#Abu Dhabi company registry

[commitbizbusinesssetup]

We're helping you incorporate your company in Abu Dhabi without any difficulties.

We have a great offer for you if you want to start a business in Abu Dhabi.

We have a special deal for Ramadan that will allow you to launch your business with a service fee discount of up to 50%.

Visit this website right away.

[power-index-management]

What Is The Common Mistakes When Attesting Documents In UAE?

Crossing out a signature on an attested document is a common mistake. The law prescribes a fine of up to AED (needed amount) and/or imprisonment of up to six months for crossing out a signature, stamp or seal on an attested document. Another mistake is not affixing the affidavit with the original document. Emirate-specific rules and regulations stipulate that an attested document can be signed by the Investigator, the party to whom the attestation was made, and the witness. The affidavit should be affixed to the original document and a copy should be given to the attested party.

Sending the original copy to UAE Consulate. You will be required to send the original copy of the document that you are attesting, and NOT the attested copy that you received back from the UAE Consulate. You should keep the original copy of the document with you and send the attested copy to the UAE Consulate.

What is the Common Mistakes When Attesting Documents in UAE?

Before you can attest any document in the UAE, you must first register with the Federal Commercial Registry, known as FCR and the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. You must first be registered as a representative in the UAE. You can do this by applying to the Ministry of Economy. You will need to provide proof of this registration when you want to apply for FCR registration. You can start this process by contacting one of the notaries public in Dubai. You can also register in Abu Dhabi if you also need to attest documents in that city too.

If you want to get a     document attested from UAE consulate then make sure your document is in     perfect and original format.     If you want to get your UAE passport stamped in India, and then make sure     your passport is valid for at least 6 months.

If you want to get your UAE     driving license attested then make sure your driving license is valid for     at least 6 months.

When you apply for your     visa, make sure you take your original invitation letter from company or     embassy. An attested copy of invitation letter is not acceptable.

If your document is not in     English, then make sure you have an official translation in English with     your original document.

Keep your original passport     with you while getting your documents attested in UAE consulate or     embassy.

You can get your documents     attested within 2 to 5 working days.

Why My Document Needs Attestation in UAE?

Importance of document attestation . One of the major reasons     why every document needs legalization or attestation in UAE is that it is     used as a proof that the document is original and issued by the respective     authority.

As most of the scholarship,     employment visa, medical visa and many other documents come from other     countries, they really need to be verified if they are original.

So, they get attested by     the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in UAE. Attestation of document is a     mandatory procedure and without it, one cannot use it as a legal document.

An attestation is a     certificate that’s a proof that a document has been duly executed by an     authorized officer in a specific state or country.

Attestation is a process     where a Consulate or Embassy certifies and verifies the authenticity of an     official document.

The attestation is usually     done by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of UAE.

The attestation is a     procedure, which is legally binding and non-refundable.

It is required to be stamped     by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of UAE and the document can be     considered valid only when the official document has been approved at     their end.

The attestation is the     attestation of identity, genuineness and the official capacity of the     Consular Agent.

The attestation is valid in     all the states in the UAE and all the other GCC States.

[cryptodailysun]

The emirate’s special economic zone might grant licensed exchanges the right to trade nonfungible tokens. Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the emirate’s free zone, published a consultation paper on March 21 titled “Proposals for enhancements to capital markets and virtual assets in ADGM.” The document contains draft guidelines that, among other asset classes, cover nonfungible token (NFT) trading. The paper proposes that companies with a license from the free zone’s financial regulator be allowed to facilitate NFT trading.Along with sections dedicated to traditional financial instruments, the document contains a little more than a page on virtual assets and NFTs. In this section, the free zone’s chief regulator, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), describes NFTs as intellectual property rather than “specified investments or financial instruments.” It also proposes to allow multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) and Virtual Asset Custodians (VAC) to operate NFT marketplaces. Related: The crypto oasis: How the UAE became the Middle East’s digital asset championThe document also mentions that transactions in NFTs may trigger the requirement to comply with ADGM’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Sanctions Rules. At this point, as the document specifies, FSRA is not proposing a formal regulatory framework for NFTs. The consultation paper is open for comment until May 20, and encourages stakeholders to share their thoughts on several major questions, for example, “What types of NFTs should be permitted to trade upon MTFs?” and “How would it be best to integrate third-party NFT registries?”ADGM is one of the United Arab Emirates' three major free economic zones that host virtual asset service providers (VASPs), and the first one to get its regulatory framework back in 2018. Last week, though, it was the UAE’s another free zone — Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) — that made the headlines by granting its freshly legislated crypto license to FTX and Binance exchanges. Go to Source

[pentagondigitalagency]

Extraordinary Reasons Why Having A Website Is Significant.

Business Purchase Decisions Start With A Search Engine Search of Websites 

To acquire new clients you need to get where your possibilities go when they are hoping to discover providers, research providers, and make a buy. In this day and age where a great many people in many business sectors go is to the web, explicitly a search engine like Google, Yahoo, or Bing. These search engines are the large three (in a specific order) and record for more than 90% of all searches. 

Significance of Website: With 93% of business choices beginning with a search engine search that implies in the event that you don't have a website, you are just offering to 7% of your market. That is correct, you are lessening the likely size of your business by 93%. I would recommend that a similar measurement for shopper buys is lower yet extremely high, particularly for bigger ticket things. The bigger the thing, the more research and shopping individuals will do. My speculation is most likely 40-half of purchaser buys start with an online search. Get Web Design Abu Dhabi Service Click Here!

It Shows Your Professionalism 

Another motivation behind why a website is significant for your business is that there is an enormous part of the market that will not consider you as an alternative when they are hoping to purchase, on the off chance that you don't have one. I know by and by in case I am managing a provider I am hoping to buy from and they don't have a website I essentially discount them as a choice and my perspective on that organization is lessened. It gives me the feeling that it is an organization that is inadequately overseen. 

With this perspective for what reason would I need to buy from an organization like this? In view of my experience a great many people think like myself. There are certain individuals that don't hold this equivalent idea yet I would figure that likely 80% of individuals have awful assessments of organizations that don't have websites. 

It Gives You Ease Of Access 

Having a website makes it exceptionally simple for individuals to discover you, read up with regards to your organization, find what you do, and answer a lot of inquiries they have on your business. By having a website individuals will actually want to discover your organization when they search for your organization on a search engine like Google, Yahoo or Bing. It is actually the case that in the event that you don't have a website for your business, you might be found in a search engine in the event that you have a posting in a registry, the business directory or your business could just consequently appear in a Google places result. However, would you truly like to pass on this to risk? Besides, why not have a website so you can impact what is shown about your organization and realize your website will be recorded as well as having every one of those other search results. Which of the beneath results would you rather have for your organization. 

It Will Give You a Positive ROI 

One more incredible explanation concerning why having a website is significant is that is will give you a positive ROI. On the off chance that we utilize a similar model from the section above for the initial five years of having a website, your costs will be $10,417.00. What number of deals do you have to produce to take care of this? In case you are in a business-to-business market, my supposition is that you may just need one deal to make your website venture beneficial. In the event that one deal isn't sufficient, it is presumably just a modest bunch. The odds of your website creating in excess of a modest bunch of clients throughout the span of five years is nearly ensured given websites are about the #3 wellspring of new clients for the normal private venture. 

Regardless of whether you are in a business to shopper advertise what amount in deals would you require, to make the website speculation worthwhile....$25,000 perhaps? Creating $25,000 throughout the span of a long time from a website is peanuts. Figure it out, yet I am certain when you take a gander at the numbers they will demonstrate for themselves that it is beneficial to put resources into a website. 

It Gives You Lasting Value 

The incredible part about a website is that once you put resources into it, you have it everlastingly and it keeps on working for you for eternity. What other publicizing techniques are there that once you pay for it once, it keeps on working for your business forever? Very few. 

At the point when you pay for a paper advertisement, you get that one promotion and any advantage that one promotion creates yet after that advertisement it is finished. That cash you spent on the paper promotion is gone and you can never get it back. In the event that you don't get a profit from a venture from it, you won't ever can. The equivalent is valid for Google Adwords, Facebook Ads, Linkedin Ads, a Yellow Pages posting, magazine advertisements, and so on Where likewise with a website, on the off chance that you don't make a positive ROI in the primary year, no concerns since you have from this point until the finish of time to get a profit from your venture. 

It's an Easily Accessible Data Center 

Another extraordinary motivation behind why a website is significant is that it can likewise go about as a server farm for your own representatives, clients, and your possibilities. An extraordinary illustration of this is my client Gold Roast. They give office espresso and warm drink services, espresso, tea, and coffee machine fixes, and sell espresso, tea, and coffee machines. Essentially anything with espresso, tea, or coffee they do it. How they use their website as a server farm is they give their clients logins to their total item list. This permits clients to handily discover any item they need and submit a request for them. It likewise makes it simple for clients to discover substitution items assuming they need to change the espresso or tea items they request. 

It Provides Self Service Customer Support 

One more benefit of having a website is that it can further develop your client assistance and accordingly further develop your general client care. A website can do this in the event that you post help Q&As on your website or make a gathering where clients can pose each other inquiries about your item and different clients can address these inquiries. These responses to normal issues or questions are then accessible on the web if different clients search in a search engine for an answer for this issue. 

You can likewise guide clients to these online recorded assets so they can tackle the actual issue. This can make things a lot quicker for your clients and furthermore make your client care division more productive. Not all items or services can profit from an investigating gathering, yet I would contend everything items could profit from a Q&A page for ordinarily posed inquiries just as a discussion where clients can post any inquiries, remarks or input they have about an item.  Visit Pentagon Digital Agency the creative Web Design Company Abu Dhabi

[go-gloriousheart]

The Expat Guide to Buying a Property in Dubai or the UAE

Buying a belongings withinside the United Arab Emirates for an expat is a system that calls for a hard and fast of techniques to make certain a easy and a quick shopping system. Luckily for all of UAE expats, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai’s Crown Prince issued in 2002 a freehold decree that permits foreigners to buy, promote or hire belongings freely in regions consisting of Sheikh Zayed Road, Jumeirah, Jebel Ali, components of Bur Dubai and the place wherein Dubai connects with Abu Dhabi.

Recently we at PSS International have visible an boom withinside the range of clients shifting from the United Kingdom to the UAE who're trying to buy a belongings. We have consequently prepare this entire manual to buying a belongings.

Here are eight matters expats dwelling withinside the UAE have to observe whilst shopping for a belongings.

1- Identify the reason of your buy

Many expats appearance to put money into houses in Dubai and UAE. Hence, in case you are an expat who seeks a buy-to-permit form of belongings you then definately have to recollect regions withinside the emirate with excessive condo yields in preference to regions with high-priced houses and excessive emptiness rates. Do a right studies on regions with excessive call for to make certain a worthwhile funding that maintains you rich for longer durations of time.

2- Seek the help of a expert

On the alternative hand, in case you are house-looking you then definately have to both buy a belongings immediately from the developer or searching for the help of professional actual property retailers. The maximum vital factor right here is to take all of the time you want earlier than you compromise on a house. Which method to move and look into homes for sale, stroll withinside the community and get to understand the neighbors

.Real property retailers withinside the UAE can offer you with community publications to discover extra approximately one-of-a-kind neighborhoods from services and centers supplied through every community to crime rates, fee variety and whether or not they offer you with the equal way of life that fits you and your own circle of relatives or not.

3- Get acquainted with the shopping system

The shopping system for an expat isn’t complex most effective in case you understand what to do exactly. First of all, to buy a belongings in UAE, a consumer must be over 21 years old.

Second, a verbal provide is then positioned and as soon as regularly occurring through the seller; a income settlement is then drafted.

Third, the consumer secures his price range and both pay a down charge with scheduled month-to-month installments or pay in coins wherein the deed is then transferred.

4- Secure your price range

After doing the right studies approximately houses prices; a consumer have to make certain he can have the funds for to buy a selected house. If a consumer is not able to pay in coins, then he's going to want to use for a loan. To attain a loan in UAE, shoppers will need to positioned down among 20 to 50 percentage of the charge for his or her belongings in coins.

Most creditors will calculate an expat’s common month-to-month profits to make certain the consumer is capable of steady the loan. Other creditors would require an coverage withinside the shape of some other belongings. To follow for a loan, a consumer will need to gift passport and copies, evidence of residence, evidence of address, revenue certificate or proof of normal profits and financial institution account statements for 3 to 6 months.

5- Have the belongings inspected

Before signing any contracts, you have to get the belongings inspected first as a few landlords intentionally conceal that reality that the belongings wishes most important upkeep.Which is why it's far crucial to lease a expert who absolutely look into the belongings earlier than sealing the deal as as soon as the settlement is signed, any upkeep may be your responsibility.

6- Be privy to the belongings tax rates

Even aleven though the United Arab Emirates doesn’t impose any form of taxes on profits to groups and people dwelling in it, however it does impose taxes on houses.If an expat is shopping a belongings, there's the one-time rate of the land registry rate/tax that's 4%. However, if an expat is renting a belongings; a tax of 5% from the tenancy settlement cost is then paid.

7- Check the developer’s history

Whether you're shopping an off-plan belongings or a resale belongings from a personal seller, you have to do a historical past take a look at at the developer itself. You can try this through checking the company’s portfolio, paying a go to to the development webweb page and understand extra approximately the paintings quality, materials, and layout.

8- Carefully take a look at the settlement

Signing a income settlement withinside the UAE is followed through felony files that could be a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or a Sale and Purchase Agreement among the 2 concerned parties.

Which is why is a consumer has to cautiously examine and recognize the settlement phrases and conditions. It is ultimate at this level to lease a nearby belongings attorney who's acquainted with all of the felony necessities and responsibilities protected withinside the settlement.

More..  Budget Apartments For Sale In Abu Dhabi, Apartment For Sale In Abu Dhabi, Budget Apartments In Dubai ,  Best Real Estate Companies In UAE ,  Top Real Estate Company In Abu Dhabi  

[commitbizbusinesssetup]

You will lose the Early Bird pricing offers for business setup in Abu Dhabi.

We have limited slots, so HURRY up ...

I'll see you soon :)

[brettzjacksonblog]

Blockchain Technology Adopted for Land Registry and Sea Trade

Blockchain technology is rapidly being adopted for public purposes. New South Wales’ plan to fully digitize property transactions and Abu Dhabi Ports’ test to improve cargo visibility and streamline trade flows are two new examples of the disruption taking place today.

New South Wales Partners with ChromaWay to Digitize Property Transactions by July 2019

As the Australian state of New South Wales prepares to digitize property transactions by July 2019, the recently privatized Land Registry Services has announced a blockchain-based proof of concept (PoC) for electronic property conveyancing in partnership with Stockholm-based startup ChromaWay.

The firm will leverage proven approaches from implementations in Sweden and India.

“Under blockchain models, the data in a registry will remain secure and immutable, while also being accessible and searchable. It will provide an incontrovertible chain of ownership. It also has potential to transform land planning and development processes with a simplified, more efficient approach that removes burdensome paper-based processes and duplicated work that is currently the norm.”

When the Australian state finally moves to eConveyancing in July 2019, all paper certificates of title will be canceled. All land registry will be lodged electronically with a comprehensive view of rights, restrictions, and responsibilities, according to Adam Bennett, CEO of the land registry service.

“Rapid and far-reaching technology change is impacting traditional approaches to land dealings registration and general business operations around the globe. NSW LRS is embracing this new world by conducting a series of targeted experiments with globally-recognised technology companies.”

Other land sector actors, including Property Exchange Australia, may benefit from the increased transparency and reduction of data duplication as the business settles property transactions online. Pending regulatory approval, the changes to NSW LRS core systems, and core and non-core services are expected to smooth functioning of local and national property markets.

Ports in UAE and Belgium Test Blockchain Pilot to Streamline Trade Flows and Supply Chains

The Port of Antwerp, Europe’s second-largest seaport, has partnered with Abu Dhabi-based blockchain firm Maqta Gateway to implement the first international pilot for its “Silsal” project. The solution aims to link stakeholders across the trade community using blockchain in order to provide full cargo visibility and streamline trade flows and supply chains.

The pilot will test the technology’s capabilities to exchange, identify, and acknowledge cargo documents and certificates between the two ports.

Maqta Gateway, which is a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Ports, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Port of Antwerp to exchange experiences as both parties test the blockchain solution, said Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports.

“This is an important moment for us as we prepare to implement the first applied blockchain solution of its kind between Abu Dhabi and the world. Our technology experts at Maqta Gateway are working with world-class international partners, such as the Port of Antwerp, to deliver fast, reliable, and secure trade transactions through rigorous development and testing programs.”

According to a whitepaper published by World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with Bain & Company, blockchain may boost trade volume by $1.1 trillion in the next 10 years.

Featured image from Shutterstock

The post Blockchain Technology Adopted for Land Registry and Sea Trade appeared first on NewsBTC.

from CryptoCracken SMFeed https://ift.tt/2AfzUCo via IFTTT

[joshuajacksonlyblog]

Blockchain Technology Adopted for Land Registry and Sea Trade

Blockchain technology is rapidly being adopted for public purposes. New South Wales’ plan to fully digitize property transactions and Abu Dhabi Ports’ test to improve cargo visibility and streamline trade flows are two new examples of the disruption taking place today.

New South Wales Partners with ChromaWay to Digitize Property Transactions by July 2019

As the Australian state of New South Wales prepares to digitize property transactions by July 2019, the recently privatized Land Registry Services has announced a blockchain-based proof of concept (PoC) for electronic property conveyancing in partnership with Stockholm-based startup ChromaWay.

The firm will leverage proven approaches from implementations in Sweden and India.

“Under blockchain models, the data in a registry will remain secure and immutable, while also being accessible and searchable. It will provide an incontrovertible chain of ownership. It also has potential to transform land planning and development processes with a simplified, more efficient approach that removes burdensome paper-based processes and duplicated work that is currently the norm.”

When the Australian state finally moves to eConveyancing in July 2019, all paper certificates of title will be canceled. All land registry will be lodged electronically with a comprehensive view of rights, restrictions, and responsibilities, according to Adam Bennett, CEO of the land registry service.

“Rapid and far-reaching technology change is impacting traditional approaches to land dealings registration and general business operations around the globe. NSW LRS is embracing this new world by conducting a series of targeted experiments with globally-recognised technology companies.”

Other land sector actors, including Property Exchange Australia, may benefit from the increased transparency and reduction of data duplication as the business settles property transactions online. Pending regulatory approval, the changes to NSW LRS core systems, and core and non-core services are expected to smooth functioning of local and national property markets.

Ports in UAE and Belgium Test Blockchain Pilot to Streamline Trade Flows and Supply Chains

The Port of Antwerp, Europe’s second-largest seaport, has partnered with Abu Dhabi-based blockchain firm Maqta Gateway to implement the first international pilot for its “Silsal” project. The solution aims to link stakeholders across the trade community using blockchain in order to provide full cargo visibility and streamline trade flows and supply chains.

The pilot will test the technology’s capabilities to exchange, identify, and acknowledge cargo documents and certificates between the two ports.

Maqta Gateway, which is a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Ports, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Port of Antwerp to exchange experiences as both parties test the blockchain solution, said Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports.

“This is an important moment for us as we prepare to implement the first applied blockchain solution of its kind between Abu Dhabi and the world. Our technology experts at Maqta Gateway are working with world-class international partners, such as the Port of Antwerp, to deliver fast, reliable, and secure trade transactions through rigorous development and testing programs.”

According to a whitepaper published by World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with Bain & Company, blockchain may boost trade volume by $1.1 trillion in the next 10 years.

Featured image from Shutterstock

The post Blockchain Technology Adopted for Land Registry and Sea Trade appeared first on NewsBTC.

from Cryptocracken Tumblr https://ift.tt/2AfzUCo via IFTTT

[michaelbennettcrypto]

Blockchain Technology Adopted for Land Registry and Sea Trade

Blockchain technology is rapidly being adopted for public purposes. New South Wales’ plan to fully digitize property transactions and Abu Dhabi Ports’ test to improve cargo visibility and streamline trade flows are two new examples of the disruption taking place today.

New South Wales Partners with ChromaWay to Digitize Property Transactions by July 2019

As the Australian state of New South Wales prepares to digitize property transactions by July 2019, the recently privatized Land Registry Services has announced a blockchain-based proof of concept (PoC) for electronic property conveyancing in partnership with Stockholm-based startup ChromaWay.

The firm will leverage proven approaches from implementations in Sweden and India.

“Under blockchain models, the data in a registry will remain secure and immutable, while also being accessible and searchable. It will provide an incontrovertible chain of ownership. It also has potential to transform land planning and development processes with a simplified, more efficient approach that removes burdensome paper-based processes and duplicated work that is currently the norm.”

When the Australian state finally moves to eConveyancing in July 2019, all paper certificates of title will be canceled. All land registry will be lodged electronically with a comprehensive view of rights, restrictions, and responsibilities, according to Adam Bennett, CEO of the land registry service.

“Rapid and far-reaching technology change is impacting traditional approaches to land dealings registration and general business operations around the globe. NSW LRS is embracing this new world by conducting a series of targeted experiments with globally-recognised technology companies.”

Other land sector actors, including Property Exchange Australia, may benefit from the increased transparency and reduction of data duplication as the business settles property transactions online. Pending regulatory approval, the changes to NSW LRS core systems, and core and non-core services are expected to smooth functioning of local and national property markets.

Ports in UAE and Belgium Test Blockchain Pilot to Streamline Trade Flows and Supply Chains

The Port of Antwerp, Europe’s second-largest seaport, has partnered with Abu Dhabi-based blockchain firm Maqta Gateway to implement the first international pilot for its “Silsal” project. The solution aims to link stakeholders across the trade community using blockchain in order to provide full cargo visibility and streamline trade flows and supply chains.

The pilot will test the technology’s capabilities to exchange, identify, and acknowledge cargo documents and certificates between the two ports.

Maqta Gateway, which is a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Ports, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Port of Antwerp to exchange experiences as both parties test the blockchain solution, said Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports.

“This is an important moment for us as we prepare to implement the first applied blockchain solution of its kind between Abu Dhabi and the world. Our technology experts at Maqta Gateway are working with world-class international partners, such as the Port of Antwerp, to deliver fast, reliable, and secure trade transactions through rigorous development and testing programs.”

According to a whitepaper published by World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with Bain & Company, blockchain may boost trade volume by $1.1 trillion in the next 10 years.

Featured image from Shutterstock

The post Blockchain Technology Adopted for Land Registry and Sea Trade appeared first on NewsBTC.

from Cryptocracken WP https://ift.tt/2AfzUCo via IFTTT

[dailykhaleej]

UAE Civil Aviation publishes final report into Diamond DA62 crash

A report by civil aviation authority additionally discovered that there was an ATC inconsistency in advising the DA62 of the anticipated incidence of hazards brought on by wake turbulence. Picture Credit score: Courtesy: Dubai Media Workplace Twitter

Abu Dhabi: The Common Civil Aviation Authority, GCAA, has introduced the publication of the final report following the investigation of the accident involving a Diamond DA62 plane, operated by the Flight Calibration Companies Restricted firm, which occurred on Might 16, 2019, close to Dubai Worldwide Airport, ensuing within the demise of 4 individuals.

In a press release by GCAA on Sunday, the investigation was led by the GCAA Air Accident Investigation Sector because the UAE is the State of Incidence. An accredited consultant from the UK Air Accidents Investigation Department, AAIB, participated within the investigation, as the UK is the plane State of Registry and the Operator, and a technical adviser from the operator.

The investigation was performed in accordance with the protocol set forth in Annex 13 to the Conference on Worldwide Civil Aviation.

The AAIB, the UK Civil Aviation Authority and the operator have facilitated the investigation by making all proof obtainable and offering all data crucial for an efficient investigation. The cooperation among the many numerous stakeholders was practiced adequately and was a reflective to the diligence of all events to establish the causes of the accident and formulate efficient security suggestions.

It needs to be famous that the operator has proactively carried out the protection suggestions and classes recognized through the course of the investigation aiming at ascertaining protected operations and stopping reoccurrence.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2Amv9JU via IFTTT

[go-gloriousheart]

Dubai real estate: Property transactions surged in off-plan sales in February

Dubai-based real estate transactions have visible a massive uptick throughout the first few months of 2020 consistent with actual estate insights platform, Property Finder.

However, the surge in transactions “came ahead of latest concerns of COVID-19 becoming heightened,” Property Finder said.

Dubai Land Department transactions screen that ordinary transactions rose 12 percentage in January 2020, as compared to January 2019.

February 2020 noticed the largest increase as transactions rose 33 percentage in comparison to February 2019, with off plan transactions surging 76 percentage. The month saw 504 off-plan villa transactions and 2,251 off-plan condo transactions in line with Property Finder.

Dubai Land Department’s transactions registry for February shows four,356 sale transactions, with a total value of 9.four billion dirhams ($2.6 billion).

“We have visible a large surge in interest in off-plan transactions – which underlines the strong faith that neighborhood, local and international buyers have in Dubai, it’s builders and build quality,” Ari Kesisoglu, Property Finder’s President, said.

Big income concluded at some stage in the month encompass a 700.2 million dirhams purchase deal for the Shangri-La Dubai lodge on Sheikh Zayed Road, a pricey seven-bed room villa in Dubai Hills for a fee of 75 million dirhams and a seven-bed room belongings, additionally in Dubai Hills, for sixty nine million dirhams.

The maximum famous off-plan condominium projects sold in February 2020 had been Creek Beach, Dubai Creek Harbour, selling 140 devices, and Burj Crown, Downtown selling 139 devices in keeping with Property Finder.

For off-plan villa projects, the Arabian Ranches 3 place and the up and coming Dubai South (Dubai World Central) zone, the nearest district to the Dubai Expo 2020 site, proved maximum popular in February.

“Undeniably, we agree with the upsurge in hobby 12 months-on-12 months shows that Dubai’s economy remains globally significant, and Expo 2020 is causing a substantial spike in belongings purchases in advance of the October event,

New property investmentsIn current years, UAE real property area witnessed a rapid increase in new investments into the world as many investors both local and global have exhibited willingness to massively spend money on new housing improvement of apartments, condominiums, villas and local investors taking over a huge portion of Land development.

According to Bank of UAE witnessed a credit score strengthen from Banks into actual estate up to a track of Shs3.19 trillion within the year ending 2019.

However, because of Covid-19, this growth has been eminently attacked and a massive slack down is being witnessed ever for the reason that outbreak of the pandemic. Before UAE borders had been closed, UAE Investment Authority had already recorded a decline in the variety of human beings coming to UAE

One of the investors in UAE actual property sector, the Ruparelia group, closed of its top Hotels, Speke hotel and Commowealth Munyonyo, even before the united states was placed on a lockdown, this implied they might make much less or no new investments in this period have been they to retain operating, professionals say. The vacancy price in most business homes is alarming in this season.

New purchasesIt is obvious that the immediate impact has been a intense drop in actual estate transactions such as purchase of latest homes, land, and new tenants entering into new business locations.

The situation will become worse because it affects the earnings flow and return on investmentDevelopers say one of the largest markets are women and men who left the us of a to move and work overseas in places like Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi etc.

The usa is estimated to have a group of workers of over 165,000 people inside the Middle East remitting up to Shs2.four trillion. Most of them send cash here to shop for land, construct homes and put money into condominium housing.

However, due to the pandemic, those economies have been hit, some of them had been laid off and taken back home whilst those that stayed are at the verge of dropping their jobs, and this inflicts on any new purchases.

As of today, Bank of UAE has suspended all dividends and bonus payments, this may have an effect on earning of humans that would be capacity shoppers of real property.

Such similar instances have passed off elsewhere within the business region in which the earnings capacity for most business people has been halted. If a person does not sufficiently earn, they can't have the power to purchase real estate

Apartment Sale In Abu Dhabi | Buy Apartment In Abu Dhabi | Best Real Estate Companies In UAE | Real Estate Companies in Abu Dhabi | Budget Apartments In Dubai

[bitcoinnewsbull]

UAE’s Capital Abu Dhabi to Place Land Registry on Blockchain-based Platform

United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) capital city of Abu Dhabi is preparing to place its land registry on a blockchain-based platform, according to a press release. The Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities, a government-run agency tasked with managing Abu Dhabi’s development strategy, has teamed up with Indian IT company Tech Mahindra for the project. The […]

The post UAE’s Capital Abu Dhabi to Place Land Registry on Blockchain-based Platform appeared first on Bitcoin News Bull.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2MjVRVR via IFTTT

[nedsvallesny]

A Deep Dive on the Recent Widespread DNS Hijacking Attacks

The U.S. government — along with a number of leading security companies — recently warned about a series of highly complex and widespread attacks that allowed suspected Iranian hackers to siphon huge volumes of email passwords and other sensitive data from multiple governments and private companies. But to date, the specifics of exactly how that attack went down and who was hit have remained shrouded in secrecy.

This post seeks to document the extent of those attacks, and traces the origins of this overwhelmingly successful cyber espionage campaign back to a cascading series of breaches at key Internet infrastructure providers.

Before we delve into the extensive research that culminated in this post, it’s helpful to review the facts disclosed publicly so far. On Nov. 27, 2018, Cisco’s Talos research division published a write-up outlining the contours of a sophisticated cyber espionage campaign it dubbed “DNSpionage.”

The DNS part of that moniker refers to the global “Domain Name System,” which serves as a kind of phone book for the Internet by translating human-friendly Web site names (example.com) into numeric Internet address that are easier for computers to manage.

Talos said the perpetrators of DNSpionage were able to steal email and other login credentials from a number of government and private sector entities in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates by hijacking the DNS servers for these targets, so that all email and virtual private networking (VPN) traffic was redirected to an Internet address controlled by the attackers.

Talos reported that these DNS hijacks also paved the way for the attackers to obtain SSL encryption certificates for the targeted domains (e.g. webmail.finance.gov.lb), which allowed them to decrypt the intercepted email and VPN credentials and view them in plain text.

On January 9, 2019, security vendor FireEye released its report, “Global DNS Hijacking Campaign: DNS Record Manipulation at Scale,” which went into far greater technical detail about the “how” of the espionage campaign, but contained few additional details about its victims.

Twelve days after the FireEye report, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a rare emergency directive ordering all U.S. federal civilian agencies to secure the login credentials for their Internet domain records. As part of that mandate, DHS published a short list of domain names and Internet addresses that were used in the DNSpionage campaign, although those details did not go beyond what was previously released by either Cisco Talos or FireEye.

That changed on Jan. 25, 2019, when security firm CrowdStrike published a blog post listing virtually every Internet address known to be (ab)used by the espionage campaign to date. The remainder of this story is based on open-source research and interviews conducted by KrebsOnSecurity in an effort to shed more light on the true extent of this extraordinary — and ongoing — attack.

The “indicators of compromise” related to the DNSpionage campaign, as published by CrowdStrike.

PASSIVE DNS

I began my research by taking each of the Internet addresses laid out in the CrowdStrike report and running them through both Farsight Security and SecurityTrails, services that passively collect data about changes to DNS records tied to tens of millions of Web site domains around the world.

Working backwards from each Internet address, I was able to see that in the last few months of 2018 the hackers behind DNSpionage succeeded in compromising key components of DNS infrastructure for more than 50 Middle Eastern companies and government agencies, including targets in Albania, Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

For example, the passive DNS data shows the attackers were able to hijack the DNS records for mail.gov.ae, which handles email for government offices of the United Arab Emirates. Here are just a few other interesting assets successfully compromised in this cyber espionage campaign:

-nsa.gov.iq: the National Security Advisory of Iraq -webmail.mofa.gov.ae: email for the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs -shish.gov.al: the State Intelligence Service of Albania -mail.mfa.gov.eg: mail server for Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs -mod.gov.eg: Egyptian Ministry of Defense -embassy.ly: Embassy of Libya -owa.e-albania.al: the Outlook Web Access portal for the e-government portal of Albania -mail.dgca.gov.kw: email server for Kuwait’s Civil Aviation Bureau -gid.gov.jo: Jordan’s General Intelligence Directorate -adpvpn.adpolice.gov.ae: VPN service for the Abu Dhabi Police -mail.asp.gov.al: email for Albanian State Police -owa.gov.cy: Microsoft Outlook Web Access for Government of Cyprus -webmail.finance.gov.lb: email for Lebanon Ministry of Finance -mail.petroleum.gov.eg: Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum -mail.cyta.com.cy: Cyta telecommunications and Internet provider, Cyprus -mail.mea.com.lb: email access for Middle East Airlines

The passive DNS data provided by Farsight and SecurityTrails also offered clues about when each of these domains was hijacked. In most cases, the attackers appear to have changed the DNS records for these domains (we’ll get to the “how” in a moment) so that the domains pointed to servers in Europe that they controlled.

Shortly after the DNS records for these TLDs were hijacked — sometimes weeks, sometimes just days or hours — the attackers were able to obtain SSL certificates for those domains from SSL providers Comodo and/or Let’s Encrypt. The preparation for several of these attacks can be seen at cert.sh, which provides a searchable database of all new SSL certificate creations.

Let’s take a closer look at one example. The CrowdStrike report references the Internet address 139.59.134[.]216 (see above), which according to Farsight was home to just seven different domains over the years. Two of those domains only appeared at that Internet address in December 2018, including domains in Lebanon and — curiously — Sweden.

The first domain was “ns0.idm.net.lb,” which is a server for the Lebanese Internet service provider IDM. From early 2014 until December 2018, ns0.idm.net.lb pointed to 194.126.10[.]18, which appropriately enough is an Internet address based in Lebanon. But as we can see in the screenshot from Farsight’s data below, on Dec. 18, 2018, the DNS records for this ISP were changed to point Internet traffic destined for IDM to a hosting provider in Germany (the 139.59.134[.]216 address).

Source: Farsight Security

Notice what else is listed along with IDM’s domain at 139.59.134[.]216, according to Farsight:

The DNS records for the domains sa1.dnsnode.net and fork.sth.dnsnode.net also were changed from their rightful home in Sweden to the German hosting provider controlled by the attackers in December. These domains are owned by Netnod Internet Exchange, a major global DNS provider based in Sweden. Netnod also operates one of the 13 “root” name servers, a critical resource that forms the very foundation of the global DNS system.

We’ll come back to Netnod in a moment. But first let’s look at another Internet address referenced in the CrowdStrike report as part of the infrastructure abused by the DNSpionage hackers: 82.196.11[.]127. This address in The Netherlands also is home to the domain mmfasi[.]com, which Crowdstrike says was one of the attacker’s domains that was used as a DNS server for some of the hijacked infrastructure.

As we can see in the screenshot above, 82.196.11[.]127 was temporarily home to another pair of Netnod DNS servers, as well as the server “ns.anycast.woodynet.net.” That domain is derived from the nickname of Bill Woodcock, who serves as executive director of Packet Clearing House (PCH).

PCH is a nonprofit entity based in northern California that also manages significant amounts of the world’s DNS infrastructure, particularly the DNS for more than 500 top-level domains and a number of the Middle East top-level domains targeted by DNSpionage.

TARGETING THE REGISTRARS

Contacted on Feb. 14 by KrebsOnSecurity, Netnod CEO Lars Michael Jogbäck confirmed that parts of Netnod’s DNS infrastructure were hijacked in late December 2018 and early January 2019 after the attackers gained access to accounts at Netnod’s domain name registrar.

Jogbäck pointed to a statement the company published on its Web site on Feb. 5, which says Netnod learned of its role in the attack on January 2 and has been in contact with all relevant parties and customers throughout this process.

“As a participant in an international security co-operation, Netnod became aware on 2 January 2019 that we had been caught up in this wave and that we had experienced a MITM (man-in-the-middle) attack,” the statement reads. “Netnod was not the ultimate goal of the attack. The goal is considered to have been the capture of login details for Internet services in countries outside of Sweden.��

In an interview with this author on Feb. 15, PCH’s Woodcock acknowledged that portions of his organization’s DNS infrastructure were compromised after the DNSpionage hackers abused unauthorized access to its domain name registrar.

As it happens, the registrar records for both pch.net and dnsnode.net point to the same sources: Key-Systems GmbH, a domain registrar based in Germany; and Frobbit.se, a company in Sweden. Frobbit is a reseller of Key Systems, and the two companies share some of the same online resources.

Woodcock said domain records for the targeted Middle East TLDs it managed were altered after the DNSpionage hackers phished credentials that Key-Systems uses to make domain changes for their clients.

Specifically, he said, the hackers phished credentials that PCH’s registrar used to send signaling messages known as the Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP). EPP is a little-known interface that serves as a kind of back-end for the global DNS system, allowing domain registrars to notify the regional registries (like Verisign) about changes to domain records, including new domain registrations, modifications, and transfers.

“At the beginning of January, Key-Systems said they believed that their EPP interface had been abused by someone who had stolen valid credentials,” Woodcock said.

Key-Systems declined to comment for this story, beyond saying it does not discuss details of its reseller clients’ businesses.

Netnod’s written statement on the attack referred further inquiries to the company’s security director Patrik Fältström, who also is co-owner of Frobbit.se.

In an email to KrebsOnSecurity, Fältström said unauthorized EPP instructions were sent to various registries by the DNSpionage attackers from both Frobbit and Key Systems.

“The attack was from my perspective clearly an early version of a serious EPP attack,” he wrote. “That is, the goal was to get the right EPP commands sent to the registries. I am extremely nervous personally over extrapolations towards the future. Should registries allow any EPP command to come from the registrars? We will always have some weak registrars, right?”

DNSSEC

One of the more interesting aspects of these attacks is that both Netnod and PCH are vocal proponents and adopters of DNSSEC (a.k.a. “DNS Security Extensions”), which is a technology designed to defeat the very type of attack that the DNSpionage hackers were able to execute.

Image: APNIC

DNSSEC protects applications from using forged or manipulated DNS data, by requiring that all DNS queries for a given domain or set of domains be digitally signed. In DNSSEC, if a name server determines that the address record for a given domain has not been modified in transit, it resolves the domain and lets the user visit the site. If, however, that record has been modified in some way or doesn’t match the domain requested, the name server blocks the user from reaching the fraudulent address.

While DNSSEC can be an effective tool for mitigating attacks such as those launched by DNSpionage, only about 20 percent of the world’s major networks and Web sites have enabled it, according to measurements gathered by APNIC, the regional Internet address registry for the Asia-Pacific region.

Jogbäck said Netnod’s infrastructure suffered three separate attacks from the DNSpionage attackers. The first two occurred in a two-week window between Dec. 14, 2018 and Jan. 2, 2019, and targeted company servers that were not protected by DNSSEC.

However, he said the third attack between Dec. 29 and Jan. 2 targeted Netnod infrastructure that was protected by DNSSEC and serving its own internal email network. Yet, because the attackers already had access to its registrar’s systems, they were able to briefly disable that safeguard — or at least long enough to obtain SSL certificates for two of Netnod’s email servers.

Jogbäck told KrebsOnSecurity that once the attackers had those certificates, they re-enabled DNSSEC for the company’s targeted servers while apparently preparing to launch the second stage of the attack — diverting traffic flowing through its mail servers to machines the attackers controlled. But Jogbäck said that for whatever reason, the attackers neglected to use their unauthorized access to its registrar to disable DNSSEC before later attempting to siphon Internet traffic.

“Luckily for us, they forgot to remove that when they launched their man-in-the-middle attack,” he said. “If they had been more skilled they would have removed DNSSEC on the domain, which they could have done.”

Woodcock says PCH validates DNSSEC on all of its infrastructure, but that not all of the company’s customers — particularly some of the countries in the Middle East targeted by DNSpionage — had configured their systems to fully implement the technology.

Woodcock said PCH’s infrastructure was targeted by DNSpionage attackers in four distinct attacks between December 13, 2018 and January 2, 2019. With each attack, the hackers would turn on their password-slurping tools for roughly one hour, and then switch them off before returning the network to its original state after each run.

The attackers didn’t need to enable their surveillance dragnet longer than an hour each time because most modern smartphones are configured to continuously pull new email for any accounts the user may have set up on his device. Thus, the attackers were able to hoover up a great many email credentials with each brief hijack.

On Jan. 2, 2019 — the same day the DNSpionage hackers went after Netnod’s internal email system — they also targeted PCH directly, obtaining SSL certificates from Comodo for two PCH domains that handle internal email for the company.

Woodcock said PCH’s reliance on DNSSEC almost completely blocked that attack, but that it managed to snare email credentials for two employees who were traveling at the time. Those employees’ mobile devices were downloading company email via hotel wireless networks that — as a prerequisite for using the wireless service — forced their devices to use the hotel’s DNS servers, not PCH’s DNNSEC-enabled systems.

“The two people who did get popped, both were traveling and were on their iPhones, and they had to traverse through captive portals during the hijack period,” Woodcock said. “They had to switch off our name servers to use the captive portal, and during that time the mail clients on their phones checked for new email. Aside from that, DNSSEC saved us from being really, thoroughly owned.”

Because PCH had protected its domains with DNSSEC, the practical effect of the hijack against its mail infrastructure was that for roughly an hour nobody but the two remote employees received any email.

“For essentially all of our users, what it looked like was the mail server just wasn’t available for a short period,” Woodcock said. “It didn’t resolve for a while if they happened to be checking their phone or whatever, and each person thought well that’s funny, I’ll check it back in a while. And by the time they checked again it was working fine. A bunch of our staff noticed a brief outage in our email service, but nobody thought enough of it to discuss it with anyone else or open a ticket.”

But the DNSpionage hackers were not deterred. In a letter to its customers sent earlier this month, PCH said a forensic investigation determined that on Jan. 24 a computer which holds its Web site user database had been compromised. The user data stored in the database included customer usernames, bcrypt password hashes, emails, addresses, and organization names.

“We see no evidence that the attackers accessed the user database or exfiltrated it,” the message reads. “So we are providing you this information as a matter of transparency and precaution, rather than because we believe that your data was compromised.”

IMPROVEMENTS

Multiple experts interviewed for this story said one persistent problem with DNS-based attacks is that a great deal of organizations tend to take much of their DNS infrastructure for granted. For example, many entities don’t even log their DNS traffic, nor do they keep a close eye on any changes made to their domain records.

Even for those companies making an effort to monitor their DNS infrastructure for suspicious changes, some monitoring services only take snapshots of DNS records passively, or else only do so actively on a once-daily basis. Indeed, Woodcock said PCH relied on no fewer than three monitoring systems, and that none of them alerted his organization to the various one-hour hijacks that hit PCH’s DNS systems.

“We had three different commercial DNS monitoring services, none of which caught it,” he said. “None of them even warned us that it had happened after the fact.”

Woodcock said PCH has since set up a system to poll its own DNS infrastructure multiple times each hour, and to alert immediately on any changes.

Jogbäck said Netnod also has beefed up its monitoring, as well as redoubled efforts to ensure that all of the available options for securing their domain infrastructure were being used. For instance, the company had not previously secured all of its domains with a “domain lock,” a service that requires a registrar to take additional authentication steps before making any modifications to a domain’s records.

“We are really sad we didn’t do a better job of protecting our customers, but we are also a victim in the chain of the attack,” Jogbäck said. “You can change to a better lock after you’ve been robbed, and hopefully make it more difficult for someone to do it again. But I can truly say we have learned a tremendous amount from being a victim in this attack, and we are now much better off than before.”

Woodcock said he’s worried that Internet policymakers and other infrastructure providers aren’t taking threats to the global DNS seriously or urgently enough, and he’s confident the DNSpionage hackers will have plenty of other victims to target and exploit in the months and years ahead.

“All of this is a running battle,” he said. “The Iranians are not just trying to do these attacks to have an immediate effect. They’re trying to get into the Internet infrastructure deeply enough so they can get away with this stuff whenever they want to. They’re looking to get as many ways in as possible that they can use for specific goals in the future.”

RECOMMENDATIONS

John Crain is chief security, stability and resiliency officer at ICANN, the non-profit entity that oversees the global domain name industry. Crain said many of the best practices that can make it more difficult for attackers to hijack a target’s domains or DNS infrastructure have been known for more than a decade.

“A lot of this comes down to data hygiene,” Crain said. “Large organizations down to mom-and-pop entities are not paying attention to some very basic security practices, like multi-factor authentication. These days, if you have a sub-optimal security stance, you’re going to get owned. That’s the reality today. We’re seeing much more sophisticated adversaries now taking actions on the Internet, and if you’re not doing the basic stuff they’re going to hit you.”

Some of those best practices for organizations include:

-Use DNSSEC (both signing zones and validating responses)

-Use registration features like Registry Lock that can help protect domain names records from being changed

-Use access control lists for applications, Internet traffic and monitoring

-Use 2-factor authentication, and require it to be used by all relevant users and subcontractors

-In cases where passwords are used, pick unique passwords and consider password managers

-Review accounts with registrars and other providers

-Monitor certificates by monitoring, for example, Certificate Transparency Logs

from Technology News https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/02/a-deep-dive-on-the-recent-widespread-dns-hijacking-attacks/

[newsintodays-blog]

Virgin Australia strategy, CEO search complicated by airline investors

New Post has been published on https://newsintoday.info/2018/09/05/virgin-australia-strategy-ceo-search-complicated-by-airline-investors/

Virgin Australia strategy, CEO search complicated by airline investors

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Under CEO John Borghetti, Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd (VAH.AX) transformed from a budget airline into a serious rival to Qantas Airways Ltd (QAN.AX) with the backing of strategic investors including Singapore Airlines Ltd and China’s HNA Group.

FILE PHOTO: A Tigerair Australia plane sits on the tarmac near Virgin Australia aircraft at Melbourne’s Tullamarine International Airport, Australia, October 12, 2016. REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo

The support, however, came at a price – a shareholder register dominated by airline partners with competing interests and a sometimes fractured board.

Borghetti, only the second CEO since the company began operations in 2000, has announced plans to depart, leaving open one of the toughest jobs in aviation.

His successor faces major challenges as the airline looks to build on recent improvements in its balance sheet and domestic business and turn around its international and low-cost divisions.

Chairman Elizabeth Bryan said Virgin Australia had yet to short-list CEO candidates, meaning an appointment could take some time.

“We are looking for a CEO that can take on the strategy we have got in place and continue to push it toward profitability and who will generally work to support the positive momentum that we have got going,” she told Reuters in a phone interview.

Virgin last week forecast it would be profitable in the current half after posting a A$109.6 million ($79.2 million)annual operating profit, the best in a decade. Its statutory loss after tax of A$653.3 million, however, was a record due to impairments and restructuring charges.

In the domestic market, which accounts for two-thirds of Virgin’s revenue, a stable duopoly has emerged with Qantas. Both airlines have cut capacity, resulting in higher fares and record domestic profits, with the exception of Virgin’s struggling low-cost arm, Tigerair Australia.

The international market, loss making for Virgin, presents a bigger challenge.

The airline is adding flights in the competitive Hong Kong market and a long-running joint venture with Air New Zealand Ltd (AIR.NZ) covering flights between Australia and New Zealand ends next month. The pair then switch from partners to rivals.

FILE PHOTO: A rainbow from a passing rain shower sits over Virgin Australia aircraft at Sydney Airport in Australia, August 5, 2016. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo

Virgin Chief Financial Officer Geoff Smith said the domestic business was the “golden egg” and it would use the smaller international division, which also flies to Los Angeles in partnership with Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N), for inbound traffic to funnel passengers to the domestic service.

“I think probably there is more for this than for international to be profitable,” he said in an interview. “Yes, absolutely it has to improve and it will improve with the maturity of the Hong Kong market as but one example.”

Air New Zealand, once Virgin’s largest shareholder, sold its stake to Chinese conglomerate Nanshan Group [NANSH.UL] in 2016 after becoming frustrated with ongoing losses, a source with knowledge of the situation said on condition of anonymity.

The New Zealand airline had pushed for Virgin to abandon its international widebody fleet, focus on more profitable domestic and short-haul operations and appoint a new CEO, but it lost the argument in a boardroom bust-up, the source said.

Air New Zealand declined to comment.

(Graphic: Virgin Australia ownership and earnings: here)

STRATEGIC RIVALS

Virgin has a free float of just 9 percent but due to Australian listing rules, its 12-member board is dominated by independent directors, none of whom have a background in aviation. It has five directors nominated by its strategic shareholders, including founder and brand licenser Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, many of which have rival interests.

Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways, for example, compete to attract Virgin’s customer base on codeshare flights to Europe.

“If one was to come off the share register then the company may give commercial preference to their shareholder and not to the one that isn’t a shareholder,” a source familiar with Virgin said on condition of anonymity. “I think Etihad and Singapore for commercial reasons want to stay on the share registry.”

An Etihad spokesman said his airline, which has been cutting costs and slimming down its operations, remained committed to its stake in Virgin. Singapore Airlines declined to comment.

Aviation-to-financial services conglomerate HNA, which has been selling assets globally to lower its debt levels, owns a 19.8 percent stake in Virgin, which has added flights to Hong Kong that help feed the HNA network in Asia.

HNA is not actively attempting to sell its holding, which is currently worth around 9 percent less than its 2016 entry price, but is willing to discuss inbound expressions of interest, said a source familiar with the situation on condition of anonymity. An HNA spokesman declined to comment.

Under Australian corporate rules, if one of the existing strategic shareholders wanted to buy the HNA stake it would need to make a takeover offer for the remainder of Virgin.

Singapore Airlines and Nanshan are not interested in buying the HNA stake, sources familiar with their strategies said on condition of anonymity. Singapore Airlines declined to comment, while Nanshan could not be reached immediately for comment.

If HNA’s stake was purchased by an outside investor, the basic board dynamics would not change unless a full takeover offer was made. Virgin has a market value of $1.37 billion, with shares down nearly 20 percent since January versus a 25 percent rise at Qantas.

In February, Virgin’s board abandoned an attempt to take the airline private due to a lack of agreement among shareholders.

“At the moment, the shareholder structure is not ideal given the lack of liquidity and free float,” said Oscar Oberg, a portfolio manager at Wilson Asset Management, one of the few funds invested in the stock.

The fund invested last year on the premise of Virgin being a turnaround story, with cost savings and capacity reductions across the industry leading to rising fares and a stronger balance sheet, he said.

An experienced executive recruiter said the shareholder structure and unusual boardroom posed challenges for the CEO search process.

“The chairman does her best job of pulling them together, but with a board that diverse they are going to have very different opinions,” the recruiter said on condition of anonymity. “The risk is they end up with not a clear strategy but a bland one.”

(The story corrects description of loss in paragraph seven to statutory loss after tax, not underlying loss.)

Reporting by Jamie Freed. Editing by Lincoln Feast.

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Source link

[mikemortgage]

HARRY POTTER INSPIRED HOME DÉCOR COLLECTION BY POTTERY BARN BRANDS AND WARNER BROS. CONSUMER PRODUCTS DEBUTS TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen, members of the Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE: WSM) portfolio of brands, together with Warner Bros. Consumer Products today unveil a home décor partnership inspired by the Wizarding World. The partnership has expanded across all three brands and into new product categories, including furniture, textiles, decorative accessories, entertaining essentials, gear, holiday décor and gifting. Drawing inspiration from the beloved characters, symbols and spells, the Harry Potter Collections feature signature Harry Potter references and true-to-movie details designed to delight fans of all ages.

“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the Harry Potter franchise and embark on a new chapter that includes Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids,” said Jennifer Kellor, President, Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen. “Last year’s PBteen Harry Potter Collection gave our customers the ability to bring home special, one-of-a-kind pieces inspired by the Harry Potter films and this year we’ve expanded into new designs and product offerings inspired by the beloved world.”

Bursting with magically inspired décor, the Harry Potter Collection from Pottery Barn Kids encompasses bedding and decorative accessories adorned with true-to-movie icons. Standout pieces inspired by Harry’s early days at Hogwarts include a life-sized Hogwarts Express Train Bed, modeled after the iconic steam train, a gold painted Hedwig Side Table, designed with character-like detailing from Harry’s owl, and a plush Buckbeak Rocker, created for kids to use their imagination. Capturing the true essence of the Hogwarts common rooms, the first nursery and kids’ room each feature a deep, fall color palette. The corduroy Patchwork Quilt, Quidditch Shaped Pillow and Hogwarts Crest Pillow are each designed with iconic references from Harry’s days at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The second kids’ room incorporates dusty blue and cream tones, featuring magical creatures woven into bedding, and designed with luminous gold detailing, creating an enchanting space.

Influenced by Harry’s adventures as a teen wizard, the Harry Potter Collection for PBteen builds upon the first PBteen collection, drawing inspiration from the Hogwarts houses, as well as the game of Quidditch. The first room is designed with a neutral gray color palette, with must-have bedding including a patchwork Quidditch Quilt and black-and-white Etched Scenes Sheet Set. House pride is reflected in occasional seating, such as the velvet House Crest Beanbags, available with Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw crests and colors. The second room reflects a celestial setting, incorporating a cool color palette of mint, ivory and gold. The Golden Snitch Table Lamp and Clock, Phoenix Floor Lamp and Quidditch Hoops Jewelry Holder combine the whimsical form of Harry Potter icons with functionality for statement décor.

The Harry Potter Collection from Pottery Barn focuses on entertaining and is an imaginative assortment of tabletop and hosting essentials. The collection includes glass House Crest Tumblers, a velvet Table Throw embroidered with patches and tassels, and stamped brown leather House Crest Coasters, allowing guests to choose their favorite house for game nights or dinners. Additional imaginative tabletop pieces include the Sorting Hat Quad Server, with house animals etched into the base of the bowl, and the Golden Snitch Tidbit Bowl, designed with small figural wings.

Spanning more than 100 pieces in the collections, Harry Potter for Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen is available now online at each brands’ website, potterybarn.com/harrypotter, potterybarnkids.com/harrypotter, and pbteen.com/harrypotter. To learn more about the collection, visit each brands’ website and join the conversation on social media with @potterybarn, @potterybarnkids, @pbteen, and @harrypotter #HarryPotterxPB.

About Warner Bros. Consumer Products

Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP), a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, extends the Studio’s powerful portfolio of entertainment brands and franchises into the lives of fans around the world. WBCP partners with best-in-class licensees globally on an award-winning range of toys, fashion, home décor, and publishing inspired by franchises and properties such as DC, Wizarding World, Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera. The division’s successful global themed entertainment business includes groundbreaking experiences such as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi. With innovative global licensing and merchandising programs, retail initiatives, promotional partnerships and themed experiences, WBCP is one of the leading licensing and retail merchandising organizations in the world.

HARRY POTTER characters, names and related indicia are © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Publishing Rights © JKR. (s18)

ABOUT POTTERY BARN

Pottery Barn, a member of the Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE: WSM) portfolio of brands, is a premier specialty retailer for casual, comfortable and stylish home furnishings. Key product categories include furniture, bedding, bath, rugs, window treatments, tabletop, lighting and decorative accessories. Nearly all Pottery Barn products are designed in-house and are exclusive to its catalogs, stores and website. Pottery Barn operates company-owned stores in the United States, Canada and Australia and has unaffiliated franchisees that operate stores in the Middle East, the Philippines and South Korea, and stores and ecommerce websites in Mexico, as well as an ecommerce site at www.potterybarn.com that offers international shipping to customers worldwide. Pottery Barn provides complimentary design services and a comprehensive gift registry program for weddings and other special events. Pottery Barn now offers products for all life stages and every room in the home through Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Bed and Bath, Pottery Barn Kids, and PBteen. Pottery Barn is also part of The Key Rewards, a free-to-join loyalty program that offers members exclusive benefits across the Williams-Sonoma family of brands. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

ABOUT POTTERY BARN KIDS

Pottery Barn Kids, a member of the Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE: WSM) portfolio of brands, is a premier specialty retailer for children’s home furnishings and decorative accessories. Introduced in 1999, Pottery Barn Kids offers exclusive designs that create kid-friendly, stylish and innovative spaces for the nursery, bedroom and playroom. Key product categories include furniture, bedding, bath, window treatments, rugs, lighting, decorative accessories, toys, nursery essentials and gear such as backpacks and reusable lunch bags. Pottery Barn Kids operates company-owned stores in the United States, Canada and Australia and has unaffiliated franchisees that operate stores in the Middle East, the Philippines and South Korea, and stores and ecommerce websites in Mexico, as well as an ecommerce site at www.potterybarnkids.com that offers international shipping to customers worldwide. Pottery Barn Kids provides complimentary design services, a comprehensive gift registry program and monogramming services. Pottery Barn Kids is also part of The Key Rewards, a free-to-join loyalty program that offers members exclusive benefits across the Williams-Sonoma family of brands. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

ABOUT PBTEEN

PBteen, a member of the Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE: WSM) portfolio of brands, launched in 2003 and is the first home retailer to focus exclusively on the teenage market. Designed to fully furnish bedrooms, study and lounge spaces for tweens and teens, PBteen provides fresh, fashionable options to appeal to varying teenage tastes. Categories include: bedding, window treatments, rugs, lighting, gear, decorative accessories, storage and organization solutions, and furniture including beanbag chairs. PBdorm, launched in 2010, is an exclusive collection that offers dorm furniture and essentials. PBteen operates company-owned stores in the United States, Canada and Australia and has unaffiliated franchisees that operate stores in the Middle East and stores and ecommerce websites in Mexico, as well as an ecommerce site at www.pbteen.com that offers international shipping to customers worldwide. PBteen provides complimentary design services and monogramming services. PBteen is also part of The Key Rewards, a free-to-join loyalty program that offers members exclusive benefits across the Williams-Sonoma family of brands. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Contacts

Pottery Barn Jess Haro Public Relations JHaro@wsgc.com or Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen Kelley Loeffler Public Relations KLoeffler@wsgc.com or Warner Bros. Consumer Products Lindsay Kiesel Publicity & Communications Lindsay.Kiesel@WarnerBros.com

from Financial Post https://ift.tt/2MGUQu8 via IFTTT Blogger Mortgage Tumblr Mortgage Evernote Mortgage Wordpress Mortgage href="https://www.diigo.com/user/gelsi11">Diigo Mortgage

[coin-river-blog]

Denmark joins 22 EU countries in hopes of using blockchain technology to solve problems in the logistics field.

On Tuesday, Danish outlet FinansWatch reported that Denmark's business minister, Brian Mikkelsen, signed a declaration stating that Denmark is joining 22 European Union (EU) member states that support blockchain technology and seek to create a common European infrastructure.

The EU formed the blockchain partnership on April 10 of this year. It includes companies such as FedEx, Uber Freight, and Bridgestone. The partnership is intended to bring different nations and companies together to develop blockchain technology, ultimately creating a "digitally strong EU."

Mikkelsen stated that Denmark has researched the benefits of blockchain technology in the past, and that it will be the first country in the world to use blockchain technology to register ships in its national registry. Mikkelsen also highlighted how blockchain technology allows for the secure storage of important data, adding:

"Blockchain runs across national borders and a common European cooperation is crucial for future-proof standards and solutions. I am therefore very pleased that we have now signed the declaration." 

The report also states that Denmark's Disruption Council is looking into how blockchain technology can benefit the business sector.

The use of blockchain technology in the logistics field has been getting a lot of attention lately. Just yesterday Abu Dhabi Ports announced the launch of its blockchain, Silsal. On May 25, ETHNews reported that Norfolk Southern, one of the biggest logistics companies in the US, had joined with the EU to help set blockchain standards and develop solutions in the logistics field. 

Nathan Graham is a full-time staff writer for ETHNews. He lives in Sparks, Nevada, with his wife, Beth, and dog, Kyia. Nathan has a passion for new technology, grant writing, and short stories. He spends his time rafting the American River, playing video games, and writing.

ETHNews is committed to its Editorial Policy

Like what you read? Follow us on Twitter @ETHNews_ to receive the latest Denmark, European Union or other Ethereum world news.

window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId : '1761887554082917', xfbml : true, version : 'v2.7' }); }; (function(d, s, id){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));