Trending on X, 10 AM: Musk prediction, Serbia election, New Kharkhorum, snow, budget, land ownership

These are the topics Mongolian users discussed most on X between 06:00 and 10:20 on October 26 (Ulaanbaatar time), ranked by engagement. Activity was relatively light on Monday morning, but 10 topics were checked against news outlets and made the list. Topics from earlier roundups are included only where there is a new development. Posts containing unverified claims or accusing named people without evidence were left out. Post metrics are as of 10:26.

1. "No phones or apps in 5-6 years": Musk's prediction sparks debate on AI replacing professions

Lawyer Batkhuu cited Elon Musk's prediction that phones and apps will disappear within five to six years, replaced by AI-based devices, and went on to ask whether AI will push out accountants, doctors, actors and lawyers. It was the most widely seen Mongolian post of the morning. Musk made the prediction on Joe Rogan's podcast in late October 2025, saying that what we call a phone will become "an edge node for AI inference" with no operating systems or apps, and that most content people consume will be AI-generated, as Decrypt and other outlets reported. It is his personal forecast, not an announced product or timeline.

2. Serbia: Aleksandar Vučić concedes defeat to the student-led movement

The student-led "Student List" won Serbia's snap parliamentary election on October 25, and Aleksandar Vučić, who had dominated Serbian politics for 14 years, conceded defeat. According to the BBC, AP and The Guardian, Vučić said: "We still do not have final results... it is clear that we have lost these elections. The Student List has won, they will have between 135 and 140 seats and we will have 105." Turnout was a record high. The result caps two years of anti-corruption protests that began when a railway station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in 2024, killing 16 people. Mongolian users shared videos of celebrations in Belgrade and highlighted Vučić's closeness to Moscow.

3. "There is no new city in Kharkhorin": a university student's remark goes viral

A video of National University of Mongolia student T. Makar saying that parliament decided to build a new city at Kharkhorin, but there was no new city when he went there, spread quickly, with users criticizing unfulfilled state promises. Parliament adopted Resolution No. 07 on January 12, 2023 to build "New Kharkhorum" in the Orkhon Valley, followed by a dedicated law in January 2025. The UB Post reports that although the government approved a 2026–2028 action plan, visible work has so far been limited mostly to forest belts, green spaces and river and lake restoration, with little sign of the core construction. National broadcaster MNB reported on October 23 that the city administration is developing the master plan and feasibility studies in stages.

4. Snow and cold arrive in Ulaanbaatar (weather update)

The cold snap forecast over the weekend arrived, bringing snow to the capital and several provinces this morning. According to liveTV.mn, Ulaanbaatar will see cloud and light snow during the day, with winds turning from southwest to north at 5–10 m/s and temperatures of -2 to -4°C. Snow and snowstorms are expected in western Khövsgöl, eastern Selenge, northeastern Töv and northwestern Khentii. Users reminded each other to dress warmly and shared photos of snowy streets.

5. A herding family crosses the Khoridol Saridag pass

TV5 journalist Dorjoo posted footage of a nomadic family on the move across the Khoridol Saridag pass in Renchinlkhümbe soum, Khövsgöl province. "The nomadic family got up at 5:30 a.m. They rise this early because they are crossing the pass today," he wrote. The footage was filmed on October 25.

6. Italian and Mongolian archaeologists at work in the Bayangol valley near Kharkhorum

Zogii.mn published a Mongolian translation of an interview by Novastan editor-in-chief Mathieu Lemoine with Italian archaeologist Roberta Menegazzi. The Bayangol valley, about 14 km northwest of present-day Kharkhorin, holds burials, ritual monuments and possible settlement remains from the Bronze Age onward. A team led by Menegazzi of the CRAST centre in Turin has worked with Mongolian institutions since 2018. The project, funded by Italy's foreign ministry, expanded into fieldwork in 2023. Working with the National University of Mongolia and the Kharkhorum Museum, the team has documented dozens of structures and begun excavations using modern survey technologies.

7. 2027 budget: allocations after the Oyu Tolgoi dividend plan was dropped, and an analyst's warning (new development)

After the government withdrew its plan on Friday to spend Oyu Tolgoi dividends on projects, attention has turned to how 2027 budget investment is being allocated. According to UBN.mn's analysis, 52 dividend-funded projects were removed, 763 projects worth 3.77 trillion tugriks remain in the state budget, and 235 amendment proposals from MPs fell away. Among provinces, Dornod receives the most, 183.6 billion tugriks, and Ömnögovi the least, 23.4 billion, while the western region gets the largest regional share, 517 billion, the outlet found. In an interview with iToim.mn, D. Oyunbadam, governance program manager at the Open Society Forum, said the budget runs a 2.3 trillion tugrik deficit, current spending is up 7.5 trillion on last year, and Mongolia will pay 1.5 trillion tugriks in debt service this year. "There is a high probability the budget will come under strain, so we need to be prepared for the next shock," Oyunbadam warned.

8. Supreme Court to review the killing of a 16-year-old girl on October 29

UBN.mn and zuv.mn report that the Supreme Court's supervisory chamber will hear the case on the deaths of a 16-year-old girl and a 32-year-old woman on Thursday, October 29. On January 23 this year the court of first instance sentenced defendant Ts. Dagvadorj to life imprisonment and acquitted the others involved in the case, and the appeals court upheld the ruling. The girl's mother, G. Otgontuya, wrote publicly: "I do not want revenge on anyone. I want the truth established and the rights of the child and human dignity properly protected."

9. Rare protests in Azerbaijan over a school hijab ban

New school uniform rules adopted by Azerbaijan's government on September 21 took effect on October 12. Since then, pupils and teachers wearing hijabs have been turned away from schools, sparking protests that are rare in the country. According to the BBC and Amnesty International, the rules do not name the hijab but ban clothing that conflicts with "the principle of secularism in education". The interior ministry said 37 people were detained in Baku on October 12, while activists put the number at more than 200.

10. B. Pürevdagva: 0.7-hectare land plots once the master plan is approved (new development)

Ulaanbaatar Mayor B. Pürevdagva said the city will formally begin granting 0.7-hectare plots to residents who have not yet received their land once parliament approves the Ulaanbaatar 2040 master plan, ikon.mn and ReelNews report. He said 215,000 residents have received land ownership certificates so far, and the law on granting land to citizens remains in force until May 1, 2028. The city council has approved granting 156.42 hectares to 2,843 residents for family use in 2026. Separately, on October 23 parliament voted to set up a temporary investigative committee into land allocated in the capital between 1992 and 2025. The committee of 15 MPs, chaired by Ts. Baatarkhuu, will hold public hearings.

Methodology: We ranked posts from about 200 major news and influential accounts found through X search, plus more than 50 keyword searches, by an engagement score (likes + 2× reposts + views/100), and checked the facts against news sites. Posts that could not be verified or that carried a risk of defamation were left out. Views expressed by individuals on X do not represent the position of egov.mn.