Wildfires destroy over 200,000 hectares in Mongolia so far this year www.xinhuanet.com

June 18 (Xinhua) -- A total of 97 forest and steppe fires have been recorded across Mongolia since the beginning of this year, which have destroyed 213,433 hectares of forest and grassland, the country's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said Thursday.

Mongolia reports 4 more imported COVID-19 cases, 201 in total www.akipress.com

Over the past 24 hours, four truck drivers from Belarus tested positive for coronavirus in Mongolia, Director of the Center for Communicable Disease (NCCD) Dulmaa Nyamkhuu said.

Over 400-700 heavy trucks transporting coal through Gashuunsukhait border point daily www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Officials of the border crossings reported that coal export is reviving gradually. Approximately 400-700 heavy trucks have been transporting coal through Gashuunsukhait border point over the last one month.

Has court breached former Prime Minister’s parliamentary immunity? www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Days of campaigning for the 2020 parliamentary election of Mongolia where a total of 606 candidates from political parties and coalitions and independent candidates are running in, are about to come to an end.

What has aroused concerns during this legislative election is that a handful of candidates now has to campaign while being held in custody. The court has issued arrest warrants for candidates who had already received their candidacy cards in the middle of the ongoing election campaigning, including former Prime Minister, Member of Parliament J.Erdenebat, former MP N.Nomtoibayar, candidates Kh.Bat-Yalalt, D.Ganbold, S.Bayartsogt and B.Byambasaikhan.

The public has been taken aback by these unprecedented measures that have never happened in the democratic and political history of Mongolia. Because without consent from the General Election Commission, it is legally prohibited to conduct a criminal investigation and apprehend or detain any candidate who is approved to run for Parliamentary elections.

The lawyers of the candidates who have been put under arrest during their campaigning for the upcoming election all claim that the arrests have violated the law. In particular, the question arises as to whether the court has breached the Parliamentary immunity by arresting MP and former PM J.Erdenebat, whose immunity has not been removed, (In accordance with the Law on State Great Khural of Mongolia, the mandate of a member of the State Great Khural shall expire when newly elected members of the State Great Khural are sworn in) only as per the decision by Sukhbaatar District Criminal Court in Ulaanbaatar city, without having any parliamentarian decision if his immunity should be revoked.

It is against the law to arrest members of parliament unless they are caught in the act of committing a criminal act. If a parliamentary member is needed to be investigated for crimes, the prosecutor’s office shall submit their request to the parliament to have the parliamentary immunity of the member waived. However, in this case, the issue whether the immunity of parliament member J.Erdenebat should be lifted or not had not been discussed by the State Great Khural (parliament), and he was arrested without even the consent from the General Election Commission, central election body in charge of organizing this election.

Therefore, Parliament Speaker G.Zandanshatar described this situation as an act of rude breach of valid and effective laws of the independent country with parliamentary system, and has demanded from all relevant judicial organizations and judges an immediate stop to the illegal action of violating the parliamentary immunity and the right to be elected of the citizen of Mongolia J.Erdenebat as this act committed by the court and judges are violating the Constitution of Mongolia, Law on State Great Khural and Law on Parliamentary Election.

Moreover, the Human Rights Commission has also issued a statement on this matter, reminding that the arrest during the election will be followed by negative consequences as democracy and human rights situation in Mongolia would be unfavorably evaluated by international community and the commission demanded to put an end to the illegal act.

More candidates imprisoned ahead of Mongolian parliamentary election www.news.mn

Earlier yesterday (18 June), a Mongolian court decided to detain three more candidates in next week’s parliamentary election. The trial of former PM S.Bayar and other six people started at the Ulaanbaatar’s Chingeltei, Sukhbaatar and Bayanzurkh Criminal Court this morning at 09.00 a.m. The court has imprisoned former Finance Minister S.Bayartsogt who is standing as the parliamentary candidate for the Selenge Province, D.Ganbold from Khuvsgul and B.Byambasaikhan from Darkhan-Uul provinces until 22 June two days before polling day.

Mongolia ranked 61st out of 63 countries in World Competitiveness Ranking www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Swiss-based IMD World Competitiveness Center has released “World Competitiveness Annual Report 2020.” According to the report, Mongolia has been ranked 61st out of 63 selected countries. In particular, Mongolia was listed at 59th by economic performance, 53rd by government efficiency, 57th by business efficiency and 62nd by infrastructure respectively.

Fossils from Mongolia, Argentina show some dinosaurs laid soft-shelled eggs www.reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have unearthed the first fossils of soft-shelled eggs laid by dinosaurs - two disparate species from Argentina and Mongolia - in a discovery suggesting that the earliest dinosaurs produced such eggs before some lineages turned to hard shells.

After 65 Years, a Wild Ass Is Back in Eastern Mongolia www.atlasobscura.com

WHEN A RAILWAY WAS LAID across Mongolia’s vast expanse, it cleaved the country in two. Constructed in the mid-20th century as a conduit through the Gobi Desert, the rail stretches from southern Russia into northeast China. But the railroad was, of course, built for humans. Which means its builders overlooked how it would affect other species, including the ungulates of the region—most notably Mongolia’s khulan.

Once the track was laid, the damage was done. The khulan, a Mongolian subspecies of the onager, or Asiatic wild ass, soon vanished from the country’s harsh eastern steppe, through which the railway runs.

Back then, in the 1950s, Mongolia “was nearly Terra Incognita,” says Kirk Olson, the Mongolia conservation director for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), via email. “The Gobi-Steppe dwarfs the Serengeti ecosystem in size. The [Mongolian] ecosystem has been defined by the boundary of the range of khulan and Mongolian gazelles.”

In the mid-20th century, the northern stretches of the country housed an eclectic assortment of nomadic herders, remote villages (some of which would soon host train stations), and, of course, the denizen species of the desert—khulan among them. But with the arrival of people, coming through in (relatively) large numbers, the khulan took leave.

“What seems to have occurred is that when the corridor fencing was put in place to keep livestock and people off the tracks (and probably also to prevent vehicles from trying to drive across), the khulan were no longer able to move freely,” Olson says.

A staple species of the steppe ecosystem, the khulan—a tawny, quarter-ton cousin of the donkey—found itself without 6,500 square miles of land on which it used to roam.

“It was often explained to me by some of the older herders when I was first working in Mongolia that [Soviet] soldiers would hunt khulan with great intensity,” says Olson. “The combination of hunting pressure and harassment, herders occupying natural water sources, and the completion of the railroad were likely all interacting to cause their disappearance from the east.”

But with scant field research at the time, Olson says, it’s hard to say for sure. One thing is certain, however: The last time a khulan was reported crossing the tracks was in 1955.

Until now. On March 16, a khulan was seen for the first time in 65 years, about 500 miles from Ulaanbaatar.

Since then, the WCS team has removed a small section of wire fencing from the concrete posts on either side of the tracks, creating a 2,300-foot gap in the hope of opening a wildlife corridor for the diverse species in the area. Herds of Mongolian gazelles began bounding across in no time, but the khulan were more skeptical—until one individual cautiously made the first steps back eastward.

It was a momentous event that happened far more quickly than the team had expected—“a result that could be compared to throwing a dart and hitting the bullseye from [65 feet] back,” Olson says.

It remains to be seen how these ungulates will adapt to their former territory. But one small hoofstep for the khulan certainly represents a larger step for this long-lost species of the steppe.

Mongolian troops arrive in Moscow to partake in Victory Day Parade www.montsame.mn

A military contingent of the Armed Forces of Mongolia, who will participate in a military parade to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, arrived in Moscow city on June 14, by Il-76 aircraft of aerospace of the Russian Federation.Since Mongolian troops have been diagnosed with no infection of COVID-19 with three times repeated tests, they started their training at a sanatorium at the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Charter flight brings 257 transit Mongolians from S.Korea www.montsame.mn

On June 17, at 17:48, a charter flight of the MIAT Mongolian Airlines in route Seoul – Ulaanbaatar landed at Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar.