Researchers at Australia’s RMIT University and the national science agency CSIRO, have developed a copper surface that kills bacteria more than 100 times faster and more effectively than standard copper and that could help combat the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

“A standard copper surface will kill about 97% of golden staph within four hours,” Ma Qian, one of the scientists involved in the study, said. “Incredibly, when we placed golden staph bacteria on our specially-designed copper surface, it destroyed more than 99.99% of the cells in just two minutes.”

According to Qian, the 120-times faster effectiveness rate was achieved without the assistance of any drug.

“Our copper structure has shown itself to be remarkably potent for such a common material,” he said.

Qian and his colleagues believe there could be a huge range of applications for the new material once further developed, including antimicrobial door handles and other touch surfaces in schools, hospitals, homes and public transport, as well as filters in antimicrobial respirators or air ventilation systems, and in face masks.

The team is also looking to investigate the enhanced copper’s effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2, including assessing 3D-printed samples.

In a paper published in the journal Biomaterials, the group explained that a special copper mould casting process was used to make an alloy, arranging copper and manganese atoms into specific formations. The manganese atoms were then removed from the alloy using a cheap and scalable chemical process called “dealloying”, leaving pure copper full of tiny microscale and nanoscale cavities on its surface.

“Our copper is composed of comb-like microscale cavities and within each tooth of that comb structure there are much smaller nanoscale cavities; it has a massive active surface area,” lead investigator Jackson Leigh Smith said.

Smith pointed out that the pattern also makes the surface super hydrophilic, or water-loving, so that water lies on it as a flat film rather than as droplets.

“The hydrophilic effect means bacterial cells struggle to hold their form as they are stretched by the surface nanostructure, while the porous pattern allows copper ions to release faster,” the researcher said.

Smith explained that these combined effects not only cause structural degradation of bacterial cells, making them more vulnerable to the poisonous copper ions but also facilitate uptake of copper ions into the bacterial cells.

“It’s that combination of effects that results in greatly accelerated elimination of bacteria,” he said.

Researchers across the world are looking to develop new medical materials and devices that could help reduce the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. The reason for this – according to the scientific team behind the new copper surface – is that drug-resistant infections are on the rise, and with limited new antibiotics coming onto the market, the development of materials resistant to bacteria will likely play an important role in helping address the problem.

Mongolia registered 204 new coronavirus cases for the past day.

The total number of confiremd coronavirus cases reached 388,179.

1,203 patients are in serious condition, 243 are in critical condition, 42 are in extremely critical condition.

No lethal outcomes were registered for the past day.

COVID-19 death toll stands at 1,970.

(CNN)As the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant looms across parts of the globe and the Delta variant remains dominant -- for now -- in others, the Covid-19 pandemic is again threatening holiday celebrations for millions.

Several European cities have already canceled firework displays ringing in 2022 and some countries are reimposing restrictions, while Chinese families face the prospect of their third Lunar New Year spent apart.

The Lunar New Year -- which begins on February 1, 2022 -- is China's biggest holiday, with millions of people traditionally crisscrossing the country to join loved ones for the festivities.

But those plans were upturned for many after China's National Health Commission (NHC) on Saturday announced travel restrictions, doubling down on its "zero-Covid" strategy ahead of the Beijing Olympics happening the same month.

It urged residents in any city with confirmed Covid-19 cases against traveling during the upcoming New Year and Spring Festival holidays, amid an outbreak of infections in recent weeks.

The travel restrictions are a fresh blow for lockdown-weary Chinese families, who have endured some of the toughest -- but most effective -- rules in the world for more than a year.

It's bad news too for the world's second largest economy, still struggling with real estate woes and the fallout from sporadic lockdowns.

China's "zero-Covid" strategy will be pushed to the limits when Beijing hosts the Winter Olympics in February, as the country opens its doors to foreign athletes at the same time the Omicron variant will likely be surging in other parts of the globe.

The government in Beijing announced Friday that due to the upcoming holiday season and influx of foreign athletes, residents should avoid leaving the city during the Spring Festival, unless necessary.

Indeed the Omicron variant also comes just as many countries in the Asia-Pacific region with tough restrictions -- including Australia and Japan -- had tentatively started to loosen up and live with Covid-19.

Paris and Rome cancel New Year events

China isn't the only country downscaling its festivities this year amid outbreaks.

The Netherlands is imposing a strict new lockdown, starting Sunday at 5 a.m., Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced in a televised press conference Saturday, according to CNN affiliate RTL News.

Indoor gatherings will be limited to a maximum of two guests until January 14, except on Christmas and New Year's Eve, when that will be extended to four guests, according to RTL News.

All schools and extracurricular activities will close until at least January 9, RTL reports.

Sports competitions will be halted, and all indoor sports venues will also be closed, Rutte said, according to RTL News, though children under 17 years of age will be able to continue playing sports until 5 p.m. Sunday.

France on Friday announced large outdoor events and gatherings will be banned on New Year's Eve as the country faces its fifth wave of infections, warning that Omicron will become the dominant variant by early 2022.

Denmark has also proposed closing cinemas and theaters, and limiting the numbers of people in shops the week before Christmas, as it attempts to control a spike in cases.

And Rome is among several Italian cities that have decided to cancel New Year's festivities over coronavirus concerns, authorities said Thursday.

The Campania region has also banned feasts and alcohol consumption in public areas from December 23 to January 1. Venice also canceled its open air concerts and New Year's Eve fireworks.

Ireland will also introduce an 8:00 p.m. curfew for restaurants and bars from Sunday, and limit numbers for both indoor and outdoor events, amid a surge in Omicron cases, it announced Friday.

China's 'zero-Covid' strategy

Under China's newly tightened measures, people from medium or high-risk areas are strictly prohibited from travel. Those on official duties, or working in the transportation sector, should obtain special permission and a negative Covid-19 test within 48 hours, the NHC added.

The rules are slightly eased for residents in "low risk" districts. They are only advised not to travel during the holiday season, and are required to have a negative Covid-19 test within 48 hours to leave the city.

As part of the designation, "medium risk" areas are those with less than 10 reported cases in the last two weeks. And "high risk" areas have more than 10 reported cases.

China currently has 12 "high risk" areas and 57 "medium risk" areas, NHC statistics showed Saturday.

China has fully vaccinated 1.186 billion people, accounting for 84% of its the population, NHC spokesperson Mi Feng said.

CNN's Dalal Mawad and Livia Borghese contributed to this report

The Mongolian weightlifting team is participating in the 2021 World Weighlifting Championships, which is being held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan between December 7-17.

State Honored Athlete M.Ankhtsetseg successfully lifted a 109 kg snatch and a 141 kg clean & jerk in the 87 kg weight category and claimed the gold medal, becoming a world champion.

Since 2012, she has won two bronze medals at the World Championships and a gold medal at the World Cup, and placed 4th at the Tokyo-2020 Summer Olympics.

Deputy Prime Minister S.Amarsaikhan, Chief of Staff of the Office of the President Ya.Sodbaatar have held a meeting with the Vice chairman of the board of PJSC Gazprom, Burmistrova Elena Viktorovna.

In the beginning of the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister S.Amarsaikhan expressed his satisfaction with the progress of the construction project for the natural gas pipeline connecting Russia and China through the territory of Mongolia as planned by the joint working group, despite the difficult situation of the pandemic.

The sides concurred that since the feasibility study has completed before the visit of President of Mongolia, the following agreement and document drafts should be started to be developed in the near future.

“I am grateful for that the Heads of two States are attaching great significance to the project, which is greatly important for expanding the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries,” highlighted Chief of Staff of the Office of the President Ya.Sodbaatar.

Furthermore, the Mongolian side put forth a suggestion to supply products made from wool, cashmere, leather as well as meat products that meet the international standards for the needs of the Gazprom staff.

Global coal-fired power generation is expected to rise 9% and hit an all-time high by the end of 2021, despite efforts to slash carbon emissions, the International Energy Agency said Friday.

Overall coal demand — including its use in steelmaking, cement and other industrial activities — is expected to grow by 6% in 2021 to 8.11 billion tonnes, the Paris-based group said in its annual report. That puts demand on track to reach a new record high in early 2022 and to remain at that level for the following two years, it said.

Increases in coal demand in Asia will be offset by falling demand in the US and the European Union by 2024, the watchdog noted.

The agency said that renewed demand for the fossil fuel was caused mainly by a faster-than-expected economic recovery, temperature and weather fluctuations that dampened electricity supply and rises gas prices.

“Coal is the single largest source of global carbon emissions, and this year’s historically high level of coal power generation is a worrying sign of how far off track the world is in its efforts to put emissions into decline towards net zero,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol said in a statement.

“Without strong and immediate actions by governments to tackle coal emissions — in a way that is fair, affordable and secure for those affected — we will have little chance, if any at all, of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” Birol said.

COP26 didn’t help

In November, more than 190 countries reached a deal at the United Nations COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, that aims to speed up greenhouse-gas emissions cuts and to “phase down” coal use for the future.

A last-minute intervention from India and China weakened efforts to end coal power and fossil fuel subsidies.

“China’s influence on coal markets is difficult to overstate. China’s power generation, including district heating, accounts for one-third of global coal consumption,” the report reads.

Global coal use to hit record high despite climate fight

Source: IEA Coal 2021 Report. (Click to enlarge)

Researchers at Wood Mackenzie recently warned that the expected coal phase-out may take longer than countries are willing to admit.

China currently accounts for about half of the world’s coal production and it may grow, as it needs to meet rising domestic demand. The government has pressured miners to reduce prices and lower the cost of burning coal during this year’s energy crisis, which triggered blackouts and rationing in the country.

India vowed in November to triple its solar-power capacity and meet half of its energy requirements with renewable energy by 2030. Still, the IEA forecasts that India’s coal consumption will grow at around 4% each year through 2024.

“It is disappointing that coal power may hit an all-time high in the very same year that countries agreed to phase it down,” Dave Jones, global program lead at climate think-tank Ember, said in an emailed statement.

“Coal power will inevitably begin to decline soon: China has committed to phasing down coal from 2025, while India’s huge renewables target should remove the need for more coal.”

Russia and Mongolia have adopted a declaration that sets clear targets in terms of boosting cooperation between the two countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced following talks with his Mongolian counterpart Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh.

"Mr President and I have adopted a joint political declaration as a follow-up to the Treaty on Friendly Relations and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed in 2019," Putin said. He specified that the document "sets clear targets in terms of deepening bilateral ties in various fields of cooperation."

The Russian head of state added that the parties had prepared and planned to sign a number of intergovernmental and interagency documents covering many areas of cooperation, including the economy and trade.

According to Putin, the fact that the Mongolian president chose Russia as the destination for his first foreign visit makes it clear that Mongolia places much importance on promoting good-neighborly ties with Russia. "Certainly, we too are interested in close cooperation with our Mongolian friends," the Russian leader said, adding that 2021 marked the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Putin stressed that Russia was the first country to recognize Mongolia’s independence and since then, bilateral interaction had been progressing based on mutual respect and the willingness to take each other’s interests into account.

When speaking about economic cooperation, Putin emphasized that Russia was one of Mongolia’s major trade partners. According to him, despite the difficulties created by the coronavirus pandemic, trade between the two countries grew by 24% in the first nine months of the year. Putin also pointed to the effective work of the intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, research and technical cooperation. The Russian president noted that at a meeting in November, the commission had outlined new specific plans for cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, mining, energy, agriculture and digital technologies.

"The Ulaanbaatar Railway is quite a successful flagship joint commercial project. In the past ten years, its annual freight turnover doubled from 15 mln to 30 mln tonnes," he specified. Putin also said that in the previous years, much had been done to modernize railway tracks and ensure the company’s financial stability. "We expect that these measures will make railroad freight traffic through Mongolia even more attractive and profitable," the Russian leader stressed.

It was the final showdown, day 15 of the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament, in Japan’s Aichi prefecture. After 14 days and 14 wins for each wrestler, the title bout on July 18 was made all the more tense for its involving grand champion yokozuna Hakuho and second-ranked ozeki Terunofuji, who, after the former’s more than a decade of sumo domination, was widely seen as the next ascendant in the ancient Japanese sport.

As the gyoji (referee) assumed position inside the raised clay dohyo (ring), the two giants set their fists on the floor, and at the signal, launched their combined 340kg of muscle and fat into each other. The champion rammed his forearm into Terunofuji’s face, before the challenger manoeuvred his hand inside Hakuho’s loincloth to attempt a throw, but, drawing on his experience of 1,187 wins in 84 tournaments, the veteran unbalanced Terunofuji and with an outside arm grip sent him face first to the ground.

The entire match lasted 20 seconds. Having been defeated in several bouts in the preceding six tournaments while carrying a knee injury, this final victory before retirement served to affirm 36-year-old Hakuho’s place among the greatest of all time.

Soon after Nagoya, 29-year-old Terunofuji – with 422 wins in 63 tournaments – became the 73rd yokozuna in sumo history, a lineage that stretches back to 8th century mythology. More noteworthy, though, is the fact that this new grand champion became the fifth yokozuna born not in the Japanese archipelago, but the vast plateaus of Mongolia. Hakuho had been the fourth.

Landlocked Mongolia is a country of just 3.3 million people, but during the Naadam Festival – an annual celebration of the traditional Mongolian sports of bokh wrestling, archery and horse racing – there can be as many as 20,000 wrestlers on any given day. In 2020, there were 683 active, professional sumo wrestlers in all of Japan.

At the pinnacle of sumo culture, yokozuna are revered above all other sports icons, and even film stars. Given the deep cultural respect they command – and the astronomical fees and endorsement deals that accompany it – a sumo champion is nothing short of a hero in Japan.

Between 2007 and 2017, however, the three active yokozuna were all Mongolians. In 2007, the Japan Sumo Association, the sport’s governing body, had to cancel a fitness test for new recruits after it received zero applications, a situation that was repeated in 2018.

In fact, since 1999, only one Japanese – 1986-born Kisenosato Yutaka – has reached sumo’s highest rank. But having won his first tournament as a yokozuna in 2017, he suffered a chest muscle injury, missed eight consecutive tournaments on medical grounds, and retired in 2019.

This lack of Japanese success in the national sport defies convention in what is one of the most homogeneous countries on Earth.

In Japan, a place where being born there does not automatically confer citizenship, more than 98 per cent of the population is “native”. This is perhaps to be expected in an archipelago that remained deliberately isolated until American warships forced it to “open for trade” in the mid-19th century.

Between 1868 and 2015, just 581,000 foreigners were permitted to become citizens. To put this century and a half of immigration into perspective, in 2018 alone, 756,800 foreigners became United States citizens.

Add to this the fact birth rates in Japan have been so low for so long that more than 20 per cent of the population is now over 65 years old – and that by 2065, the roughly 125 million population is expected to decrease to 88 million – and it is hardly surprising that the concept of preservation of the national identity runs deep.

Indeed, the government has designated several masters of ancient Japanese art and craft as Living National Treasures, and funds efforts to ensure the continuation of ancient techniques, from sword-making to the fabrication of musical instruments.

How, then, in a country so protective of its hermetic cultural heritage, have high-plains farmers from Mongolia been allowed to dominate Japan’s national sport for almost two decades?

Thirty-three-year-old Gannyam Ganbold, owner of Goldish Gym in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar, is a former high-ranking competitor in both sumo and bokh wrestling. He lived in Japan from 2003 to 2006, training and competing in sumo while attending high school in Fukushima.

In 2005, he placed fifth in the high-school division of the all-Japan amateur sumo championship outside Tokyo, and like most other Mongolian sumo wrestlers, he attributes his prowess to his own native wrestling.

“Mongolian bokh champions are usually the sons of champions,” says Ganbold. “Three of the five Mongolian yokozuna were children of bokh champions. In Japan, there are children who’ve been raised with constant training for sumo, but there is a difference in strength.”

Just as highland Kenyan runners have a physio­logical advantage due to acclimatisation that allows them to absorb oxygen more efficiently at high altitudes, so, too, do Mongolian wrestlers. Combine that with a spartan lifestyle of “herding, carrying water, breaking ice and chopping wood”, and a diet of almost nothing but milk and meat, and you have all the prerequisites necessary, Ganbold says, for transforming boys into powerful wrestlers, with tremendous thighs and a huge lung capacity.

Damdinbazariin Ganbold, a Naadam title holder, refers to those born in the city as “apartment boys” who, lacking the hard work and experience of herding, would be “as weak as orphaned lambs”.

Chanko nabe: the Japanese hotpot loved by sumo wrestlers

30 Jan 2020

Health researchers may well agree on that point, having determined that due to the extreme pollution in Ulaanbaatar, city dwellers have only 40 per cent of the lung capacity of those from the countryside.

Former bokh wrestler turned mixed martial arts (MMA) coach Zorigt “Zorky” Ulaankhuu credits “the blood of the ancestors – both the legacy of Genghis Khan and the fact that many boys come from wrestling families, where even their grandfather’s grandfather was a wrestler”, for the Mongolians’ prowess.

American freestyle wrestler and judoka Colt Amborn, 37, teaches freestyle wrestling in Japan. His love of sumo, combined with years of practising Japan’s other major grappling sport, judo, has given him a keen eye when dissecting sumo matches.

He says Mongolians in judo frequently use the fireman’s carry throw, where they squat low and take the opponent over both shoulders, a technique common to Mongolian wrestling, but most Japanese “won’t do that in judo, because if you fail, the opponent winds up on top of you, and you’re trapped underneath in a horrible crucifix position”.

Similarly, Mongolians brought new techniques and skills to sumo. In 2000, the Japan Sumo Association added 12 winning techniques based on Mongolian wrestling, bringing the total to 82, the first such new additions to the sumo rule book since 1960.

About half of the techniques were based on gripping, while the others were leg sweeps or trips, especially useful for Mongolian sumo wrestlers, who are often smaller than their Japanese counterparts.

Apart from the five Mongolian grand champions, the only foreigners to have reached sumo’s highest rank have been two Americans – Akebono and Musashimaru, both Polynesians from Hawaii.

Other foreign wrestlers have reached the second highest rank of ozeki, such as Bulgarian Kotooshu Katsunori, Estonian Baruto Kaito, Georgian Tochinoshin Tsuyoshi and American Konishiki Yasokichi.

There have also been two mixed-race (hafu) ozeki: Korean-Japanese Maenoyama Taro in the 1970s and, currently, Filipino-Japanese Takayasu Akira.

Which raises the question, if being Japanese is not necessary, and, if as often seems to be the case, there are not enough Japanese interested in taking part in the sport to sustain it, then why have so few foreigners taken it up?

Long before daring to dream of becoming a yokozuna, wrestlers must survive years of training while growing up in a sumo stable. The novice’s life is an arduous, unrelenting and near-monastic one, all of which discourages Japanese youngsters from joining the sport. (For Mongolians fresh from the plains, by contrast, the relative affluence of Japanese stable life may seem like a step up.)

“Maybe there would be more foreigners in sumo if you didn’t have to invest so much time, starting at the bottom, as a trainee, living in a stable, working your way up,” says Amborn.

Perhaps American football players or Olympic free­style wrestlers could be trained to compete in sumo, he says, just as they have learned to fight in MMA, “but, they wouldn’t speak the language and wouldn’t want to live in a dormitory, doing the cooking and cleaning, and serving their seniors” for years before being allowed to compete.

Until they earn rank, by winning a honbasho, or a grand tournament, wrestlers must live in the stable, every aspect of their lives dictated by their trainers.

“Sumo is not only about winning,” says Amborn. “It’s about the culture, the tradition and the rituals.”

Culture needs evolution and revolution. Foreign wrestling techniques and mentality make the traditionalist association rethink what sumo is

Hiroyuki Imamura, a Japanese PhD candidate in cultural anthropology at Sokendai University

In the stable, the usually dozen or so young recruits wake up at 5am to do the cleaning and washing for the older wrestlers before beginning morning training. The wrestlers do not eat breakfast, so their first several hours of training are undertaken on an empty stomach.

Despite their huge bodies, they do the splits, followed by shiko, a kind of squat, where they lift one leg high in the air, allowing it to crash to the ground, before lifting the other leg and doing the same. This is repeated, over and over again, side to side, building up both muscular strength and flexibility. They spar and do push-out drills, driving into an opponent, again and again, until they collapse from exhaustion.

Skipping breakfast ensures that they do not vomit during training. The first meal of the day is usually around 11am, and the portions are superhuman. It is followed by a nap.

Such a life requires more discipline than most could bear, and extracurricular shenanigans are not tolerated. Sumo wrestlers who get caught up in scandals are suspended, as were Mongolian Harumafuji after a bar fight, and fellow countryman Asashoryu, who was repeatedly sanctioned for unsportsmanlike conduct and eventually banned from the sport after being discovered playing in a charity football game back home in Mongolia while on sick leave from the sumo circuit. In 2011, nine sumo wrestlers were forced to retire after being implicated in a match-fixing scheme.

But for those Mongolians who can hack it, sumo offers a chance at fame and riches. Coach Dandar Jamsran has sent several of his young bokh wrestlers, usually 15 or 16 years old, to Japan.

Jamsran says that in Mongolia, there is no real sumo training, but once the boys are selected, he would have the young wrestlers launch their bodies at each other, over and over again in the sumo style, to build up their thighs and backs. The youngsters would also be encouraged to begin eating as much as possible to bulk up.

“For the Mongolians,” says Jamsran, “there is the added burden of knowing they represent our country.”

Even the Mongolian yokozuna, assimilated to the point of marrying locals and some even granted Japanese citizenship, will never be truly Japanese. And there are rules in place to make sure of that, starting with allotments.

While foreign yokozuna may have saved sumo from extinction in the past two decades, each stable in the country is permitted only one foreign wrestler.

Professional sports leagues in Japan have similar restrictions: hockey teams can have only two foreign players on the ice at any one time, and the same goes for American football players on the field. Baseball teams are allowed to sign as many foreign players as they wish, but are permitted to have only four foreign players on the 25-man game roster.

The Japanese football league limits teams to four Western players on match day, though they are allowed a fifth if from another Asian country. Similarly, Japanese basketball teams are allowed a maximum of three Western players, but can sign a fourth foreign player if they are Asian.

Hiroyuki Imamura, a Japanese PhD candidate in cultural anthropology at Sokendai University, in Kanagawa prefecture, conducts research into martial arts as a part of national culture. He says that most Japanese have nothing against the Mongolians, “except fanatic nationalists or the hard right”.

The media, he adds, plays a big role in whether the Mongolian wrestlers are in or out of favour with Japanese fans. “When Asashoryu or Hakuho, ex-yokozuna, made trouble for the [Japan Sumo Association], the mass media reported it as: ‘Are Mongolian sumo wrestlers acceptable for Japanese culture? I think not!’” he says.

The sumo association was frequently unhappy with the level of emotion exhibited by some of the Mongolians. “Asashoryu often showed a deadly expression before he started fighting and his happiness at winning,” says Imamura. “For the sumo association, such an expressive champion is intolerable, because for them, the ideal yokozuna is calm, dignified and does not show his feelings.”

Before his matches, Hakuho would often display strong emotions, reflecting a fierce determination to destroy his opponent. After a win, he would allow himself a quick celebratory shout or a split second’s victory dance. When he defeated Terunofuji, Hakuho smiled broadly and punched his fist in the air.

“Culture needs evolution and revolution,” Imamura says. “Foreign wrestling techniques and mentality make the traditionalist association rethink what sumo is, in terms of techniques, philosophy and pedagogy.”

Twenty-five-year-old Mongolian Narantsogt Davaanyam – sumo name Sadanohikari Shinta – has been trying to make his way up the rankings since arriving in Japan nearly a decade ago. He feels Japanese fans “accept Mongolian yokozuna because [they] are capable and talented and did it by the rules. People who are working hard and make it up there and become champions.

“There’s no prejudice […] There are many audience and fan groups that support Mongolian or European sumo wrestlers.”

He adds: “For big fans of sumo, I think Mongolians are no problem at all. Because of Mongolians, sumo can survive as Japanese popular culture.”

BY: Antonio Graceffo is an author and economist working in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Moscow: Honorary Representative Telo Tulku Rinpoche is on a visit to Mongolia from 13th to 23rd December. The last visit to Mongolia was in the fall of 2019. Since then, there have been many changes in Mongolia in various sectors of Mongolian Life.

In 2020, Mongolia held parliament elections, and also a new President was elected in 2021 also the head of the Buddhist of Mongolia Khambo Lama Cho Gyamtso was conferred with the title of “Nomin Khambo Lama” of Mongolia. Honorary representative Telo Tulku Rinpoche was received by The Head of the Buddhist of Mongolia, Nomin Khambo lama at his cabinet. “On behalf of H.H. the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration, It is my honor to congratulate you on your new title which I am confident will bring immense benefit for the future development of your spiritual activities across Mongolia. There is no denial of the historical facts between Mongolia and Tibet. Even through difficult periods, we have stood by each other in spirit and have never forgotten the bond between the two people” Said Honorary Representative Telo Tulku Rinpoche.

In the latter part of the day, Telo Tulku Rinpoche was received by the Indian Ambassador to Mongolia, Mr. MP Singh, and Telo Tulku Rinpoche gave a briefing on Mongolia-Tibet relations and discussed future projects to be implemented and discussed. Currently, there are about 30 Tibetan living in Mongolia which consists of mostly monks from various Monasteries and traditions. A meeting was held to discuss establishing Tibetan Association. Honorary Telo Tulku Rinpoche said “The future establishment of the Tibetan Association is to sustain the unity among Tibetans living abroad as well as finding ways of how to represent the Tibet issues on a larger scale and how to proceed with the various activities as a registered entity rather than an unrecognized or unregistered organization. We all have a moral responsibility to never forget our movement for justice as well as protection of our Rights as Tibetan no matter where we live today”. Said Telo Tulku Rinpoche. Telo Tulku Rinpoche gave a briefing to the Tibetan Community about the CTA activities since the newly elected Sikyong Penpa Tsering and MP’s. The meeting was followed by a dinner hosted by the Tibetan Community.

In the coming days, Telo Tulku Rinpoche will engage in meeting with local Buddhist communities, NGO’s and various members in the academic as well members in the government.

– Report filed by OOT Moscow