Harassment victims at Google gain more power www.bbc.com

Google employees will now be able to more freely speak out over issues of sexual harassment at the firm.

Responding to demands from the around 20,000 workers who protested last week, the company has said it will end the practice of "forced arbitration" in cases of sexual harassment.

Arbitration will now be optional, chief executive Sundar Pichai said in an all-staff email.

The company did not, however, respond employees' demands in other major areas of concern, angering campaigners.

Most notably, it did not comment on calls for Google's board to have an employee representative, and for the company's chief diversity officer to report directly to the chief executive.

'Sincerely sorry'
In an email to staff on Thursday, Mr Pichai said: "Over the past few weeks Google's leaders and I have heard your feedback and have been moved by the stories you've shared.

"We recognize that we have not always gotten everything right in the past and we are sincerely sorry for that. It's clear we need to make some changes."

The measures, Mr Pichai said, will increase transparency around instances of sexual harassment, expand mandatory training, and offer increased support for those with claims.

Most impactful will be a shift away from forced arbitration, a highly-criticised practice that meant employees were contractually-bound to deal with complaints internally, in what some legal observers have described as being a "private justice system".

"We will make arbitration optional for individual sexual harassment and sexual assault claims," Mr Pichai wrote.

"Google has never required confidentiality in the arbitration process and arbitration still may be the best path for a number of reasons (eg personal privacy) but, we recognize that choice should be up to you."

'Caste-like system'
But the Tech Workers Coalition, which backed last week's action, said the measures did not go nearly far enough, particularly where it related to contractors who worked with the firm.

"Sundar ignored the demand for a worker to be represented on the board and [temps, vendors and contractors (TVCs)] continue to have no adequate protections from sexual harassment, who make up over half the Google workforce and are disproportionately women and people of colour.

"TVCs didn't receive this email this morning, and have been excluded from the townhall. This deliberate sleight demonstrates the caste-like system deployed by Google, which fails to protect its workers and our colleagues."

The spokesperson added: "For a company that likes to innovate, it's striking to see such a lack of vision for treating all of their workforce with basic dignity. We take inspiration from all who work at Google to keep fighting to build worker power."

Campaigners hope the promised overhaul of how Google handles issues around sexual harassment will remove a culture of secrecy that saw one high-profile engineer leave the company with an $90m pay out, despite "credible" claims of inappropriate behaviour.

The company later said that over the past two years, 48 other employees - including 13 considered to be senior staff - had been fired over sexual harassment issues.

More widely, Google's move to end forced arbitration for sexual harassment claims may energise employees at other firms to demand the same. Uber and Microsoft had already dropped the practice.

Russia-China trade turnover to hit $100 billion in 2018 www.rt.com

The volume of mutual trade between Russia and China may reach $100 billion by the end of 2018 with the figure expected to double in the years ahead, according to Andrey Slepnev, Chief Executive of the Russian Export Center.
“Russia’s exports to China totaled $26 billion in the first half of the current year, marking a 43 percent growth compared to the same period a year ago,” the official said, stressing that the institution expects the figure to increase up to $54 billion at year-end.

Mongolia plans coal rail link to China by 2021 www.reuters.com

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Mongolia aims to complete a railway from its Tavan Tolgoi coal project to the Chinese border by 2021, a Mongolian official told Reuters on Thursday.

Mongolia's parliament speaker rejects dissolution proposal from president www.xinhuanet.com

Mongolia's parliament speaker Miyegombo Enkhbold has rejected a proposal of dissolution from the country's president, the press office of the legislative body said Wednesday.

Are you underwater or in hot water? The truth about ICOs www.sakipartners.com.au

The cryptocurrency market has just hit another new low in 2018, valuing the entire market below USD$200 billion for the first time this year. Despite the volatility, investors are still keen to pile in believing the market is bottoming.

There is no shortage of new 'ground floor' opportunities for these investors in the form of new tokens being issued via an evergrowing number of ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings). In fact, during 2018, new ICO's have raised more than USD$15 billion.

Despite the continued positive sentiment from many invetsors and the hype from ICO promoters, the actual historical performance of ICO's is disturbingly woeful.

Consulting firm EY have revisited 90 global ICOs that it first tracked a year ago — and found almost a third were now worthless — while 86 per cent were underwater on their issue prices.

Almost all the gains were made by just 10 of the ICOs — but even the successful companies were “mired in litigation or conflict over broken promises and unexpected changes in business strategy”, reported EY.

In a recent article by Australian publisher Stockhead, journalist Rachel Williamson found that of the 76 Australian ICO's only 16 are still trading and just four of these are trading above their issue price.

As EY blockchain expert Paul Brody says "It is clear that there is a significant lack of understanding around the risks and rewards of these investments”.
Regulatory action in Australia

Last month the Australian regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), intervened and shut down a planned $50 million ICO from a crypto start-up called Global Tech Exchange. The company purported to have links to former Aussie cricket captain Michael Clarke.

This is not the first time ASIC have intervened; rather they have shut down another 5 ICO's since April this year and, given the EY results, this has likely saved Australian investors from losing more capital.

Around the world, regulators are looking closely at this ICO phenomenon not just from a consumer protection standpoint, but also from a range of challenging perspectives including fraud, theft, taxation, anti-money laundering, payment systems, financial services and financial stability.

We have fielded numerous enquiries from companies seeking to raise capital via ICO's and in all cases, these companies were under the misconception that ICO's are not regulated and somehow provided an easier mechanism of capital raising.

While the evidence is clear that there is a significant lack of understanding from investors around ICO's, our experience suggests there is also a lack of understanding from would-be issuers and promoters who are wanting to believe that ICO's are not regulated. This is not the case.

So what is an ICO?

ICOs are not the same as Initial Public Offerings (IPO) or crowd-sourced funding, both of which are regulated under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and offer specified investor protections. Many ICOs do not offer legal rights and protections or claims to underlying assets.

In some cases, the ICO may be subject to the Corporations Act; in others, the ICO will be subject to the general law and the Australian consumer laws regarding the offer of services or products.

This means the ICO would be subject to the prohibition against misleading or deceptive conduct, either under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth) or the Australian consumer laws. Australian law may apply even if the ICO is created and offered from overseas.

Central to the regulation of an ICO is understanding if the ICO meets the definition of "financial product" under Division 3 of the Corporations Act, where the financial product could be, for instance, a managed investment scheme, a share or a derivative.

For example, an ICO could be deemed to be a financial product, in the following circumstances:

* A managed investment scheme, where the value of the digital coins acquired is affected by the pooling of funds from contributors or they are arranged to be collectively managed.

* An offer of shares, where the rights attached to the token are similar to those attached to a share, such as ownership of the body, voting rights or rights to participate in the profit.

* An offer of a derivative, where the token is priced based on factors such as an underlying market or asset price, and price movements resulted in a payment obligation.

Each of these scenarios are explored below.

When an ICO could be a managed investment scheme

A managed investment scheme is defined within the Corporations Act. The following are basic indicators of whether an arrangement is a managed investment scheme:

- People contribute money or assets (such as digital currency) to obtain an interest in the scheme ('interests' in a scheme are generally a type of 'financial product' and are regulated by the Corporations Act)

- Any of the contributions are pooled or used in a common enterprise to produce financial benefits or interests in property, and

- The contributors do not have day-to-day control over the operation of the scheme but, at times, may have voting rights or similar rights.

An assessment of what rights are attached to the tokens issued under an ICO is the key consideration in relation to assessing the legal status of an ICO. These rights are generally described in the ICO's 'white paper', an offer document issued by the business making the offer or sale of an ICO token. What is a right should be interpreted broadly and includes rights that may arise in the future or on a contingency, and rights that are not legally enforceable. If the value of the token is related to the management of an arrangement as described above, the issuer of the ICO is likely to be offering a managed investment scheme.

In some cases, ICO issuers may frame the entitlements received by contributors as a receipt for a purchased service. However, if the value of the digital tokens acquired is affected by the pooling of funds from contributors or use of those funds under the arrangement, then the ICO is likely to fall within the requirements relating to managed investment schemes. This is often the case if what is offered through the ICO has the attributes of an investment.

When an ICO could be a share

A share is a collection of rights relating to a company. There are a range of types of shares that may be issued. Most shares issued by companies that offer shares to the public are 'ordinary shares', and carry rights regarding the ownership of the company, voting rights in the decisions of the body, some entitlement to share in future profits through dividends, and a claim on the residual assets of the company if it is wound up.

Most shares issued in Australia come with the benefit to shareholders of limited liability as well.

When an ICO is created to fund a company (or to fund an undertaking that looks like a company) then the rights attached to the tokens issued by the ICO may fall within the definition of a share.

The bundle of rights referred to above may be used by ASIC to help determine if a token is in fact a share. If the rights attached to the token (which are generally found in the ICO's 'white paper') are similar to rights commonly attached to a share – such as if there appears to be ownership of the body, voting rights in decisions of the body or some right to participate in profits of the body shown in the white paper – then it is likely that the tokens could fall within the definition of a share.

Where it appears that an issuer of an ICO is actually making an offer of a share, the issuer will need to prepare a prospectus. Such offers of shares are often described as IPOs.

By law, a prospectus must contain all information that consumers reasonably require to make an informed investment decision.

Importantly, though an ICO may look similar to an IPO, the ICO may not offer the same protections to consumers and may result in liability for the issuer and those involved in the ICO. Issuers of an ICO need to be aware that where an offer document for an ICO is, or should have been, a prospectus and that document does not contain all the information required by the Corporations Act, or includes misleading or deceptive statements, consumers may be able to withdraw their investment before the tokens are issued or pursue the issuer and those involved in the ICO for the loss.

When an ICO could be a derivative

Section 761D of the Corporations Act provides a broad definition of a derivative and is a product that derives its value from another 'thing' which is commonly referred to as the 'underlying instrument' or 'reference asset'.

The underlying instrument may be, among other things, a share, a share price index, a pair of currencies or a commodity (including a cryptocurrency).

Two examples of derivatives are options and futures. An option is a contract between two parties. The buyer has the right, but not the obligation, to buy (or sell) an asset, at a set price, on or before a specified future date, other than a right to acquire by way of issue a security of the entity, such as a share. Futures are generally contracts to buy or sell a particular asset (or cash equivalent) at some time to come. This may involve the use of intermediaries, who themselves may need to be licensed.

If an ICO produced a token that is priced based on factors such as another financial product or underlying market index or asset price moving in a certain direction before a time or event which resulted in a payment being required as part of the rights or obligations attached to the token, this may be a derivative. For example, payment arrangements associated with changes in the relevant product, index or asset could be structured as a 'smart contract' or self-executing contract represented in the token itself.
Conclusion

It is our view that the market for ICOs is poorly understood by both investors and issuers. Investors are under the false impression that ICO's are low risk-high return investment and issuers are under the impression that ICO's offer some form of regulatory arbitrage for capital raising. Until the ICO market develops (if ever) we will continue to sit it out and watch as the regulator intervene to save investors from themselves.

Tobacco usage and sale in Mongolia www.news.mn

In a study entitled the “spatial and economic proximity of cigarette sales to school children in Mongolia,” researchers found that pupils who were given less than USD2 a week of pocket money were twice as likely to be cigarette users. Additionally, of those who smoke, 37.5 percent smoked single cigarettes. When vendors were found near children’s schools, that number increased to 47.5 percent.​

Master plan to define sustainable development of energy sector www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. A seminar under the theme, ‘Master Plan of the Mongolian Energy Sector’, took place in the frameworks of partnership for sustainable development at the Shangri-La Hotel.

Policy-makers warn mineral price drop in 2019 www.zgm.mn

Bank of Mongolia has informed of a potential risk of weaker foreign trade conditions following a likely chance of slump in prices of Mongolia’s main export goods, namely copper, iron ore and coal. On the contrary, Mongolia's main import commodity, oil price is set to further increase in 2019. National Budget Stability Council explains that this could create unsatisfactory situation for budget revenue, which is the main risk for the economy. Davaasambuu Dalrai, Head of the council, warned that the lesser revenue will limit expenditure, ultimately obstructing planned projects. “In order to avoid potential risk of deadlock in multiple projects, the Government should choose a small number of reliable and necessary project,” suggested Mr. Davaasambuu. Ministry of Finance, on the other hand, determined price swing as the key potential risk in the budget revenue. For instance, the trade war between the U.S and China, the U.S sanction on Iran, economic crisis in Turkey and China’s policy on reducing iron production within the frame of reducing air pollution in Beijing caused instability in mineral prices since July.

A scandal in Mongolia: heads roll in government after US$1.3m SME fund embezzlement www.scmp.com

Mongolia’s anti-corruption authority is investigating reports that senior government officials and parliamentarians channelled more than US$1 million in government money to their families and friends, with one minister resigning last week and another expected to step down soon.

The money was from a fund set up 18 years ago to offer loans at 3 per cent interest to owners of small and medium-sized enterprises, as banks and finance companies normally charge between 12 and 30 per cent.

Some 65 billion Mongolian tugrik (US$25.4 million) was allocated to the fund in the 2018 budget.

However, starting two weeks ago it was revealed in reports leaked to the Ikon news website that some of the resource-rich country’s most powerful people have been using the fund to grant loans to their family members’ companies, or putting the money in high-interest bearing accounts.

Among the accused are government ministers, members of parliament, the general prosecutor, general auditor, and the former head of the intelligence authority.

Amid mounting public anger, four civil servants involved in administering the fund were arrested last Friday.

Last week, Food, Agriculture and Light Industry Minister Batjargal Batzorig, who oversaw the SME fund, resigned under pressure from the ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), which controls 85 per cent of the country’s 76-seat parliament. Parliament officially dismissed him on Tuesday.

Workers at Mongolian Charcoal Production and Trade, which has been applying for loans from the SME development fund for three years but has yet to receive a reply. 
He had granted a 1.4 billion tugrik (US$547,000) loan to a transport company run by his wife.

It was also revealed that MPP parliamentarian Enkhbayar Jambal, who owns financing and agricultural companies, borrowed 950 million tugrik (US$371,000) from the SME fund. He insisted the money was used to improve cattle breeding practices, in a country where animal husbandry is the main source of food for the population of 3 million.

Road and Transport Development Minister Sodbaatar Yangug’s job is also at risk, after it emerged that he took loans of 950 million tugrik (US$371,000) from the SME fund and pumped it into a luxury postnatal therapeutic medical centre founded by his wife. The MPP is waiting for the outcome of the anti-corruption agency’s investigation before it acts.

Yangug claimed poor health had prevented his wife from being involved in the business recently and denied any knowledge of the loans, yet according to the income declaration form he submitted to the anti-corruption authority, he has 100 per cent ownership of the centre.

Mongolia, which has relied heavily on agriculture and mining copper and coal for economic growth, is trying to boost entrepreneurship to diversify its economy. It experienced a sharp slowdown between 2014 and 2016 due to a drop in commodity prices and foreign direct investment, but growth has now recovered and the economy is tipped to expand by 5 per cent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.

SMEs contribute about 17 per cent of GDP and 2.3 per cent of exports but struggle with high profit taxes and a fluctuating local currency.

Byambadash Dashzeveg, co-founder of Mongolian Charcoal Production and Trade, said his company had been applying for loans from the fund for the past three years, had yet to receive any response. His company produces charcoal for barbecues.

He wanted a loan to improve the company’s decade-old equipment, which would allow it to expand the production of its charcoal from 20 tonnes per month to 200 tonnes per month and tap the export market.

LGBTI in Mongolia fighting for rights and recognition
Mongolian Charcoal Production and Trade said there was demand for their products – a Japanese partner had commissioned them to export 200 tonnes of charcoal every month, while there is a similar amount of demand from China – and they had showed proof of this to the SME fund administrators.

“If we had that 3 per cent loan funding, we would already expanded our production by hiring more people and would have already exported our charcoal to Japan, China, and South Korea,”

Dashzeveg told the South China Morning Post.

The company’s products are currently available on Alibaba – which owns the Post – but its current capacity only allows it to export 20 tonnes per month to China.

Small- and Medium-Sized Outrage Building Over Corruption in Mongolia www.thediplomat.com

Political frustration has been building in democratic Mongolia for several years now as allegations of corruption have become a drag on policy decisions. Last week, another corruption scandal broke and is now engulfing nearly all of the political leadership. Could this be the scandal that brings Mongolians onto the streets to bring about a major shift in political culture?

The SME Fund

In 2009, the Mongolian government expanded the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (Жижиг, дунд үйлдвэрийг хөгжүүлэх сан, often abbreviated as Ждүхс or Ждү) to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME). This was a moment just before the boom years associated with the initial construction at the giant Oyu Tolgoi copper mine, which saw Mongolia attain the highest rate of growth in the world in 2011.
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The fund provided companies with low-interest loans at 3 percent interest up to five years and 2 billion Mongolian tugrik (roughly $780,000 at today’s exchange rate). The Fund is reported to have dispersed loans totaling nearly 700 billion tugrik, amounting to several hundred million U.S. dollars.

The fund was created in and continues to be overseen by the now-Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Light Industry. As it has emerged, oversight was lax.

Investigative Journalism Instead of Smear Campaigns

Investigative journalists, especially Ch Bolortuya and her colleagues at Ikon.mn, have been essential in bringing the abuse of the SME Fund to light. Many of the companies that received loans are tied to prominent politicians through ownership of the SMEs that benefited. Journalists and some civil society activists, most notably B Otgontugs, an education economist and professor at the National University of Mongolia, have been relying on leaked lists of loan recipients and then comparing those to ownership records for these companies to identify politicians that have benefited from loans. So far, no one has disputed the leaked lists, suggesting that they are genuine.

The investigations into these entanglements of politicians have been very public and careful. This contrasts sharply with past practice, where finger-pointing has produced a perception of pervasive political corruption, but few prosecutions.

The current investigations have already led the current minister of food, agriculture, and light industry, B Batzorig, a member of parliament for the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), to offer his resignation. The chief prosecutor has requested parliament to revoke Batzorig’s parliamentary immunity.

Online Protests

So far, protests have primarily occurred on social media, especially Twitter. Mongolians are avid social media users as was shown in the rapid mobilization when a Turkish educator was threatened to be abducted by alleged Turkish security agents in July. Even more than in that mobilization, this past week Mongolians have been rallying around Twitter hashtags like #Ждү to voice their frustrations.

So far, however, few protests have materialized on the streets, although they have been announced for the coming weekend. Whether outrage will lead to demonstrations or even large-scale protests will depend on the government’s reactions to the allegations. While most of those implicated are members in the MPP’s parliamentary supermajority, MPP Prime Minister U Khurelsukh has not been implicated. His reaction will be closely watched for whether he will initiate genuine investigations that might lead to prosecutions or will try to downplay his party’s entanglement. Speaker of parliament M Enkhbold is not directly mentioned in SME Fund publications so far, even though his involvement in the apparent auctioning of state offices in a disputed 2016 whistleblower video robs him of much legitimacy in accusing others of corruption. President Battulga’s family also appears to be implicated.

Constitutional Change or Revolution

It is not only political frustration that is in the air, but also constitutional change. There has long been a sense that the division of powers between the president and parliament, as well as the prime minister, has not been clear enough. In a potentially volatile situation, such discussions might turn into an argument for authoritarian rule, a soft coup of sorts. However, none of the suspects for such an attempted grab for power, most prominently Battulga, has much credibility in the current context. If the reaction to allegations by the Khurelsukh government is seen as wanting by many protesters, anger might quickly turn at parliament, with demands for resignations.

In a small population, many urban professionals will have acquaintances who applied for support from the SME Fund but were denied, which will lend urgency to protests. Professor Otgontugs indicated in an online interview that there are “28 special funds like the SME Fund” suggesting that more evidence of malfeasance is yet to come.

Whether new political forces that are more devoted to a fight against corruption than the current political duopoloy of the MPP and the Democratic Party would emerge from new elections is not clear. It does seem likely, however, that attention to evidence will fuel distrust of political parties further and will ultimately lead to upheavals in democratic Mongolia.

Dr. Julian Dierkes is an associate professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada where he teaches in the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs. He and Mendee blog at http://blogs.ubc.ca/mongolia. Follow him on Twitter @jdierkes.

Mendee Jargalsaikhan is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of British Columbia. His dissertation examines the development of Mongolia’s democracy. Follow him @MendeeJ