Curfew November

It's been a month of 9pm curfews. Eventful to say the least.  Police raids on hotels busting groggy guests squinting into the camera light and raids on the little corner shops caught selling beverages at 3am all on the evening news. I am not even sure if busting hotel guests for simply having a small party of their own is legal, considering they've paid for the privacy. Unless the hotel staff or fellow occupants complain to the police due to excessive noise or unruly behaviour. And isn't consent required to film them?

It's very reminiscent of the good ole commie days, when we had these public walls of shame where "special" people would have their photos and a detailed explanation of how that they've lost their socialist ideals displayed for everyone to see. There even used to be a special weekly newspaper called "Woodpecker" or Tonshuul, if my memory serves me, dedicated to shaming people. Them's were the days. And old habits die hard, because it is not just the media and the police using this method. Private lenders put up newspapers ads with photos of their debtors when they're behind payments.

Yesterday, the government's decided to extend the curfew by another 14 days.

Due to the quarantine at schools, they have been holding televised lessons for students on several TV channels. The secondary and high schools will resume classes from next week.

The infection rate of H1N1 is slowing down, reports say, with 1015 cases and 16 deaths so far.

GIA Director nominated as the next Foreign Minister

R.Bold, director of the General Intelligence Agency, has been nominated by PM S.Batbold to take over the PM's previous position as the Foreign Minister. Before being appointed the head of the GIA, he served as Mongolia's ambassador to the US during 2003-2007.

Swine flu update

The total number of confirmed cases of H1N1 has reached 632 as of Sunday, of whom 514 are in UB city. There have been 7 deaths so far. Health Minister S.Lambaa has been criticized by the media for not taking preventive measures soon enough and for downplaying the rate at which the infection was spreading. During his recent meeting with WHO officials, he admitted that the swine flu cases may reach epidemic proportion.  Mongolia received 45,000 tamiflu vaccines recently from WHO.