A Mongolian professor of history has said America was discovered by the Mongolians and not Christopher Columbus, as is popularly believed, the Xinhua news agency reported late on Thursday.

The Bush administration did not give any comment on the US Supreme Court decision, which rejected the contention of India and Mongolia that they are immune to paying taxes on their properties in the United States.

The President of Mongolia, Nambaryn Enkhbayar, met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and British Minister for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs, Ian McCartney on April 16th and 17th. On the agenda was discussion about Mongolia continuing to create favourable conditions for foreign investment, particularly in the mineral industry.

Katherine Young of Resourcex Investor spoke to Terence Ortslan, a mining analyst at TSO and Associates in Montreal who has been travelling to Mongolia for 20 years, about issues affecting Mongolia's mining sector.