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☆ Mongolia's trade has doubled since China's Belt and Road Initiative's launch, minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailMongolia's trade has doubled since China's Belt and Road Initiative's launch, minister saysChimed Khurelbaatar, Mongolia's deputy prime minister and minister of economy and development, discusses how China's Belt and Road Initiative has benefited the country.

☆ Intriguing moon water source found in glass beads from impacts
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The researchers see promise in obtaining water from the glass beads, perhaps through a heating process to release vapor that would then turn into liquid through condensation. "We can simply heat these glass beads to free the water stored in them," said planetary scientist and study co-author Hejiu Hui of Nanjing University in China. The glass beads were found to hold a water content of up to about 2,000 parts per million by weight. Hu said he believes that such impact glass beads are a common part of lunar soils, found globally and spread evenly. The interaction of the solar wind with lunar surface materials could sustain a water cycle on the moon, with the glass beads absorbing the water and acting as a repository for it, the researchers said.

REUTERS/Thomas Suen/File PhotoJOHANNESBURG, March 28 (Reuters) - China spent $240 billion bailing out 22 developing countries between 2008 and 2021, with the amount soaring in recent years as more have struggled to repay loans spent building "Belt & Road" infrastructure, according to a study published Tuesday. People's Bank of China (PBOC) swap lines accounted for $170 billion of the rescue financing, including in Suriname, Sri Lanka and Egypt. China's rescue lending is "opaque and uncoordinated," said Brad Parks, one of the report's authors, and director of AidData, a research lab at William & Mary College in the United States. China is negotiating debt restructurings with countries including Zambia, Ghana and Sri Lanka and has been criticised for holding up the processes. In response, it has called on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to also offer debt relief.

"This is not a good moment for American diplomacy," said William Kirby, a professor of Chinese studies at Harvard University. A source familiar with that conversation called it the most antagonistic U.S.-China engagement since contentious talks in Alaska early in the Biden administration. Name me one," Biden said in his speech, evidently referring to a host of domestic and foreign policy challenges facing China. However, Biden is likely to find Xi emboldened in any call after a Chinese-brokered rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran and his meetings with Putin. Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina Editing by Don Durfee and Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

March 22 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for a two-day summit in Moscow this week. UKRAINEPutin said Chinese proposals could be used as the basis of a peace settlement in Ukraine, but nothing emerged from the meeting to tie his hands militarily. Bottom line: The agreed summit language suits Putin's purposes, enabling him to continue fighting while saying he is open to talk peace. Bottom line: Russia is still waiting on a deal and China has powerful leverage to secure advantageous price terms. Putin said Chinese companies would be first in line to replace Western companies that have quit Russia.

"Consequently, there is a risk that current and emerging impacts to cultural heritage are not being readily identified and/or appropriately managed," ERM said. The audit also found nearly half of Rio's assets lacked access to appropriately qualified and experienced cultural heritage expertise within the business. Cultural heritage management should not be contracted out because ownership of decisions should reside at Rio Tinto, ERM said. The global miner needed to improve and make more consistent its cultural heritage planning around water management and around closure of its operations, it added. The report followed an audit of 37 Rio Tinto assets.

☆ Factbox: Russia's tighter energy ties with China since Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

In February 2022, China also agreed to buy up to 10 bcm of gas annually by around 2026 via a pipeline from Russia's far east island of Sakhalin. Russia's gas exports to China are still a small fraction of the record 177 bcm it delivered to Europe in 2018-19. Since the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022, volumes to Europe have shrunk, reaching about 62 bcm in 2022. - China's seaborne imports of Russian oil are set to hit a record in March as Chinese refiners take advantage of cheap prices as domestic fuel demand rebounds. - China has largely ignored the sanctions imposed by Western nations on seaborne Russian crude since Dec. 5.

REUTERS/Florence LoBEIJING, March 20 (Reuters) - Chinese state energy giants have made a number of multi-billion dollar investments in Russia, one of China's top oil and gas suppliers, across various stages of the energy supply chain. Below are the main investments by the Chinese government, key state-owned energy companies and their listed vehicles, based on company releases and Reuters reports. 2005: Sakhalin-3 Veninsky oil projectRussian oil giant Rosneft (ROSN.MM) and Sinopec (600028.SS), agreed to jointly explore the Sakhalin-3 Veninsky block during a visit by China's then-president Hu Jintao to Moscow in 2005. It became China's first energy project in Russia. 2019: Arctic LNG 2In 2019 China's CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK) and PetroChina agreed to buy a combined 20% stake in the $25.5 billion Arctic-2 liquefied natural gas project led by Novatek.

☆ Rio Tinto sees robust short term outlook for copper
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] A worker stands at a processing facility at Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia March 13, 2023. RentsendorjKHANBOGD, Mongolia, March 14 (Reuters) - The short-term outlook for copper is "pretty healthy," with global stockpiles trending down and mine disruptions having eroded supply from Latin America, Rio Tinto's head of copper Bold Baatar said on Tuesday. "Physical stocks of inventories of copper are at multi-year lows," he said, adding that copper demand in China was "relatively strong." "So at the moment, even in the short-term outlook, there's a pretty healthy demand picture," Baatar said. Reporting by B. Rentsendorj at Oyu Tolgoi and Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Sharon SingletonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ 'Kim Kardashian of the cat world': Gacek draws tourists to Polish city
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SZCZECIN, Poland, March 10 (Reuters) - Cat lovers are heading to the Polish city of Szczecin to catch a glimpse of Gacek, a chubby black-and-white feline who has become an internet sensation. Having received scores of five-star reviews, the "Kot Gacek" (Gacek the cat) pin on the map, near a shop selling bags emblazoned with the cat's face, has beaten sights including a Renaissance castle to the top spot. "Gacek is the Kim Kardashian of the cat world," Karolina Nowak, manager of the official TikTok account for the Western Pomerania region where Szczecin is located, @pomorzezachodnie, said. Gacek is not the first animal to draw tourists to a Polish city. In 2021, a golden retriever became Gdańsk’s most highly rated tourist attraction on Google.

LAUNCESTON, Australia, March 7 (Reuters) - China's imports of major commodities showed both the potential for an acceleration this year and the reality that economic momentum takes time to build. Crude oil imports were 84.06 million tonnes for the first two month, which is equivalent to 10.40 million barrels per day (bpd), according to the data, released on Tuesday. Where there was signs of an economy emerging from its now abandoned zero-COVID policy was in imports of iron ore and coal. However, the coal imports were largely in line with December's figure of 30.91 million tonnes and November's 32.31 million, suggesting that demand is steady at relatively robust volumes. Seaborne arrivals in the first two months were 47.72 million tonnes, according to commodity analysts Kpler, suggesting that arrivals overland from neighbouring countries were around 13 million tonnes.

☆ Global Miners Gear Up for Energy Transition With Deals and Investments
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Rhiannon Hoyle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia is being expanded underground as the company predicts rising demand. ADELAIDE, Australia—Global miners are spending billions of dollars on deals and raising budgets for new projects in a bet on the energy transition, changing course from a decadelong focus on shareholder payouts. BHP Group Ltd., the world’s biggest miner by market value, is close to completing its biggest acquisition since 2011 with copper-and-gold miner OZ Minerals Ltd. recommending its shareholders vote in favor of the more-than $6 billion bid. Two months ago, Rio Tinto PLC bought out minority shareholders in Canada-listed Turquoise Hill Resources in a $3.1 billion deal to get more exposure to a giant copper deposit in Mongolia.

☆ China coal mine death toll at six, 47 missing as rescue resumes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CGTN/Handout via REUTERSFeb 24 (Reuters) - The death toll from a coal mine collapse in northern China rose to six with at least 47 people missing as rescue efforts resumed after a landslide had halted the search for survivors, state media said on Friday. Six people had been pulled alive from the mine in Inner Mongolia by 10:30 p.m. (1430 GMT) on Thursday, state media reported. Three hundred rescue workers were using heavy machinery and rescue dogs in their search for the miners, state media said. The mine, once underground, was converted to an open-pit operation in 2012, according to state media. It had suspended production for three years before restarting in April 2021, state media said, without specifying the cause of the closure.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the West formed what looked like an overwhelming global coalition: 141 countries supported a United Nations measure demanding that Russia unconditionally withdraw. South Korea Indonesia Israel Thailand Japan Saudi Arabia Philippines Afghanistan CambodiaBy contrast, Russia seemed isolated. Eritrea “Russian actions are being distorted” North Korea Russia Belarus Syria Eritrea “Russian actions are being distorted” North Korea Russia Belarus SyriaBut the West never won over as much of the world as it initially seemed. But like many other African countries, South Africa appears careful to balance its growing ties with Russia against maintaining a relationship with the West. Others that provided Ukraine with military support have declined to impose economic sanctions on Russia.

☆ Mudslide disrupts rescue of 53 missing in China mine collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A mudslide has disrupted rescue operations at a coal mine collapse in China's Inner Mongolia region that killed at least two people, injured six and left more than 53 people missing, state media reported on Thursday. The collapse happened on Wednesday at an open-pit mine in the Alxa League operated by Xinjing Coal Mining Co.After the collapse, President Xi Jinping ordered search and rescue efforts, state media reported. "We must make every possible effort to rescue the missing persons and treat the injured," Xi said. Before the mudslide, four rescue teams of 109 people were searching for the trapped miners, state media reported. Authorities also sent 238 firefighters, 41 fire trucks and six rescue dogs to join the rescue and more teams of about 200 people were expected to arrive on Thursday, state media said.

Power-hungry aluminium producers in Yunnan and neighbouring provinces were already operating at reduced capacity, some of them since September, dragging down China's national output. The latest cuts will impact around 740,000 tonnes of annual production capacity, adding to the million tonnes already offline, according to industry consultancy Mysteel. Aluminium capacity has grown to around 5.25 million tonnes, making it the fourth largest provincial producer after Shandong, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang. January's estimated annualised production was 40.50 million tonnes, a drop of almost one million tonnes over the last five months. Registered inventory on both exchanges has risen fast, cushioning the supply chain from the loss of Chinese production momentum.

☆ See the photos that won National Geographic’s ‘Pictures of the Year’ contest
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Audrey Wan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

National Geographic announced the winning photographs from its first "Pictures of the Year" photo competition. The photo will be featured in an upcoming issue of National Geographic's U.S. magazine. Their photos will be published on National Geographic's Your Shot Instagram page, which has some 6.5 million followers. Salt wells on a hillside in the Salt Mines of Maras in Peru. An LiThe mines comprise around 4,500 salt wells, each of which produces some 400 pounds of salt per month.

☆ Analysts see short-term strength, long-term 'generational shift' in copper prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Sheets of copper cathode are pictured at BHP Billiton's Escondida, the world's biggest copper mine, in Antofagasta, northern Chile March 31, 2008. Ivan Alvarado | ReutersAlong with experiencing a short-term supply shortage, copper is set to undergo a "generational shift" in demand as decarbonization ramps up, according to BNY Mellon Lead Portfolio Manager Al Chu. Short-term supply issues have also emerged alongside a rebound in demand, such as an eruption of protests in Peru, which accounts for 10% of the world's copper supply. Every renewable energy pretty much needs copper, because if you're talking about electrifying something and transmitting electricity, you need copper." "When you look at the long-term secular story, you can just see strong demand.

☆ North Korea's antique fighter jets are still keeping the US and South Korea on their toes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Even with an aging fleet, Pyongyang has been able to catch the attention of South Korea and the US. On October 6, 12 North Korean jets were detected practicing air-to-ground attacks near the DMZ, prompting South Korea to scramble 30 of its fighters. On November 4, 80 South Korean fighters were scrambled after 180 North Korean planes were detected on South Korean radar. The activity and scale is unusual given North Korea's air force is widely regarded as the weakest branch of North Korea's military. South Korean troops guard a MiG-19 used by a North Korean pilot to defect to South Korea in May 1996.

☆ Explainer: What we know and don't know about the Chinese balloon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Here's what we know, and don't know, about the balloon that has triggered a dramatic diplomatic dispute between the two powers:HOW BIG IS IT? WAS IT A WEATHER BALLOON? Other companies that develop stratospheric balloon systems include U.S. space tourism firm World View and French firm CNIM Air Space. AIR is particularly keen on stratospheric balloon technology and has posted several articles on its WeChat account about Aerostar. read moreWhile analysts did not yet know the size of the Chinese balloon fleet, U.S. officials have spoken of dozens of missions since 2018 across five continents, with some targeting Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.

Coking coal prices, along with those for iron ore, have rallied on the back of this optimism, with both steel raw materials recording strong gains this year. The answer is that for coking coal there appears to be both rising demand and some supply disruptions at work. Japan, the second-biggest buyer of seaborne coking coal, imported 5.01 million tonnes in January, up from December's 3.98 million and roughly level with last January's 5.08 million. Outside of Asia, Europe's imports of coking coal rose to 3.81 million tonnes in January from December's 3.55 million, according to Kpler. The overall picture from coking coal imports is that there has been a move higher in recent months, which does provide some fundamental backing to the rally in prices.

☆ Pope Francis says he wants to go to Mongolia in September
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Sunday that he expected to continue travelling despite his knee ailment, joking that "weeds never die" and adding that he hoped to go to Mongolia in September. The trip would be the first ever by a pope to the Asian country. Speaking of his health, Francis, who became pope nearly 10 years ago, said "You know that weeds never die. Last August Francis named Archbishop Giorgio Marengo, an Italian, the first cardinal to be based in Mongolia, where he is the Catholic Church's administrator. Francis, who was on his way home from his 40th foreign trip as pope, also said he would probably go to India next year.

☆ The people who live inside airplanes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Jacopo Prisco | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —After losing her house to a fire, Jo Ann Ussery had a peculiar idea: to live in an airplane. She bought an old Boeing 727 that was destined for the scrapyard, had it shipped to a plot of land she already owned, and spent six months renovating, doing most of the work by herself. By the end, she had a fully functional home, with over 1,500 square feet of living space, three bedrooms, two bathrooms and even a hot tub – where the cockpit used to be. Although she wasn’t the first person to ever live in an airplane, her flawless execution of the project had an inspirational effect. Maybe the worst choice for a home.”As a result, Campbell had to work on the plane for a couple of years before being able to live in it.

Persons: Jo Ann Ussery, Ussery, Benoit , Mississippi –, Bruce Campbell, Jo, ”, Campbell, “, Jo Ann’s, Scotty, That’s, Aristotle Onassis, he’s, Joe Axline, Axline, “ I’ve, I’ve, ” Axline, Howard Hughes, Dave Drimmer, Nashville Hall of Famer Red Lane, Lane, Jumbo, “ You’ve, there’ll, Bruce Campbell’s Organizations: CNN, Boeing, Olympic Airways, Florida Air Museum, Nashville Hall of Famer, Airport Locations: Benoit , Mississippi, Hillsboro , Oregon, Mongolia, Greece, Miyazaki, Japan, Brookshire , Texas, Stockholm's Arlanda, Florida, American, Costa Rica, Costa Verde, Sweden, Stockholm’s Arlanda, England, London

☆ Strong Investor Demand Boosts Overseas Bond Markets
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Chelsey Dulaney | Frances Yoon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Some parts of the global bond market roared back to life in January, with sales of new debt securities off to a record start in Europe and across emerging markets. Emerging-market governments such as Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Mongolia issued $61 billion of international bonds in January, smashing the previous high for the month of January of $41 billion, according to data from Refinitiv going back to 1970.

☆ Mongolia calls on Rio Tinto to keep budget for giant copper mine in check
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Clara Denina | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Mongolia has asked Rio Tinto (RIO.L)(RIO.AX), its partner in the huge Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in the Gobi desert, not to further increase its estimated $7.06 billion budget for the project's expansion, its mining minister told Reuters. "The government has asked Rio Tinto to not increase the budget," J. Ganbaatar, the minister for mining and heavy industries, told Reuters on Jan. 16 in a video interview. Rio Tinto declined to comment. Mongolia owns 34% and Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto 66% of Oyu Tolgoi, one of the world's largest known copper and gold deposits, which is slated to eventually produce more than 500,000 tonnes of copper a year. However, when the price of copper exceeds $9,000 a tonne, a 20% royalty is imposed on copper concentrate.

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