Slovenia proposes to assemble ultralight aircraft in Mongolia www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ In October 2018, Slovenian light aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel made a proposal to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Mongolia to assemble ultralight aircraft in Mongolia.

Boeing grounds entire crash aircraft fleet www.bbc.com

Boeing has grounded its entire global fleet of 737 Max aircraft after investigators uncovered new evidence at the scene of the fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash.

The US plane-maker said it would suspend all 371 of the aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration said fresh evidence as well as newly refined satellite data prompted the decision to temporarily ban the jets.

The FAA had previously held out while many countries banned the aircraft.

The crash on Sunday in Addis Ababa killed 157 people.

It was the second fatal Max 8 disaster in five months after one crashed over Indonesia in October, claiming 189 lives.

What has the FAA discovered?
The FAA has a team investigating the disaster at the Ethiopian Airlines crash site working with the National Transportation Safety Board.

Dan Elwell, acting administrator at the FAA, said on Wednesday: "It became clear to all parties that the track of the Ethiopian Airlines [flight] was very close and behaved very similarly to the Lion Air flight."

He added that "the evidence we found on the ground made it even more likely the flight path was very close to Lion Air's".

President Donald Trump initially announced that the FAA would be making an emergency order following "new information and physical evidence that we've received from the site and from other locations and through a couple of other complaints".

The US is the latest country to suspend the Boeing 737 Max from flying after nations include the UK, the European Union, China, India and Australia all grounded the aircraft.

Up until today, the FAA position was that a review had showed "no systemic performance issues" and that there was no basis for grounding the aircraft.

Earlier on Wednesday, Canada grounded the planes after its transport minister Marc Garneau said he had received new evidence about the crash.

He said that satellite data showed possible similarities between flight patterns of Boeing 737 Max planes operating in Canada and the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed.

What has Boeing said?
Boeing, the US plane manufacturer, said that it "continues to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 Max".

However, it added that after consultation with the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board it had decided to ground the flights "out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public of the aircraft's safety".

Dennis Muilenburg, president, chief executive and chairman of Boeing, said: "We are doing everything we can to understand the cause of the accidents in partnership with the investigators, deploy safety enhancements and help ensure this does not happen again."

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said: "Lives must come first always. But a brand is at stake as well. And that brand is not just Boeing. It's America. What America means in international aviation and by extension in the larger world more generally—that we set the standard for safety, competence, and honesty in governance of aviation.

Shares in Boeing ticked higher to $377 each following the announcement.

However, the company's market value has dropped by nearly $26bn since the crash in Ethiopia at the weekend.

What will happen to airline customers?
Southwest Airlines said it had immediately removed all 34 of the planes from scheduled service.

Although it has the biggest fleet of Boeing 737 Max 8 planes in the world, Southwest Airlines said they account "for less than 5% of our daily flights".

It said it is offering "flexible rebooking policies" which means that any customer booked on a cancelled Max 8 flight can rebook on alternate flights "without any additional fees or fare differences within 14 days of their original date of travel".

American Airlines said 24 of its aircraft would be affected by the suspension, adding: "Our teams will be working to rebook customers as quickly as possible, and we apologise for any inconvenience."

United Airlines said that its Max aircraft account for roughly 40 flights a day.

It said: "Through a combination of spare aircraft and rebooking customers, we do not anticipate a significant operational impact as a result of this order."

Analysis: Theo Leggett, BBC international business correspondent

With other aviation authorities around the world deciding to ground the 737 Max, the FAA - which provides the safety certification for the new aircraft - was under intense pressure to fall into line.

What's interesting here, though, is what the FAA has actually said.

The US regulator, which is actually involved in the investigation, says it has made its decision as a result of new evidence collected at the site and analysed today - as well as satellite data.

That will have set alarm bells ringing at Boeing's headquarters in Chicago.

Since the accident, analysts have focused on similarities between Sunday's tragedy, and another crash involving a 737 Max off Indonesia last October.

Has the FAA found evidence that suggests those similarities were more than just superficial?

And does that mean Boeing's MCAS anti-stall system, already implicated in the Indonesia crash, may also have played a role in the latest disaster?

What have pilots said about the 737 Max 8?
Pilots in the US had complained late last year about problems controlling the Boeing 737 Max 8 during take-off.

They reported difficulties similar to those that contributed to the fatal Lion Air crash in Indonesia in October.

The Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes into its flight.

Flightradar24, an air traffic monitor, said the plane's "vertical speed was unstable after take-off".

Documents reveal that pilots flying last November reported engaging autopilot only for the aircraft's nose to pitch lower, prompting the warning system to exclaim: "Don't sink! Don't sink!"

Two US pilots reported separate incidents involving the 737 Max's automatic anti-stalling system in November.

The feature, which was new to the 737 Max family, is designed to keep the plane from stalling.

The system prevents the aircraft from pointing upwards at too high an angle, where it could lose its lift.

However, according to filings with the US Aviation Safety Reporting System, which pilots use to disclose information anonymously, it appeared to force the nose down.

In both cases, pilots were forced to intervene to stop the plane from descending.

After the Lion Air crash, Boeing issued a bulletin on what to do regarding erroneous readings from the sensor, which sends out information about what angle a plane is flying at.

China to give $1 billion soft loan to Mongolia for road construction www.akipress.com

Governor of the capital city S.Amarsaikhan and Director of Representative Office of China’s Sinohydro Corporation Limited Company in Mongolia Jiang Guo signed an agreement on Nalaikh road expansion and development.

Mongolia completing infrastructure work for oil refinery www.news.mn

It is a well-known fact that Mongolia has substantial oil reserves, but up to the present, has no refining capacity, the result: the country exports all its crude oil and has to import imports its petroleum products. This will all change when the new refinery is opened; completion is planned for 2023. The oil refinery will meet all the nation’s demands for petrol, diesel, aviation fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The official ground-breaking ceremony of the oil refinery was attended by Mongolian Prime Minister Khurelsukh and Indian Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh in June 2018.

Mongolian Copper Corporation LLC proposes to negotiate with Gov't www.zgm.mn

Purevtuvshin Tsooj, the CEO of the Mongolian Copper Corporation (MCC) LLC, and Munkhbaatar Myagmar, the Chairman of the company, have offered to negotiate with the Mongolian Government regarding the 49 percent stake in the Erdenet Mining Corporation (EMC).

Youth aged 15-34 make up 56.5 percent of total registered unemployed www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ At the end of February 2019, the Labor and Social Welfare Services Agencies have registered 33.9 thousand job seekers, of which 24.0 thousand or 70.7 percent were unemployed and remaining 9.9 thousand or 29.3 percent were employed but looking for a new job.

Mongolia’s exports rise by 30.4 percent www.news.mn

Exports from Mongolia jumped by 30.4 percent year-on-year – or USD 255.2 million – in first two months of 2019. This was mostly due to an increase in the sales of copper, coal as well as unprocessed gold. Gold export increased by USD 123.7 in first two months of 2019 from the previous year. Furthermore, imports increased by USD 111.5 million, due mostly to auto fuel, diesel oil, car parts and spares and sedan vehicles.

Construction work of Winter Sports Palace to begin next month www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ On March 12, President of Mongolia Kh. Battulga met with the national hockey team that became a winner of Asia Challenge Cup 2019 tournament held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

55.6 million pieces of securities worth MNT 13.4 billion traded in February www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ The money supply (broad money or M2) reached MNT 19.6 trillion at the end of February 2019, showing a decrease of MNT 60.7 billion (0.3 percent) from the previous month, while it shows an increase of MNT 3.7 trillion (23.1 percent) from the same period of previous year.

At the end of February 2019, the national currency in circulation reached MNT 854.1 billion, showing a decrease of MNT 185.1 billion (17.8 percent) from the previous month, whereas it showing an increase of MNT 3.7 billion (0.4 percent) from the same period of previous year.

In February 2019, the amount of outstanding loan to entities, enterprises and citizens amounted MNT17.2 trillion, increased by MNT 28.0 billion (0.2 percent) from the previous month and by MNT 3.4 trillion (24.7 percent) from the same period of previous year. At the end of February 2019, the principals in arrears amounted MNT 926.8 billion, increased by MNT 92.2 billion (11.0 percent) from the previous month, whereas it decreased by MNT 66.2 billion (6.7 percent) from the same period of previous year. The principals in arrears makes up to 5.4 percent of total loans, showing an increase of 0.6 points from the previous month and whereas if decreased by 1.8 points from the same period of previous year.

At the end of February 2019, the non-performing loans in banking system amounted MNT 1.8 trillion, increased by MNT 56.4 billion (3.2 percent) from the previous month and by MNT 578.2 billion (45.7 percent) from the same period of previous year. The non-performing loans in the banking system makes up to 10.7 percent of total loans, showing an increase of 1.5 points from the same period of previous year.

In the first 2 months of 2019, 74.6 million pieces of securities worth of MNT 35.3 billion were traded at the national stock market, which is increased by MNT 8.7 billion (32.8 percent) compared to the same period of previous year. The number of traded securities increased by 66.5 million (9.3 times more) pieces compared to the same period of previous year.

In February 2019, 55.6 million pieces of securities worth of MNT 13.4 billion were traded at the national stock market, which is increased by MNT 9.7 billion (3.7 times more) compared to the same period of previous year. The number of traded securities increased by 52.5 million (17.5 times more) pieces compared to the same period of previous year.

Trade of government bonds in secondary markets amounted MNT 1.2 billion in February 2019, which is decreased by MNT 0.7 billion (38.3 percent) compared from the same period of previous year.

In February 2019, average of top 20 indexes of the financial markets was 21 457.8 units, decreased by 126.6 units from the previous month and increased by 341.8 units from the same period of 2018.

In February 2019, total value of joint stock companies operating at stock market reached MNT 2.5 trillion, increased by MNT 4.0 billion (0.2 percent) from the same period of previous year.

Source: National Statistics Office of Mongolia

Number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Mongolia reaches 270 www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The total number of HIV carriers and AIDS patients in Mongolia has reached 270 after two new HIV cases were registered in the country's capital here last month, the National Statistics Office said Tuesday.