Canada’s Centerra Gold (TSX: CG) is closer to settling a dispute triggered by Kyrgyzstan’s expropriation of the company’s giant Kumtor gold mine in 2021, after the country’s ministers backed on Monday the government’s decision to solve the issue.

Negotiations on the exact terms of the new agreement are still ongoing, the Toronto-based miner said on Monday, adding that there was no guarantee of any proposed deal being completed.

The gold miner and the Kyrgyz government have clashed over financial and environmental issues related to the mine for years. Their standoff took a turn for the worse in May 2021, when the nation took control of the mine, alleging that the company was running it in a way that was detrimental to both the environment and nearby communities.

Centerra, which has denied all the allegations, kicked off arbitration shortly after and sued former director Tengiz Bolturuk, claiming that the dual Canadian and Kyrgyz citizen had secretly co-operated to stage the expropriation.

The company had laid out a framework earlier this year for resolving the dispute outside of court. In it, Centerra proposed to receive about 26.1% of its common stock held by local gold refiner Kyrgyzaltyn JSC. It also said the state should assume all responsibility for the company’s two Kyrgyz subsidiaries as well as the giant mine.

Kumtor, which accounts for a fifth of the ex-Soviet country’s total industrial output, was the largest of Centerra’s gold mines, contributing to more than 50% of the company’s total output.

The operation is also crucial to Kyrgyzstan, as it is the country’s largest private-sector employer, taxpayer, and main foreign investment. Between 1997 and 2020, it produced more than 13.2 million ounces of gold, with last year’s output slightly over 556,000 ounces.

Dr. Khalid Sharifi has taken up his appointment as Head of Office for UNFPA Mongolia Country Office on 22 March 2022.

Prior to his appointment as Head of Office for UNFPA in Mongolia, Khalid served as UNFPA Assistant Representative in Afghanistan since July 2018. Before that, Khalid served as Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Specialist in UNFPA Afghanistan for more than three years.

Prior to joining UNFPA, Khalid worked for Afghan NGOs to implement the Primary and Secondary Health Care program in Afghanistan in the capacity of Managing Director, Health

Director, and Program Manager for more than ten years. Before that, Khalid served the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the Afghan Red Crescent Society for around nine years and practised clinical medicine at Kabul National Hospitals for four years as a pediatrician.

An Afghan national, Khalid holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the Royal Tropical Institute (VU University) in the Netherlands and a Post Graduate Diploma in Health Care Management from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Basel University) in Switzerland, and a Medical Doctor degree from Kabul Medical University.

UNFPA Mongolia

Today (28 March), the Mongolian National Olympic Committee (MNOC) has held Olympic assembly. At the closed meeting of the Executive Committee of MNOC, B.Battushig was elected as a President of the organisation. He has served as a First Vice President of the MNOC since 2017. Furthermore, B.Battushig is currently serving a member of the International Olympic Committee.

Three people including B.Battushig competed in the election for the top seat of MNOC. However, former President of Mongolia, Kh.Battulga pulled out of the race at the beginning of the election. Therefore, Z.Munkh-Ochir, a President of the Mongolian Biathlon Association competed against B.Battushig.

Battushig has started his journey in the Olympic community in 2015. He was first elected as a President of Mongolia’s Badminton Federation followed by his nomination and election to be a council member of Badminton World Federation. This was the first time a Mongolian national being elected to an executive position of an international sports federation. After being actively involved in the Olympic community, in 2017 he was elected First Vice President of the Mongolian National Olympic Committee becoming the youngest person to hold this position in Mongolia.

Last year, N.Tuvshinbayar, former President of the Mongolian National Olympic Committee (MNOC), has jailed for an assault that killed the victim. Therefore, he was suspended from the post of MNOC president. He was elected unopposed as President of the MNOC, which this year celebrates its 65th anniversary, in August 2020.

N.Tuvshinbayar replaced D.Zagdsuren, who had held the post for 19 years, at an Extraordinary General Assembly of the MNOC.

Global oil prices have fallen as China starts to implement a city-wide lockdown in Shanghai, an important financial and manufacturing hub.

Brent crude lost more than $4 a barrel on concerns that the move would mean that demand for oil will fall.

The Shanghai Composite stock index fell in early trade before regaining most of the losses later in the morning.

The lockdown, which began on Monday, is China's largest since the coronavirus outbreak began more than two years ago.

The futures contract for Brent crude - an international benchmark for oil prices - was down by 3.8% at $116.

Despite the fall, oil remains almost 80% higher than it was a year ago after the war in Ukraine helped to drive up prices.

Traders were concerned about the effectiveness of China's zero-tolerance policy towards Covid, said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.

'Tip of the iceberg'

Mr Innes also said in a note to investors that there were expectations of further supply chain disruptions as well as a fall in demand.

"We might be only dealing with the tip of the iceberg," he said.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite stock index opened lower on Monday before rebounding to trade down by just 0.16% in Asia afternoon trade.

Until now, Chinese authorities had resisted locking down the city of almost 25 million people to avoid destabilising the world's second largest economy.

The city will be locked down in two stages over nine days while authorities carry out Covid-19 testing.

The key financial centre has battled a new wave of infections for nearly a month, although case numbers are not high by some international standards.

It comes after lockdowns in China affected tens of millions of people across the country earlier this month, including the entire Jilin province and the technology hub of Shenzhen.

Shanghai's public transport has been suspended and firms and factories in the city have been ordered to halt operations or work remotely.

The lockdown will take place in two stages, starting on Monday with the eastern side of Shanghai, which includes the city's financial centre.

From Friday, the western side of Shanghai is scheduled to go into lockdown.

This staggered approach means that half of the city will be able to remain open.

Some businesses had already stopped operating in Shanghai, which has been battling a new wave of Covid infections for nearly a month.

Last week, the Shanghai Disney Resort said it would close until further notice, citing the "current pandemic situation".

"We will continue to monitor the pandemic situation and consult local authorities, and will notify guests as soon as we have a confirmed date to resume operations," it said.

Everyone east of its main river is now locked down. Another round of mass testing has started.

By the week's end the western half of the city will be shut.

Public transport is being closed and the city sealed off. Anyone leaving needs to show a negative test.

It is all part of a huge effort to try to stop the spread of a resurgent virus that China's leaders thought they had banished.

Anyone testing positive here is sent to hospital or forced quarantine.

As the numbers continue to rise China's insistence on a zero-Covid strategy is being tested - but also subtly adapted.

A total of 17,000 tickets have been put on sale for the FIFA international friendly match between Bangladesh and Mongolia, to be played at the Sylhet District Stadium on Tuesday evening.

The match will kick off at 5:30pm local time, with local fans to be allowed at full capacity in an international football match for the first since the start of the pandemic.

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The last time Sylhet District Stadium hosted an international football match was in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup in 2018.

However, with the country's premier football venue Bangabandhu National Stadium under long-term renovation, the Sylhet District Stadium is currently the only FIFA-approved venue and has recently enjoyed a facelift with colourful seats replacing concrete seating arrangements.

The venue is currently hosting Abahani as the home team in the Bangladesh Premier League.

"We are hosting an international match after a long time. We have taken promotional campaigns to encourage people to come to the stadium. There will be raffle draws on tickets, with motorcycle, refrigerator, among prizes," informed Mahiuddin Ahmed Selim, BFF's executive committee member and general secretary of Sylhet District Sports Association.

"We are getting some response, albeit slowly, but we are hopeful to have a full capacity contest," the football official added.

The distance between Sylhet and Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, may only be Bhutan and China, but in terms of weather, these are two extreme cities.

While the average temperature in the Mongolian capital currently drops down to even 20 degrees centigrade at night, it usually hovers around 20 to 30 degrees in Sylhet at this time of the year.

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Hence the journey the Mongolian football team have made for their FIFA friendly against Bangladesh is not mere 2000 miles, it's also traveling from one extreme to the other. And the visitors are not feeling quite at home here, according to their Japanese coach Ichiro Otsuka.

"I came (into the job) only two months ago. The condition of the players is not so good because they didn't train for six months," the Japanese coach said.

It has been so cold in the landlocked country that football has been put on hold since the end of the Mongolian Premier League at the start of October.

Then the single-match Mongolian Super Cup took place and that's it.

The team only trained, albeit with interruption, since the start of March for the Bangladesh game and the one against Laos past week, which they lost 1-0.

Otsuka feels it would be difficult here playing against the hosts in this weather and in front of the crowd.

"We will try to play Mongolian football. And we need to make improvements on the game against Laos," Otsuka hoped.

While the 57-year-old claimed he doesn't know much about Bangladesh football, he could definitely gather some ideas from his compatriot Tetsuaki Misawa, who scored the highest 17 goals in the Mongolian league last season before switching to Muktijoddha Sangsad in the Bangladesh Premier League.

When Mongolian metal band The HU uploaded its songs “Yuve Yuve Yu” and “Wolf Totem” to YouTube in 2018, the group quickly became cultural ambassadors for their country, eventually earning them a spot on some of the biggest music festival lineups in the world.

The HU performs what they call “Hunnu Rock,” which is inspired by the ancient Mongolian empire known as The Huns, and their music features old Mongolian war cries and poetry through traditional Mongolian guttural throat singing.

According to the band’s website, all four members have bachelor’s or higher degrees in music, as well as several years of touring experience throughout Asia and the Pacific regions.

The band’s 2019 album, “The Gereg,” reached No. 103 on the Billboard 200 chart. There’s another album in the works, but a release date has yet to be set.

The HU will perform on 15 and 22 April the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Members Jaya and Gala, and their producer Dashka, spoke to The Desert Sun through Zoom about music in Mongolia, touring the world and their excitement to play Coachella. The following interview was edited for length and clarity.

Are there other musicians in Mongolia following in your footsteps?

JAYA: There are people who are trying to follow our path in the Hunnu Rock genre and who are inspired by us. We’re happy there are many bands coming from Mongolia and getting into the genre.

The HU perform on the fourth and final day of the Louder Than Life music festival. Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021. The band will perform on April 15 and 22, 2022 at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Was it hard to get your hands on Western music in Mongolia?

GALA: When we were growing up, our older brothers visited neighboring countries and they would purchase CDs during their travels. It was so precious back then due to the lack of imported products in our country. We would borrow each other’s and our brother’s CDs, but we always had to make sure not to scratch them, they always get scratched after few times no matter how careful you are. I remember having to borrow a Guns N’ Roses CD from my brother and listening to it and it would skip a beat because of the scratches. It didn’t matter, I still wiped the CD and listened over and over in my old CD player. I still have the CD player, and CD to this day because it is one of my greatest memories as a kid who loved music, and I still do as an artist.

What does it feel like to tour around the world and bring your music to people?

JAYA: It’s very important for us being the representation of our culture, language and rock genre. We are fascinated meeting our fans who positively embrace us.

Through all of your touring, is there an experience you remember the most?

GALA: When we first went on tour in Europe, we played the Rock am Ring festival (in Mendig, Germany). Being a young band, we thought there wouldn’t be many fans waiting for us. But when we came up to the stage, there were thousands of people waiting for us, clapping and cheering.

The HU brought their brand of Mongolian Hunnu rock to the masses on the fourth and final day of the Louder Than Life music festival. Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021

The HU received a lot of attention in 2019 and 2020, then COVID-19 stopped your momentum. How did that feel for the band?

DASHKA: The pandemic was a hard time all around the world, and it was true for the band. We were very disappointed about the tour cancellations. But it gave us more time to focus all the energy on our music. We’re hoping our second album will bring a lot of joy to the world.

What can your fans expect from the upcoming album?

GALA: In our next album, we have been working and collaborating with many amazing and legendary artists. We’ve spent the last 18 months writing, recording and perfecting these new songs that we hope all our fans around the world will enjoy, and [we hope to] further gain new fans. We’ve performed a few of the new songs live and we feel as though they’re connecting really well with our fans. We’re excited to release our new album this year.

Does it ever feel like there’s a language barrier between the band and the fans?

JAYA: We don’t worry about that at all because music is a universal language and there’s no barrier. We think from heart to heart, there’s no limit to what music can do. Our fans are good at remembering the lyrics. For example, when we sing, they’ll be chanting with us, no matter the language. It’s awesome how far they would [go] to learn our language and style. We’re so grateful.

The Hu performs on the Tito's Handmade Vodka Stage during Austin City Limits Music Festival on October 9 2021.

Is there anything you’d like for people to know about Mongolia?

GALA: On top of the history, we love to share the nobility practice that came from our ancestors that can be useful to the modern world. That ancient way of living is one of the greatest assets that humankind can have. One of our main goals is to share that feeling of how the nomadic way of living can be.

How do you feel about playing at Coachella?

JAYA: Not only are we excited to play at Coachella, but also people in Mongolia and our fans [are excited for them to play at the festival]. Everybody that we know is so excited for us to play at Coachella and is cheering us on. We can’t wait to go to our rehearsals to prepare for it.

source: (Desert Sun)

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Mongolia held scheduled meetings on March 23 and 24, 2022. Taking into consideration the current state of the economy and financial markets as well as the outlook for the domestic and foreign economic environment, the MPC decided to increase the policy rate by 2.5 percentage points to 9.0 percent.

The tension arisen in international relations recently has become an additional source of uncertainty in the foreign and domestic economy. As the range of uncertainties widened, commodity prices especially prices of crude oil and food rose sharply in the international markets, and supply chain disruptions are expected to persist, many countries are subject to risks of higher inflation and lower economic growth for this year than previously expected.

Annual headline inflation reached 14.2 percent nationwide and 15.5 percent in Ulaanbaatar city as of February 2022. Elevated prices of food and petroleum in the international markets, transportation, and logistic restrictions, which incur further transportation costs, as well as supply disruptions have been identified as the main factors explaining recent inflation developments. Though inflation has gradually decelerated in February consistent with our previous projections, the current inflation outlook is being revised upwards due to the international tension arisen recently.

Economic growth last year undermined expectations owing to reduced production activities in mining, transportation, and construction sectors mainly caused by border restrictions, despite trade and service sectors supporting growth in line with the easing of pandemic-related quarantine measures. Economic growth outlook in 2022 is expected to be negatively affected by higher production costs driven by surges in crude oil prices in the global markets, taking into account the current state of international relations, as well as constrained supply of production inputs resulting from anti-COVID policies being implemented by our main trading partner.

Acceleration of external benchmark rate, worsening balance of payments, and increased inflation expectations through the prevalence of cost-push inflation that is triggered by higher production costs have necessitated the implementation of policy measures with the aim to tighten monetary policy stance at a faster pace and improve relative yield on the domestic currency. The Bank of Mongolia will take subsequent necessary actions in a timely manner in accordance with activities in the foreign and domestic economy, inflation developments, supply constraints as well as the state of international relations.

Bank of Mongolia

The Ministry of Health reported today that 69 СOVID-19 cases were recorded in the last 24 hours nationwide. In detail, 38 cases were reported in Ulaanbaatar city, with 31 cases in 21 provinces.

It was also reported that no COVID-19 related death has been reported in the past 24 hours. Currently, there are 378 people are receiving hospital treatment for COVID-19 whilst 1,166 people with mild symptoms are being treated at home.

We have known for some time now that COVID-19 can affect the nervous system.

Some people who contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus have suffered from a number of neurological complications including confusion, strokes, impaired concentration, headaches, sensory disturbances, depression, and even psychosis, months after the initial infection.

Now, researchers at the University of Oxford have conducted the first major peer-reviewed study comparing the brain scans of 785 people, aged 51 to 81 of whom 401 had contracted COVID and 384 had not. There were, on average, 141 days between testing positive for COVID and the second brain scan.

The study revealed that, when compared to the scans of a control group, those who tested positive for COVID had greater overall brain shrinkage and more grey matter shrinkage and tissue damage in regions linked to smell and mental capacities months after the initial infection.

Although the research does shed some light on the ongoing symptoms of long COVID, I would caution against generalising the findings to the population at large before more research is conducted.

Researchers said even though the effects were more pronounced in older people who had been hospitalised for their symptoms, even those with mild symptoms had some changes.

“Despite the infection being mild for 96 percent of our participants, we saw a greater loss of grey matter volume, and greater tissue damage in the infected participants, on average 4.5 months after infection,” said Professor Gwenaëlle Douaud, lead author on the study. “They also showed greater decline in their mental abilities to perform complex tasks, and this mental worsening was partly related to these brain abnormalities.”

The study was conducted when the Alpha variant was dominant in Britain and is unlikely to include anyone infected with the Delta variant. The researchers also did not say if vaccination against COVID had any impact on the condition.

The scans they did reveal changes in several parts of the brain after people contracted COVID, including:

Greater reduction in grey matter thickness and tissue contrast in the orbitofrontal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus. The orbitofrontal cortex is the part of the brain that controls reward, emotion and fluctuations in mood and feelings of sadness. It is also involved in cognitive function and decision-making. The parahippocampal gyrus plays a role in the control of our emotions as well as an important role in memory retrieval and spatial awareness and processing. We have seen symptoms of depression, anxiety and “brain fog” where people are prone to memory issues after a COVID infection.

Greater changes in markers of tissue damage in regions functionally connected to the primary olfactory cortex. This is the part of the brain for processing and perception of smell; it also helps link smells to certain memories and survival responses. Loss of sense of smell has been a hallmark symptom of COVID and this may explain why that is.

Greater reduction in global brain size, essentially meaning the participants’ brains were smaller after testing positive for COVID than when scanned before the infection.

It is not uncommon for our brains to shrink as we get older, the natural ageing process results in the loss of grey matter every year, on average between 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent, according to researchers.

But the study found that, compared with uninfected participants, those who contracted COVID – even those who had mild cases – lost between 0.2 percent and 2 percent between scans.

The study also found that participants who had suffered from COVID exhibited a greater decline in efficiency and attention when performing a complex cognitive task.

The Oxford study is the first study to make such a direct link between COVID infections and changes in the brain. It goes some way to providing us with the beginnings of an explanation about the myriad neurological symptoms people with long-COVID complain about, although researchers stress that more studies are needed.

We do not know whether the changes in the brain demonstrated in this study are long-term or permanent, or whether they would be the same for younger people, who generally (but not always) get milder COVID symptoms.

Since the study was conducted during the reign of the Alpha variant, more work needs to be done on those who contracted the Delta and Omicron variants to see if similar changes are found.

The timing of the study also means that the participants were unlikely to have been vaccinated. Now, with so many people vaccinated, it would be useful to know if the vaccines offer a layer of protection.