous week.

In US states where infections are surging, Omicron appears to be quickly replacing the Delta variant as the dominant strain.

It is estimated to have accounted for 92 percent of new cases in the states of New York and New Jersey, and 92.3 percent in Illinois and Ohio.

The weekly average of new daily COVID-19 cases nationwide hit over 127,000 as of Saturday, while hospital admissions reached an average of about 7,500 per day. Both figures have grown by more than 30 percent since a month ago.

The rising number of infections is beginning to strain the health-care system. Some hospitals in Northeastern and Midwestern states are now putting off non-urgent surgeries to deal with coronavirus patients.

LYON, FRANCE: Terrorism and organized crime are invariably linked to the illicit trafficking of firearms, often across borders.

A recent INTERPOL-led operation codenamed Trigger-Salvo saw law enforcement from 10 countries in Central, East and Southeast Asia coordinate in a series of border enforcement actions aimed at preventing firearms trafficking and detecting any links with terrorism and organized crime.

During a two-week period (25 October – 5 November), participating law enforcement agencies conducted enhanced passenger and cargo controls at designated airports, seaports, and land borders as well as at known smuggling routes within the participating countries. Data from the screening of individuals, travel documents and vehicles was then cross-checked against INTERPOL’s global databases, enabling officers to identify wanted persons and potential threats.

The operation notably saw Mongolian law enforcement destroy a cache of 2,000 illegal firearms, seized over a period of three years.

“Mongolia’s decision to destroy these firearms symbolises our commitment to Operation Trigger-Salvo and to enhancing security in the wider region,” said Police Lieutenant Colonel Nyamdavaa Bayasgalan, Chief Inspector of Mongolia’s INTERPOL National Central Bureau in Ulaanbaatar.

Russian businessman Roman Abramovich has reportedly acquired a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet worth $350 million, the most expensive private jet in Russia to date, Forbes magazine wrote, citing sources in the aviation market.

A spokesman for Millhouse, the company that manages Abramovich’s assets, declined to comment on the news.

However, according to Flightradar24 data, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft had indeed arrived from Basel to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on December 18, where private aviation is serviced. The next day the plane flew from Moscow to St. Martin in the Caribbean.

According to Forbes, there are only 250 such aircraft in the world, and this one is the first in Russia. Mexico’s president had used a Boeing Dreamliner as his presidential plane, and the only other privately-owned Dreamliner belonged to UAS International Trip Support, which operates global luxury charter jet service ‘Dream Jet’. Other than that, the aircraft type is largely owned and operated by major airline companies.

According to the media, Abramovich’s Dreamliner was built in 2015 for a private airline operator from Switzerland, PrivatAir. It was never handed over to the company, which filed for bankruptcy in 2018. In 2019, the aircraft was reportedly re-equipped to suit Abramovich’s needs.

The base value of the aircraft is reportedly $248.3 million, but sources say additional equipment cost at least another $100 million. In November, media reported that Abramovich put his old private jet, a Boeing 767-300ER, up for sale for an estimated $100 million. That plane was widely known as ‘Bandit,’ due to the black tint on its cockpit windows.

Abramovich’s fortune is estimated at $14.5 billion, he is currently Russia’s 12th richest businessman, and is best known for owning the UK’s Chelsea Football Club.

Twenty-four vehicles got delivered following a contract signed by Transmashholding and Ulan Bator Railway in 2019. The Russian rolling stock producer shipped four Class 2TE25K2M mainline cargo diesel locomotives in December, while Class TEM18DM shunting diesel locomotives got delivered in November.

Aside from the Class 2TE25K2M and Class TEM18DM, TMH manufactures the Class 2TE25KM and Class 3TE25K2M.

Both locomotive classes guarantee dependability, capability and provide records of availability and positive feedback on comfort and crew maintenance.

The locomotives will get utilized on railroads and by firms in Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Belarus – boosting the volume of shipped freight while lowering operational expenses.

The microprocessors used in these locomotives systematically adjust the freight on the diesel generators while monitoring the condition of accessories, thus increasing safety and productiveness.

The locomotives are equipped with an adjusted 18-9DG diesel-generator set with increased power of 2,850 kW and have an increased engine power factor used for traction. They were made with updated locomotive axle load and boosted speed to 25.4 km/h

These locomotive series are reasonably popular on the rail lines, but they get used at industrial firms that already own train fleets.

The locomotives got designed while focusing on intense weather conditions. Average Mongolian weather includes high levels of dust and rapid temperature changes.

The TEM18DM diesel shunting locomotive has been produced by TMH since 2008 while operating on the Mongolian infrastructure since 2011 and presenting a track record of successes for their ease of operation, serviceability, drivers’ crew comfort, and affordable price. To expand the range of applications of the machine, the manufacturer extended its product series that feature six adjustments from which the clients can choose.

The firm behind the namesake platform wants to bring Mongolian artists to the world stage and promote an authentic cultural experience to tourists through the Metaverse.

Mongolia is a land of endless steppes, hosting mystic Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and fierce horse warriors blessed by the eternal Tengri, the sky god in folk shamanism. For centuries, the harsh, cold climate of the plains forced its people to venture to the world beyond in a series of journeys and conquests. And now, blockchain enthusiasts can hear their stories in the form of nonfungible tokens through the Mongol NFT platform.

Since its inception in September, the platform has surpassed 100,000 registered users and close to 400 creators in various stages of their projects. In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Gabit Bazar and Adiya Bayansan, co-founders of Mongol NFT, discussed the future of the project that's bringing Mongolia (once again) to the world stage.

Gabit Bazar and Adiya Bayansan: It's everyone; we have many different areas of artists — they're singers, artists, painters, movie producers, etc.

CT: Which blockchain(s) is this NFT platform based on?

GB & AB: It's multi-chain. So we have Ethereum, obviously, and we're also planning to support Polygon. And next is Solana. The creators will choose; it's up to them.

CT: What are some of the themes surrounding the artwork in these NFTs?

GB & AB: We have a theme of the 13th century, for example, during the time of Genghis Khan. Another artist focuses on Tengri and the culture of the nomadic Central Asian steppes. One artist was in the Marco Polo [who journeyed east to visit Kublai Khan] Netflix show and will be producing cartoon NFTs on that topic.

CT: How many NFTs have people bought and sold so far within the past year?

GB & AB: We launched only about two months ago, on Sept. 17. And we already have approximately 5,000 drops in. And out of those 5,000 drops, our record selling is within five seconds.

CT: And what is the vision behind the platform?

GB & AB: Very simple; every country has a great history, culture, and character. [...] But not everybody knows what character exactly inside, they might know, only one or two very famous artists. Such is the case with Mongolia. We want to bring its talents to the world stage. We were always behind the rest of the world by 20 years, 30 years. But with NFTs and blockchain technology, we are all starting from precisely the same point together.

CT: What does the current state of cryptocurrency adoption look like in Mongolia?

GB & AB: So currently, we do two things: first, someone who purchases the NFT can also use the fiat Mongolian currency (Tögrög, p. Tugrik) or use our coin called MNFT. The partner exchange is Bittrex on our end. So creators can cash out to their exchange, or they can get their Tugrik to their Mongolian bank accounts.

CT: What does the roadmap look like for Mongol NFTs in the future?

GB & AB: So Mongol NFTs was the beginning of the marketplace, then we evolved to MNFT coin, where we want to make it a utility for people. They will have the specific content but are only available for MNFT holders. Exclusive video streaming and music streaming are the next steps. Because today, even though young artists can upload their songs to Spotify or iTunes, it's hard for anyone to find out about it, so getting the economic benefit can be difficult. That's why we want to create a Mongolian streaming service powered by MNFT coins. We want to revolutionize the industry so that the young kids who have that passion for the music, they can get on board, create their NFTs, create their music, and people can listen to it.

Number two, most NFT initiatives also include buying land on The Sandbox, similar to Adidas sportives. All of those big boys have got the land. Now we're also building the Mongol Valley in our Sandbox. So with that, why? Maybe you heard about our traditional annual wrestling festival called Naadam. Our country's vision is to bring as many tourists as possible. We will create tourism in the metaverse. They can see the arts, the festival, go to the marketplace to get the NFTs, and use the MNFT coin to purchase. That's the whole purpose of the metaverse. Any artists can do exhibitions or concerts; we plan to do that as an entire country. The Ministry of Culture of Mongolia is also endorsing us in terms of this initiative.

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. The feasibility study of the gas pipeline from Russia to China via Mongolia will be ready in coming weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after the Russian-Mongolian talks.

"The project of cross-border pipeline construction over the territory of Mongolia from Russia to China is considered in practice. The work is in progress and it is progressing successfully," Putin said. This gas pipeline "can be the extension of the Russia’s Power of Siberia-2 pipeline," the head of state said.

"The optimal route, length and other parameters have already been determined. The feasibility study is being prepared. I believe it will be ready in broad terms in weeks to come," Putin noted.

The Soyuz-Vostok gas pipeline will pass across the territory of Mongolia and will be the extension of the Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline. Its export capacity can be more than 1.3 times above the capacity of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline. Construction work under the project can start in 2024.

Mongolia reported 240 new daily cases of coronavirus infection as of Dec 21, the Ministry of Health of Mongolia.

169 of them were recorded in Ulaanbaatar, 67 were identified in the regions, and 4 were imported.

The total number of cases increased to 388 544.

2 people died from coronavirus.

Death toll from COVID-19 in Mongolia increased to 1,974.

Venture capital funds have invested around $30 billion in cryptocurrency during 2021, which is more than in all previous years since the inception of crypto, market research firm PitchBook has found, citing transaction data.

According to the findings, crypto-related fintech firms globally raised $33.7 billion in 1,217 deals this year, nearly four times the previous yearly record of $8 billion, set in 2018.

“Investors are funding anything and everything,” PitchBook analyst Rob Le said, as quoted by Bloomberg.

Crypto has grown from merely a means of digital exchange into a varied industry with a wide range of projects. There are social media apps that turn celebrities into tokens, blockchain-based play-to-earn non-fungible token (NFT) games and entire NFT market places, which sell everything from collectibles to art pieces. And investors like Coinbase Ventures, Digital Currency Group and Polychain Capital are finding these projects increasingly worth investing in.

“We’ve moved beyond just digital gold. We’ve got financial services, art, gaming as a subcategory of NFTs, Web 3.0, decentralized social media, play-to-earn – all of that made investors think, ‘We don’t have enough exposure,’” according to Spencer Bogart from San Francisco-based Blockchain Capital LLC. His company is among the largest crypto investors, having financed over 120 crypto-related enterprises within the past eight years.

In the US alone, venture capital transactions quadrupled this year with some $7.2 billion in deals, PitchBook data shows.

Among the main fundraising winners of the year is crypto derivatives exchange FTX, which closed a $1 billion funding round in July that raised its valuation to $18 billion. Custodian New York Digital Investment Group also raised $1 billion in mid-December, and is now valued at more than $7 billion. Sky Mavis upped its valuation to $3 billion in October for the crypto-based online game, while Dapper Labs NFT platform pushed its valuation to $2.5 billion after raising $350 million from investors that included basketball legend Michael Jordan.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., said on Twitter that he’ll pay more than $11 billion in taxes this year, an amount that could constitute a record payment to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

The billionaire may face a tax bill of more than $10 billion for 2021 if he exercises all his options due to expire next year, calculations last week by Bloomberg News showed.

The unusually high levy comes after Musk exercised almost 15 million options and sold millions of shares to cover the taxes related to those transactions. That was following a Twitter poll last month when he asked followers whether he should sell 10% of his stake in the electric carmaker, whose shares have rocketed more than 2,300% over the past five years.

A report by ProPublica in June said Musk paid little income tax relative to his outsize wealth. But he’s pushed back against that characterization, saying he doesn’t draw a salary from either SpaceX or Tesla, and pays an effective tax rate of 53% on stock options he exercises. He added that he expects that tax rate to increase next year.

Musk earlier this month said he’ll pay more taxes than any American in history this year. That was in response to another tweet from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who used Musk’s Time Magazine “Person of the Year” accolade to call him out on his taxes.

Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reported 125 new COVID-19 cases and two more related deaths over the past 24 hours, bringing the total caseload to 388,304 and the national death toll to 1,972, according to the country's health ministry on Monday.

Three of the latest confirmed infections were imported from abroad, and the remaining ones were local infections, the ministry said.

Currently, 2,291 COVID-19 patients are being hospitalized across the country, while 4,201 asymptomatic or mild patients are receiving home-based care, according to the ministry.

So far, around 66 percent of Mongolia's population of 3.4 million have received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, while 850,958 people have had a booster. Enditem