Central bank updates financial statistics www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. At its monthly press briefing, the Bank of Mongolia delivered a presentation of financial statistical overview as of December 2019.

Rescue Flight’ from Wuhan lands in Ulaanbaatar www.news.mn

Mongolian health officials said on Sunday (2 February) that a total of 59 people have been isolated; including the 31 students and a child who were evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan, following the outbreak of the new coronavirus. Officials have isolated all those involved in the evacuation including the flight crew from the national flag carrier MIAT, engineers, technicians and other professional workers at the National Centre for Communicable Diseases (NCCD). Health specialists will observe them for 14 days, during which period the coronavirus symptoms will appear if the individual is infected.

Mongolia expects 10 percent investment growth in 2020 www.news.mn

On Friday (31 January), B.Bayardavaa, Director General of the Monetary Policy Department at the Central Bank of Mongolia presented the economic and financial forecasts for 2020.

Brexit day: United Kingdom casts off from the European Union www.reuters.com

LONDON (Reuters) - The United Kingdom leaves the European Union on Friday for an uncertain Brexit future, its most significant geopolitical move since the loss of empire and a blow to 70 years of efforts to forge European unity from the ruins of two world wars.

Anti-Brexit protesters holding a banner and flags demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain January 30, 2020. REUTERS/Antonio Bronic
The country will slip away an hour before midnight from the club it joined in 1973, moving into the no man’s land of a transition period that preserves membership in all but name until the end of this year.

At a stroke, the EU will be deprived of 15% of its economy, its biggest military spender and the world’s international financial capital of London. The divorce will shape the fate of the United Kingdom — and determine its wealth — for generations to come.

“This is the moment when the dawn breaks and the curtain goes up on a new act,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson will say in a television address, though he has given few clues about his post-Brexit plans beyond inspirational words.

“This is the dawn of a new era,” Johnson, one of the main leaders of the “Leave” campaign in the 2016, will say.

Beyond the symbolism of turning its back on 47 years of membership, little will actually change until the end of 2020, by which time Johnson has promised to strike a broad free trade agreement with the EU, the world’s biggest trading bloc.

For proponents, Brexit is a dream “independence day” for a United Kingdom escaping what they cast as a doomed German-dominated project that is failing its 500 million population.

DIS-UNITED KINGDOM

The June 2016 Brexit referendum showed a nation divided about more than Europe and triggered soul-searching about everything from secession and immigration to capitalism, empire and modern Britishness.

Such was the severity of the meltdown over Brexit that allies and investors were left astonished by a country that was for decades touted as a confident pillar of Western economic and political stability.

At home, Brexit has tested the bonds that bind together the United Kingdom: England and Wales voted to leave the bloc but Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay.

So on “Brexit Day”, some will celebrate and some will weep — but many Britons will do neither.

Johnson will chair a cabinet meeting in Sunderland, the first city to declare support for leaving the EU in the June 2016 referendum. Brexiteers will celebrate on Parliament Square while some opponents of Brexit are also due to gather.

A Union Jack in the building of the European Council in Brussels will be lowered at 7 p.m. time (1800 GMT) on Friday, and put away with the flags of non-EU countries.

The European Parliament plans to place one of its British flags in the House of European History, a nearby museum of the continent’s history since the French Revolution of 1789.

After the repeated failure of “Remainers” to unite, organise or win elections, the main hope of europhiles is that the economic impact of leaving will convince a new generation to plot a way back into the fold.

With sorrow, some support for Brexit and even hope of a return, Europeans from across the EU’s 27 remaining members bade farewell.

“I am very sorry that the United Kingdom is exiting. I think it is a very, very bad thing for Europe, for the United Kingdom, for everything,” said Sara Invitto, from Milan. “Goodbye!”

Cold snap on the way for most parts of the country www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Snow and blizzards are expected in the northern parts of western aimags tonight, and in the eastern parts of western aimags, and in some parts of central aimags tomorrow on January 31, with a cold snap on the way for most parts of the country.

Mongolia suspends traditional wrestling for Tsagaan Sar for first time www.news.mn

Yesterday afternoon, Mongolia’s National Emergency Commission took the difficult decision of suspending the traditional wrestling competition for Tsagaan Sar (Lunar New Year). This is the first time in generations that the much-loved wrestling competition has not taken place. In addition, the commission advised people to celebrate the Tsagaan Sar privately and avoid travelling. Just as with Chinese New Year, which this year has just taken place, Tsagaan Sar – or the Festival of the White Moon, it the most important family celebration of the year, when families are re-united and it is the custom to pay visits on relatives and friends.

Coronavirus: Cement mixers become celebrities in China lockdown www.bbc.com

Unlikely heroes have arisen in China's coronavirus crisis - a group of construction vehicles building two new hospitals in the city of Wuhan, where the outbreak emerged.

With all regions in the country affected by the virus, people have been told to stay indoors - except where absolutely necessary.

Perhaps understandably, they are struggling to keep themselves entertained.

So they're turning to livestreams of two hospitals being built - and have created characters and heroes on the building site.

The 25,000 square metre Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan will be ready by 2 February. The Leishenshan Hospital will be in use by 5 February.

China's official CCTV broadcaster has been hosting livestreams so people can watch the hospitals being built in real-time - and they have proved an unlikely hit.

Coronavirus declared global health emergency
The Global Times newspaper says more than 40 million people have been watching the livestreams in China..

And they've also proven popular overseas. Both YouTube and Periscope have been running livestreams for viewers outside the country, which are consistently bringing in hundreds of thousands of views.

The popularity of this footage has led to the construction vehicles at the Huoshenshan Hospital earning unusual fame.

Cement mixers have found themselves with nicknames like "The Cement King", "Big White Rabbit" and "The White Roller".

A large flat-bed truck carrying construction supplies has affectionately been termed: "Brother Red Bull".

Some of the diggers are given affectionate names based on their colour, such as "Little Yellow" and "Little Blue".

Others have coined more imaginative names for the vehicles, with one cement mixer being named Song Huizong, after an ancient emperor.

The official CCTV has set up an "epidemic 24/7" page built into mobile messenger WeChat, where users can vote for their favourite vehicle.

The undipsuted stars of the show are the small, yellow forklift trucks, which are collectively known as "folkchan".

Searches of "folkchan" on the popular Sina Weibo microblog bring up fan art and tributes to the little vehicles.

Users call them "the cutest and most hard working little forklifts" and call them, "the loveliest little world guardians".

The fans themselves have formed online fan groups, and collectively call themselves the "online overseers".

The little forklifts are China's most beloved construction stars
With much of the country in lockdown, it's perhaps not surprising that "alternative" entertainment has popped up.

Transportation links have been suspended in a number of major cities, and companies throughout the country are suspending their opening hours.

Arenas and cinemas have closed. On Tuesday, China's top regulator announced that it would be reducing entertainment TV programming "to strengthen publicity on epidemic prevention".

High engagement in the government's activities has obviously been a win for the Chinese Communist Party.

But as Shi Wenxue, a teacher at the Beijing Film Academy told Global Times, the livestreams are helping people feel more involved in what is going on.

"The 'overseers' participation shows young Chinese people's concern over the epidemic," Shi said, adding that it helps people feel they have "warriors in any battle situation".

Mongolia and Belarus to cooperate in transport sector www.ubchamber.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Minister of Road and Transport Development B.Enkh-Amgalan is paying an official visit to the Republic of Belarus on January 27-30 at the invitation of Minister of Transport and Communications of Belarus Aleksey Nikolaevich Avramenko.

Waiting in Wuhan for evacuation approval www.news.mn

Mongolia and 56 other countries are awaiting approval from the Chinese government to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan where the killer coronavirus outbreak began.

China says has full confidence, capability to control epidemic www.xinhuanet.com

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- China has full confidence and capability to win the fight against the novel coronavirus epidemic, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Friday.