The 12th Sunset Music Festival will take place at the Hotel Mongolia (Mongol Shiltgeen) in Gachuurt on July 29 and 30. Leading Mongolian DJs will attend the music festival, which will  be held under the theme ‘Everybody, let’s have fun in the fresh air, beautiful nature and on the silky sand’.

Tourist arrivals in Mongolia have been continually increasing. Before the Mongolian national festival of Naadam, earlier this month, the country received a total of 42,823 tourists; this represents a 9.7% increase compared to the same period in 2015.

Genghis Khan, the legendary Mongolian ruler and horseman who invaded half the world in the 13th century, now keeps  watch over the scenic land-locked and country from the steppes.

While wildfires are raging in the forests of Eastern Russia, the smoke is drifting down to Mongolia. Northern parts of Mongolia, especially the cities of Darkhan, Erdenet and Ulaanbaatar have been shrouded in grey smoke from the Siberian wildfires.

China’s richest man, the founder of Alibaba online shopping, Jack Ma arrived in Ulaanbaatar earlier today (25th July), at the invitation of Mongolian sumo wrestler Asashoryu (D.Davgadorj). He will stay in Mongolia until 27th July. During his stay, he will  give a lecture to Mongolian students of technology.

Last week, the State Great Khural (Parliament)  appointed 11 new members of Prime Minister J.Erdenebat’s cabinet. However, the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) board has withdrawn four nominees for the ministerial offices of Construction and Urban Development, Food, Agriculture and Light Industry, Health and Energy.

Once every four years, a special religious sacrifice ceremony takes place near the peaks of some of Mongolia’s most sacred mountains. This year, the Mongolian President and government officials have authorized a ceremony for Mt Otgontenger (22nd of July) and Mt Sutai (24th of July).

Mongolian cyclist B.Tegshbayar has won a gold medal at the 2016 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Aigle in Switzerland. The silver and bronze medals went to Daniel Babor (Czech Republic) and Moreno Marchetti (Italy). The competition, which is being held at the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Aigle began on Wednesday July 20th and will run until Sunday July 24th. 

The Asian Draughts Championship is taking place from July 20th to 30th in Ulaanbaatar. One hundred standard draughts games for all age categories are being played in ‘B’ corpus of the Mongolian State University of Education. Around 200 draughts players from 15 countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, India and Singapore are participating in the Asian Draughts Championship in six age categories.

Earlier today (21st of July), President Ts.Elbegdorj spoke with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon by phone regarding the security of Mongolian peace-keepers in South Sudan, where there has been a sharp deterioration of the political situation.