Japan has put a batch of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine on hold after a foreign substance was found in a vial.

A pharmacist saw several black particles in one vial of the vaccine in Kanagawa Prefecture, according to authorities.

Some 3,790 people had already received shots from the batch. The rest of the batch has now been put on hold.

It comes less than a week after Japan suspended the use of about 1.63 million Moderna doses due to contamination.

The pharmacist found the black particles while checking for foreign substances before the vaccine's use.

The jab's domestic distributor has collected the vial suspected to be contaminated.

Local media reports say there is no evidence so far of any health hazards caused by the potentially contaminated vaccine.

Takeda Pharmaceutical, which sells and distributes the vaccine in Japan, had just last week put three batches of the vaccine on hold after "foreign materials" were found in some doses of a batch of roughly 560,000 vials.

Spanish pharmaceutical firm Rovi, which bottles the vaccine, said in a statement that a manufacturing line in Spain could be the cause of the issue.

It added that it was conducting an investigation.

On Tuesday, Japan's health minister said foreign matter found in jabs in the southern prefecture of Okinawa were due to needles being incorrectly inserted into vials.

Japan is battling a spike in Covid cases while it hosts the Paralympic Games.

Its vaccination roll-out has been relatively slow, with just over 40% of Japanese people fully vaccinated and around 50% having received one dose.

B.Solongo, Deputy Chief of the Cabinet Secretariat informed about the progress of discussions being held between the Cabinet and the Rio Tinto Group as well as the current situation.

During the press conference that took place following the cabinet meeting, the Deputy Chief of the Cabinet Secretariat said, “Oyu Tolgoi has had cost overruns two times. We acknowledged the reasons behind the first cost overrun that occurred at the open-pit section of the mine. However, the underground mining costs increased by USD 1.45 billion. Following an independent review on this matter, we were given a detailed report of 157 pages. In addition, a financial audit was recommended in the report. In the future, we have to monitor the operations Oyu Tolgoi. Furthermore, as the information provided by Oyu Tolgoi to Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi is very general, we have requested the company to provide more detailed information."

“The dispute over the two tax acts will also continue at the London Court of International Arbitration. As the dispute was initiated by Oyu Tolgoi, it will not be resolved even if Rio Tinto pays USD 350 million. Alongside the current pandemic circumstance, the schedule delays of the underground mine exploitation negatively affected the state budget. Rio Tinto, therefore, has offered to pay dividends to be paid to our side in advance. We did not hold any talks on suspending the development of the underground mine because the exploitation of the underground mine is mutually beneficial. Rio Tinto Group has sent us a report stating that the government owes USD 22 billion. As the report was quite concerning, we suggested discussing the matter with the group in order to resolve misunderstandings. We have not yet decided what to do with the share of 34 percent owned by Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi LLC on behalf of the Government of Mongolia,” she said.

Mongolian officials said on Tuesday that they will "carefully review" a new plan from Rio Tinto for financing the costly expansion of the vast Oyu Tolgoi copper mine -- intimating that it could take years to reach agreement.

The rising cost of the new underground phase of the mine, now pegged at $6.8 billion, played a part in bringing down both Mongolia's previous prime minister and Rio's last chief executive.

While the government has not paid up front for any of the construction or operating costs of the mine, figures that emerged late last year projecting that it might never receive any dividends from its 34% ownership of one of the world's biggest copper deposits engulfed the project in fresh controversy.

In a proposal submitted to Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai on Monday, Rio offered to waive interest on the loan extended to finance the government's capital share, an official told Nikkei Asia. Under the current arrangement, the rate is fixed at Libor plus 6.5%, or around 6.74% currently.

The company also offered to pay the government $350 million over the next three years to assist Mongolia with its pandemic difficulties, government officials said.

"We take the cash payment offer as a prepaid dividend and there will be much more further talks," Solongoo Bayarsaikhan, deputy cabinet secretariat chief and a leading negotiator in the talks with Rio, said at a news conference Tuesday.

"Negotiations may take 3 to 4 years," said Nyambaatar Khishgee, minister of justice and internal affairs, noting the government would hire consultants to carefully review terms, given perceived mistakes made in earlier rounds of talks.

Rio on Wednesday said it would decline to comment on "speculation" about its offer.

Under the current financing arrangement, Mongolia will only receive dividends once it has paid off the interest and principal on the loan from Rio, now about $2.2 billion. Until late 2020, the authorities had expected to start collect dividends in 2032 but a two-year delay in construction and $1.5 billion increase in the project's budget darkened the outlook.

Copper production from the underground section of the mine was originally scheduled to begin last year, and preparatory work will continue while negotiations proceed. Solongoo said the government will also continue to pursue an international arbitration claim against Rio for taxes found to be unpaid after auditing the mine's records.

Rio has said the mine project pays around $300 million in taxes annually to the government, including royalties. The company has collected $1.3 billion in management fees for operating the original open-pit section of the mine since 2013.

Earlier this month, a special board committee of the joint venture that owns the mine concluded that project management problems were key to the delays and cost overruns with the underground expansion.

Former Mongolian Prime Minister Saikhanbileg Chimed, who signed a 2015 deal with Rio, is under investigation over his handling of those talks but is in exile. Bayar Sanj, a predecessor, was sentenced in 2020 to five years' imprisonment for abuse of power in another case related to the mine.

Following the Cabinet meeting today, August 31, Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs Kh. Nyambaatar held a press briefing to introduce a letter from Rio Tinto’s management team to the Prime Minister of Mongolia.

In the letter, as head of the Oyu Tolgoi mine project management team, Rio Tinto has apologized for delaying the development of the underground mine, expressing regrets for the schedule delays amid the pandemic and difficult economic times. The letter also reads that Rio Tinto offers to work with the government to generate MNT 1 trillion (USD 350 million) of additional revenue for Mongolia over the next three years, which is an addition to existing taxes and royalty payments generated by an existing open pit mine at Oyu Tolgoi.

To speed up returns that the Mongolian government will earn from the Oyu Tolgoi project, a working group set up by the both sides is willing to bring the term of dividends to be paid by Oyu Tolgoi to Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi LLC closer and to reduce the amount of debt that would have accrued on the investment of Mongolian side.

Mr. Nyambaatar said that Rio Tinto has officially expressed that it is ready to negotiate on reducing the current debt of USD 2.3 billion accrued on the Mongolian share of 34 percent. “Moreover, Rio Tinto expressed readiness to continue talks in all aspects and the project must be successfully proceeded, thus asking to adjourn the counterclaim raised by the Mongolian side at the London Court of International Arbitration and freeze the dispute temporarily. The government’s working group will convene this week and announce a date of meeting with a Rio Tinto representative headed by B. Bold, a head of Rio’s copper division.”

The letter also reads that the Rio Tinto wants a long-term agreement on a sustainable energy supply for the Oyu Tolgoi mine as it seeks to complete the development of underground mine.

The establishment of additional terminal for containerized shipping at Gashuunsukhait and Shiveekhuren border checkpoint is 80 percent complete.

The terminal, which will be commissioned in September, is being built with funding from Energy Resources LLC, Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi JSC and Tavan Tolgoi JSC. Moreover, road construction of containerized shipping has started with the establishment of an additional transportation control points at Shiveekhuren checkpoint by the ‘Mongoliin Alt’ LLC.

Construction of flood dams, long and short haul roads at Gashuunsukhait checkpoint as well as the infrastructure are being accomplished as planned.

The construction of terminal for containerized shipping at border checkpoints will reduce human contact and allow drivers to carry out works steadily without crossing the border. Furthermore, it will reduce the negative impact caused by coal transportation on environment, and increase coal export.

The movement of passenger train, which had been suspended for months due to the coronavirus pandemic, was reopened on August 29, 2021 at 5:00 a.m. by the decision made by the SEC.

When traveling by passenger train, the following documents must be submitted and the infection control regime must be strictly followed in accordance with the “Temporary Procedure for regulating traffic movement between the capital city and rural areas” approved by the Order No. 46 of the Chairman of the SEC dated May 19, 2021.

1. Proof that 14 days have passed since receiving the full dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

2. Medical certificate confirming recovery from coronavirus infection in the last 4 months;

Passengers must present a negative PCR test result carried out within the past 3 days or a negative antigen-based rapid test result (valid for 2 days from the date of test) except for passengers who have started their journey from a rural area (aimag, soum) where no cases of coronavirus infection have been reported and have the documents specified in 1.2.

However, children aged under 17 are not required to have a negative result of PCR or rapid antigen-based test for coronavirus infection. State Emergency Commission will be in charge of taking corresponding measures including performing rapid test involving children when coronavirus symptoms have detected with taking questionnaires at checkpoints, checking body temperature.

According to the Resolution No. 15 of the regular meeting of shareholders dated August 18, 2021, shareholders of Suu JSC approved the distribution of MNT 1.7 billion to its shareholders by a dividend of MNT 5.14 per share based on the net profit of the first half-year of 2021. The list of shareholders who are eligible for dividends will be determined by September 06, 2021, and the dividends will be placed in the shareholders’ accounts held at Mongolian Central Securities Depository within February 10, 2022.

The Board of Directors of APU JSC decided to allocate a dividend of MNT 46 per share or a total of MNT 48.8 billion from its net profit of 2021H1. The company publicly announced Board members’ decisions. The list of eligible shareholders is determined by September 03, 2021, whereas the company will allocate dividends through Central Securities Depository before February 10, 2022. APU JSC is pursuing a policy to allocate dividends twice a year. In particular, the company paid a dividend of MNT 37.5 per share or MNT 29.9 billion in 2020H1.

Source: Local Newspaper “Today Newspaper”

On August 27, the Mongolian Information and Trade Promotion Center was opened in Berlin.

The opening was attended by Ambassador of Mongolia to Germany D.Ganbat, Mayor of Berlin Michael Müller, Members of Bundestag Manfred Grund, Alexander Kulitz, Marcus Held, EU TRAM Senior Expert Carl E. Krug, and other corresponding officials. In addition, President of Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI) O.Amartuvshin attended the opening ceremony virtually, and delivered a speech.

In his speech, he said, “Mongolian Trade Promotion Project”, which was launched in March 2017 with the financial support of the European Union, has provided significant support to Mongolian businesses to improve the use of the updated GSP +. The project has empowered more than 100 Mongolian SMEs and enterprises to diversify the economy and increase exports of non-mining products, developed five clusters, and built a "bridge" to the European Union, particularly to Germany”.

The MNCCI signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Mongolian-German Business Association in November 2019 to open the center in Berlin. The opening of this center in Berlin will open up opportunities to attract foreign investment, and facilitate export of Mongolian products to major markets.

EU Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP+) allows developing countries to pay fewer or no duties on exports to nine EU countries, giving them vital access to the EU market and contributing to their growth.

At today’s regular meeting of the Cabinet, the following decisions were made:

Rio Tinto's official letter to the Prime Minister of Mongolia was presented to the Cabinet by a working group responsible for conducting negotiations with Oyu Tolgoi project’s investor side to agree on project issues and submitting the finalization on concerning matters.

The Cabinet Secretariat was instructed to develop a new procedure for evaluating the implementation of the results of aimag and district governors in terms of waste management, e-transition and green facilities.

The 15th National Sports Festival was postponed to 2022 and the 7th Children's Sports Festival was postponed to 2023 due to the transition to a heightened state of readiness and restrictions on public events.

As reported by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, this year’s yield is expected to be abundant to entirely provide the domestic need of wheat and potato and 60 percent of vegetables.

Toyota is resuming operations of its autonomous vehicles at the Paralympic Games village in Tokyo following an accident.

Services of the e-Palette pods were halted after a vehicle hit a visually impaired athlete last week.

The athlete was not seriously injured, but he had to pull out of an event because of cuts and bruises.

The vehicles will now have more operator control and extra staff to ensure they do not hit any more people.

Aramitsu Kitazono, a member of Japan's judo team, was hit as he was walking across a pedestrian crossing on Thursday.

Mr Kitazono was unable to compete in his 81kg category because of the accident.

In a statement late on Monday, Toyota said: "The vehicle's sensor detected the pedestrian crossing and activated the automatic brake, and the operator also activated the emergency brake. The vehicle and pedestrians, however, came into contact before it came to a complete halt."

The company said that operators would now be given control over how fast the vehicles travel, with two members of safety staff on board, rather than one, to help look out for pedestrians.

New safety features will also include louder warning sounds, while pedestrian guides at busy crossings in the Paralympic village will be increased to 20 from six.

Toyota also said that it would continue to make safety improvements "on a daily basis" until the village closes.

The company also said it was co-operating with a local police investigation to determine the cause of the accident.

Chief executive's apology

On Friday, Toyota chief executive Akio Toyoda made a public apology after the incident.

"A vehicle is stronger than a person, so I was obviously worried about how they were," he said in a YouTube video.

Mr Toyoda said the accident illustrated just how difficult it was to operate self-driving vehicles in the special circumstances of the village during the Paralympics, with people there who are visually impaired or have other disabilities.

"It shows that autonomous vehicles are not yet realistic for normal roads," he added.

Autonomous ambitions

The company's e-Palette pod, a fully autonomous electric vehicle, was adapted specifically for use during the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, with large doors and electric ramps to allow groups of athletes to board quickly.

The world's biggest carmaker, like many of its motor industry rivals, is trying to develop autonomous vehicles to operate safely on public roads.

The e-Palette was unveiled at the CES technology show in Las Vegas in 2018, with the company touting it as "a symbol of mobility that goes beyond cars to provide customers services and new values."

At that time, Mr Toyoda declared that Toyota was going to transform itself from a car company to a "mobility company".