The 2nd APAO Satellite Congress will be held at Holiday Inn Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia on Aug. 9-10, in conjunction with the 29th annual conference of Mongolian Ophthalmologists’ Society (MOS).

Two subspecialty member societies of APAO, the Asia-Pacific Strabismus and Paediatric Ophthalmology Society and the Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Society, are organizing two scientific symposia, sharing the latest scientific innovations, treatments and surgical techniques in the fields of pediatric ophthalmology and glaucoma, respectively. We are grateful for their generous contributions.

"That's more than the country's 100 billion (dollars) investment in 4G from 2013 to 2018, an increase driven in large part by the higher number of 5G base stations and higher initial cost of 5G equipment," said Allen Chang, a researcher at Goldman Sachs, in a brief note.

China has officially approved 5G commercial services earlier in June, and is currently testing 5G across all major cities and provincial regions. The country's 5G market is expected to start small-scale commercial use this year and large-scale commercial use next year.

It's estimated that 28 percent of China's mobile connections will operate on 5G networks by 2025, taking up about a third of all 5G connections globally, according to a recent report by the Global System for Mobile Communications Alliance.

Chang further noted that China is expected to own 4.9 million 5G base stations by 2030, as "strong consumer demand for 5G's high speeds and fierce competition between brands to offer upgraded features" would lead to surging 5G smartphone shipments over the next few years.

In this aspect, his projection can be underpinned by a latest case in point.

Chinese telecommunications heavyweight Huawei announced last week that it had received 50 contracts on 5G commercial services from 30 countries and regions, and shipped more than 150,000 5G base stations worldwide.

The company's 5G base stations is expected to grow to about 500,000 by the end of this year, according to Hu Houkun, deputy chairman of the company's board of directors.

Chang also held that China's transition to faster wireless should "bring a wave of opportunities" for relevant tech companies and their stocks, driven by increased semiconductor demand and a surge in consumer device upgrades.

"Telecom operators, equipment makers, and devices makers (worldwide) will all likely boost their demand for semiconductor chips in the coming years as they look to upgrade their systems and technology for the 5G era," he said. "We are confident in the long-term growth outlook."

"Public buses in the capital city are now the most popular target for thieves," the NPA said in a statement. "Therefore, the NPA and traffic authorities have been installing surveillance cameras on the public transport to reduce pickpocket crimes and ensure public security."

There were a total of 1,280 registered pickpocket crimes in the country last year, up 46.6 percent from the previous year, according to the police agency.

The agency noted that one in five bag snatches and pickpocket crimes now occurs on public buses.

Foreign Minister D.Tsogtbaatar pointed out the broad opportunities for the expansion of bilateral trade and economic cooperation such as establishing a joint food processing plant, thus exporting products to the neighboring countries, purchasing equipment from Belarus, and bringing Mongolian products to the country’s market.

Mr. Utiupin Pavel Vladimirovich underlined the importance of promptly embarking on the projects under discussion in emergency, agricultural, road and transport and other sectors as soon as the Mongolian Parliament ratifies the Intergovernmental Agreement on export loan. He also expressed willingness to continue reciprocal high-level visits.

The 2.5 percent of discounted royalty on gold mining expired on Jan 1. From then on, 5 to 10 percent royalty taxes on gold mining have been imposed on miners, driving in the central bank’s gold purchase down 71.6 percent yearon-year from January to March.

Mongolia‘s parliament has set the gold royalty at a 5 percent rate to recover the BoM’s gold purchases.

Gold purchase by the Bank of Mongolia has been increasing sharply thanks to the discounted royalty on gold mining, the central bank said in a statement, noting that it has purchased a total of 5.2 tons of gold since the new rate came into force on April 8.

Purchasing gold is said to be one of the key instruments for the Mongolian central bank to increase its official foreign exchange reserves. The central bank of Mongolia purchased only 12.7 tons of gold in 2014. Thanks to the low royalty taxes on gold with the 2014 amendments, its annual gold purchase almost doubled in 2018, reaching 22 tons, according to the BoM.

During the meeting, Minister B.Enkh-Amgalan expressed his interest in introducing French advanced technology, attracting investment and training personnel. He also expressed willingness to renew the Agreement on air relations that expired in 2016, train the Eurocopter pilots for emergency situations and introduce the helicopter maintenance services to Mongolia. In turn, Ambassador Philippe Merlin expressed support for the proposal.

In recent years, the number of Mongolian visitors and businesses in France have increased. In order to increase the trade turnover, develop tourism and facilitate automobile travel among individuals and enterprises, the sides agreed to establish the Agreement on international road transportation relations between the governments of Mongolia and France.

The price of the steelmaking raw material is up a stunning 73% year-to-date and is now trading at its highest since January 2014.

Iron ore’s rally is primarily supply driven. Vale has suspended 93m tonnes of production following January’s deadly dam collapse in Brazil, while Western Australian output was hampered by storms.

However, the supply crunch is beginning to ease. Rio de Janeiro-based Vale recently received permission to bring its 30m tonnes a year Brucutu operation back into full production.

According to cargo tracking data supplied by Refinitiv,Brazilian exports in June was roughly 500,000 tonnes more than in January this year, with the last monthly data not impacted by the Brumadinho disaster.

At the same time, Australian exports are hitting records with shipments leaving the busiest iron ore terminal in the world – Port Hedland in Western Australia – up more than 20% year on year at the end of June.

China imports around 70% of the world’s seaborne iron ore which is estimated at more than 1.5 billion annually and Beijing’s economic stimulus has also buoyed the market. Chinese steel output is up by more than 10% so far this year, and is now running at an annualized rate of over 1 billion tonnes, and port stocks are 17% below levels seen this time last year.

But here the outlook is also becoming murkier and in its latest quarterly report, the Australia’s Department of Industry predicts Chinese steel output – which represents half global production – has reached its high water mark.

The official forecaster of the world’s top exporting country sees Chinese steel production peaking at 940 million tonnes this year before going into a steady decline, dragging down imports in the process.

This, coupled with supply returning to normal levels, will see the price fall to half today’s levels in 2021. The Australia government’s office of the Chief Economist estimates iron ore prices would average $80 a tonne this year before falling to an average of just $57 a tonne in 2021 as the seaborne market returns to surplus.

The price used by the Dept. is free-on-board Australia, so for comparison with the benchmark, add between $6 – $10 for cost and freight.

While the proportion of Bitcoin transactions dedicated to illegal purchases is declining, about $515 million of the digital coin has already been spent this year on the so-called dark web, according to the firm, which helps companies such as cryptocurrency exchanges investigate and prevent illegal transactions. Dark-net spending in Bitcoin peaked in 2017, at $872 million, and declined last year as the coin’s price took a dramatic dive.

The findings are a reminder of the regulatory risks surrounding the digital tokens, which are beloved by criminals looking to preserve some degree of anonymity. Last month, the Financial Action Task Force -- an inter-governmental organization focused on combating money laundering and terrorist financing -- began mandating strict know-your-customer measures for crypto exchanges and custodians. Also in June, Europol met with companies in the space to trade tips on best practices in detecting crypto-facilitated crime.

Bitcoin Darknet Market Activity
Of all the illegal online marketplaces, Hydra is the largest, according to Chainalysis, which examined transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain to see how much was being spent on these sites. Drugs are the most prominent category of goods sold, but child porn and stolen credit-card information are also in demand, Chainalysis found. Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency accepted on these marketplaces, followed by Monero, Chainalysis said.

While the growth in illicit Bitcoin spending may be alarming, a major caveat is that the proportion of Bitcoin transactions tied to illicit deals is declining. Illegal activity has accounted for less than 1% of all Bitcoin activity so far this year -- down from 7% in 2012, according to Hannah Curtis, senior product manager of data at Chainalysis.