FriesDAO is hoping to buy at least one fast food restaurant within a year, and let its community make decisions on how it operates.

The post FriesDAO raises $5.4 million with plan to buy fast food restaurants appeared first on The Block.

INTERNET CITY, DUBAI, Feb. 24, 2022 – LBank Exchange, a global digital asset trading platform, will list MyCreditChain (MCC) on March 2, 2022. For all users of LBank Exchange, the MCC/USDT trading pair will be officially available for trading at 16:00 (UTC+8) on March 2, 2022. The market for personal and credit data is growing...

The post LBank Exchange Will List MyCreditChain (MCC) on March 2, 2022 appeared first on Live Bitcoin News.

Aditi will be responsible for GWI's growth strategy throughout the region, including hiring new talent and building regional presence

GWI aims to disrupt traditional market research throughout APAC

Singapore, Feb 28, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Following its successful US$180 million in Series B funding in February 2022, valuing the company at US$850M, GWI, the leading audience insights company, is well on its way to ambitious growth plans in the APAC region, spearheaded by the hiring of Aditi Kohli as APAC Senior Vice President. Aditi will be based in Singapore.

Aditi will drive the company's growth, working with enterprise partners to help them gain a deeper understanding of local consumers. The investments are being utilized to further advance GWI's software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, as well as hiring new talent to support global expansion.

GWI has already seen strong growth in APAC, with over 20% of its clients based in the region. As the company continues to expand, it will offer much-needed alternatives to traditional market research, which is often not fit-for-purpose, too slow, expensive, and difficult to scale. Through GWI's intuitive and easy-to-use platform, as well as its extensive data collection in APAC, organisations can access an instantaneous view of harmonised data-sets representing 2.7 billion digital consumers across 48 geographies, including 14 markets in APAC, gaining faster and deeper insights to make data-backed decisions.

Many of the world's most influential brands, media organisations and agencies already leverage GWI to deliver global insights at scale. With Asia home to 60% of the world's population, and over 2,300 languages, there is a clear need for brands and businesses to fully understand the demands of each individual segment and have clear, unique and localised insights that allow them to make real business decisions.

"We are deeply committed to Asia-Pacific," said GWI CEO and Founder Tom Smith, "The size and breadth of the region means it can be hard for companies to navigate and be able to make proper data-driven decisions. GWI is able to provide them with deep insights and allow them to create the right strategy. When we launched our new office in Singapore we knew that we would need to find the right person to lead this exciting growth opportunity and Aditi is the perfect person for this. Her breadth of experience will be instrumental in growing our presence, talent and customer base. We're very excited for the future of GWI in APAC."

Aditi has a proven track record in scaling businesses from scratch. She joins GWI after two decades of experience working in APAC leadership roles with Foursquare, Near, The Walt Disney Company and MTV Asia.

"I am honoured to join GWI as we continue to revolutionise insights on digital consumers worldwide through technology," Aditi said. "We're seeking to bolster the APAC team, and looking to hire talented professionals (commercial sales and customer success) with a passion for market intelligence and innovation who can support the rapid expansion of our business."

GWI has emerged strongly from the COVID-19 global pandemic, promoting a positive hybrid working culture and placing great emphasis on training and developing its staff. With five offices globally, GWI plans to strengthen its hiring to over 600 employees by 2023. See here for the latest open roles.

About GWI

GWI is the leading audience insights company. Its SaaS platform and custom data products are trusted by the world's biggest brands, media organizations, and agencies on a daily basis to gain a deep understanding of their audiences at speed.

The company's flagship survey represents 2.7 billion people globally. Through a combination of survey data and analytics, clients can gather in-depth insights into behaviours, attitudes, and interests from rich data sets including GWI Core, GWI Kids, GWI Sports, GWI USA, GWI.

Media Contact:
The Hoffman Agency
GWISG@hoffman.com

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.com

SANTA MONICA, CA, Feb 28, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Power of One Foundation ("POOF") has entered into a partnership with Legacy Block (BLCK:Pancakeswap). BLCK is an operating division of Peerless Exponential Partners, LLC (PXP). By way of the partnership POOF will use Legacy Block's BLCK governance token as the governance token for a series of new blockchain based projects targeted at ending hunger in the United States. These projects will materially increase POOF's reach and efficiency in addressing its goal that aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) - Zero Hunger.
Legacy Block ("BLCK") is the governance token of several protocols seeking to address some of the world's greatest challenges. "We believe we can use our token to solve some of the world's pressing challenges," says Joel Plasco, Co-Founder of Legacy Block. "When we set out to do this in Nigeria we were met with pessimism, what we now know is people will invest their time in what we call Personal Natural Resources ("PNR") to help themselves and their community. Blockchain and tokens are a very helpful tool for documenting and rewarding people for their participation."

Through the partnership POOF will work with Legacy Block to create new food security solutions leveraging the power of Blockchain. POOF's expertise and capabilities have been tested and honed over the duration of the Covid Pandemic. In 2020, as the effects of Covid halted the economy and devastated the income for tens of millions of Americans, POOF stepped up to feed over 3 million people in California and distributed over 10 million lbs of food earning it 2020 California Nonprofit of the Year.

"We learned during the height of the pandemic that new blockchain based tools could have possibly helped us increase the number of people we fed and could have helped people in need get other vital services. We believe we can use PNR to convert time and other intangible assets into tokenized monetizable assets," says Andre Roberson, CEO of Power of One Foundation.

By working with POOF, Legacy Block believes in the acquisition and utility of cryptographic assets available to everyone on the planet. Legacy Block has signed up 100,000 members in Africa who have pledged more than 5 million hours of their time to help social innovators who solve real world problems. These members are using PNR to eliminate extreme poverty. Legacy Block has agreed as part of this partnership to provide training and start-up capital to 50,000 POOF members which will allow those members to use PNR to reduce food insecurity.

"Applying PNR to food securities issues in the USA is the next step in creating a global PNR ecosystem capable of reducing financial inequalities," says Master Node Holder Lou Zant.

"We are excited to work with Legacy Block to help 50,000 of our community members activate their Personal Natural Resources ("PNR") to achieve permanent food security and to have access to the Legacy Block BLCK governance token and the great minds gathering to solve real life problems using blockchain," says Andre Roberson.

About Legacy Block

Legacy Block is an operating subsidiary of Peerless Exponential Partners, LLC, a company headquartered in the USA. Its purpose is to provide a framework for governance and coordinate the Legacy Block Initiative. This will foster transformative social impact through decentralized technologies in support of financial inclusion. The goal is the elimination of extreme poverty to ensure universal basic opportunities exist for every citizen on the planet.

For more information visit https://blckcoin.org

Contact: info@nftpros.ai.


Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements reflect the current view about future events. When used in this presentation, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "future," "intend," "plan," or the negative of these terms and similar expressions, as they relate to us or our management, identify forward-looking statements. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements contained in this presentation relating to the view of management of any company mentioned in this press release. (the "Company") concerning its business strategy, future operating results, and liquidity and capital resources outlook. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations and assumptions regarding its business, the economy, and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. The Company's actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. They are neither statements of historical fact nor guarantees of assurance of future performance. We caution you therefore against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. Factors or events that could cause the Company's actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and the Company can't predict all of them. The Company cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States, the Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.comPower of One Foundation ("POOF") has entered into a partnership with Legacy Block (BLCK:Pancakeswap). BLCK is an operating division of Peerless Exponential Partners, LLC (PXP).

TOKYO, Feb 28, 2022 - (JCN Newswire) - NTT DOCOMO, INC. announced today that it has begun allowing overseas mobile operators to access its Shared Open Lab environment, located in DOCOMO's R&D Center in Yokosuka, Japan, to verify their virtualized radio access networks (vRAN), effective immediately. The lab is one of the initiatives of the New window5G Open RAN Ecosystem (OREC) project under which DOCOMO and 13 leading global vendors* are working to develop truly flexible Open RAN capable of incorporating interoperable equipment of multiple vendors.
Since its establishment last October, the Shared Open Lab has deployed virtualized base stations made with equipment from multiple OREC partners. The verification environment is now open to remote access by global operators, eliminating their need to prepare in-house verification environments.

DOCOMO believes the lab will help operators to greatly reduce overall costs, including constructing in-house labs and/or traveling to vendors' labs, for the verification of base station functions and performance prior to commercial deployment.

DOCOMO, which has been a leader in the development of Open RAN for many years, became the world's first mobile operator to launch a commercial 5G service via Open RAN in March 2020. The company's 5G Open RAN currently includes more than 10,000 base stations and more than 10 million subscribers. Furthermore, within fiscal year 2022, DOCOMO expects to commercialize highly flexible and scalable vRANs for international mobile operatorsa, including by leveraging the know-how and integrated strengths of its OREC partners.

DOCOMO looks forward to deepening its cooperation with an expanding range of stakeholders, including overseas mobile operators, via the Shared Open Lab. DOCOMO is committed to working with its OREC partners to develop further technologies and know-how for the increased adoption of Open RAN, vRAN and other open networks capable of responding flexibly and quickly to diversifying needs in the worldwide mobile communication market.

*The 13 members are AMD, Inc., Dell Technologies Japan Inc., Fujitsu Limited, Hewlett Packard Japan, G.K., Intel K.K., Mavenir, NEC Corporation, NTT DATA Corporation, NVIDIA, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Red Hat, VMware K.K. and Wind River

About NTT DOCOMO

NTT DOCOMO, Japan's leading mobile operator with over 83 million subscriptions, is one of the world's foremost contributors to 3G, 4G and 5G mobile network technologies. Beyond core communications services, DOCOMO is challenging new frontiers in collaboration with a growing number of entities ("+d" partners), creating exciting and convenient value-added services that change the way people live and work. Under a medium-term plan toward 2020 and beyond, DOCOMO is pioneering a leading-edge 5G network to facilitate innovative services that will amaze and inspire customers beyond their expectations. https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/.


Copyright 2022 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.jcnnewswire.comNTT DOCOMO, INC. announced today that it has begun allowing overseas mobile operators to access its Shared Open Lab environment, located in DOCOMO's R&D Center in Yokosuka, Japan, to verify their virtualized radio access networks (vRAN), effective immediately.

SINGAPORE, Feb 28, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Society Pass Incorporated (SoPa) (Nasdaq: "SOPA"), a leading Southeast Asian data-driven loyalty platform today, announced that it has acquired Dream Space Trading Company Limited ("Dream Space"), the operator of Handycart, a leading online grocery delivery service based in Hanoi, Vietnam. The newly acquired company will be integrated into SoPa's F&B delivery vertical with SoPa's existing merchant software platform #HOTTAB. Handycart founder and CEO, Seo Jun Ho, has been named Head of the new Business Unit managing both Handycart and #HOTTAB in Vietnam.

Founded in 2019, Handycart is an online grocery delivery app with its own fleet of delivery vehicles that focuses on servicing the Korean restaurant market and F&B sector in Hanoi. Korean food and pop-culture have taken Vietnam by storm, driven by the growing "Korean Wave", a recent survey by market research firm Q&Me found that 58 percent of Vietnamese favor Korean cuisine.

Commenting on this strategic step, Ngo Thi Cham, SoPa Vietnam Country General Manager, said, "We are excited to welcome Handycart to our larger SoPa ecosystem which will enable it to harness our integrated marketing and technology proposition while also strengthening our collective senior management resources. We endeavour to combine the robust technology and operational efficiency of a specialty ecommerce brand like Handycart with our brand building experience. SoPa has witnessed, with our runaway success of Leflair, in Vietnam, that this move will lead to immediate returns in terms of cost optimisation and increased revenue generation. We are determined to increase merchant coverage to 500 restaurants in Hanoi by the end of 2022 and look to expand to HCMC in 3Q 2022."

Leveraging on SoPa's integrated technology platform to drive operational efficiencies and business performance Handycart will focus on dramatically increasing on-demand grocery shopping services to more consumers in the country, while empowering specialty F&B restaurants to transform business models and further tap into online markets.

Seo Jun Ho, CEO of Handycart said, "Handycart was established in 2019 with a mission of connecting Korean patrons seeking a taste of home through its established network of authentic Korean restaurants right here in Vietnam. Providing businesses with speedy access to authentic Korean products has helped us gather a loyal user base of over 3000 with more than 26,000 orders in 2021 alone. SoPa will now be able to accelerate Handycart's growth given our well-established positioning as a go-to online grocery delivery service. Partnership with Society Pass will enable us to unlock growth opportunities within the industry and I am glad that Handycart can now avail itself of SoPa's synergistic ecosystem."

Vietnam has been one of the fastest-growing economies within SEA over the past two decades. The country's e-commerce is growing tremendously, valued at 13.2 billion USD, it is expected to grow steadily from 2021 until 2025.

Focused on growing its operations in the VIP (Vietnam, Indonesia, and Philippines) markets, SoPa is an acquisition focused ecommerce holding company operating across 5 interconnected verticals (lifestyle, F&B, travel, merchant software and loyalty) with 6 unique business units connecting millions of consumers and thousands of merchants in Southeast Asia. Handycart is the group's third acquisition in Vietnam following its acquisition of ecommerce marketplace Leflair and merchant POS and business app #HOTTAB.

About Society Pass

Society Pass is a loyalty and data marketing ecosystem that operates multiple e-commerce and lifestyle platforms across its key markets. Its business model focuses on collecting user data through the expected circulation of its universal loyalty points. It seamlessly connects consumers and merchants across multiple product and service categories fostering organic loyalty.

Since its inception, SoPa has amassed over 1.6 million registered consumers and over 3,500 registered merchants/brands on its platform. It has since invested 2+ years building proprietary IT architecture with cutting edge components to effectively scale and support its Platform's consumers, merchants, and acquisitions.

Society Pass provides merchants with #HOTTAB Biz - a convenient order management app for business partners on SoPa.asia, and #HOTTAB POS - a specialized POS technology solution, a comprehensive system for payment, loyal customer management, user's profile analytics, and convenient financial support packages for small and medium-sized enterprises. All tools offered above will allow businesses to attract and retain customers through personalized interaction based on analytics with a high profit margin.

In addition, SoPa operates Leflair.com, Vietnam's leading lifestyle e-commerce platform, and Pushkart.ph, a popular grocery delivery company in Philippines. For more information, please check out: http://thesocietypass.com/

Media contact
PRecious Communications for SoPa
sopa@preciouscomms.com

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.comSociety Pass Incorporated (SoPa) (Nasdaq: "SOPA"), a leading Southeast Asian data-driven loyalty platform today, announced that it has acquired Dream Space Trading Company Limited ("Dream Space"), the operator of Handycart, a leading online grocery delivery service based in Hanoi, Vietnam.

London, UK, Feb 28, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Gemie is delighted to announce the completion of the latest $3.8 million fundraising round led by Shima Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, and NGC Ventures. The funding will accelerate the development of the Gemie Marketplace and the entertainment-themed metaverse. Newman Capital, Soul Capital, Kenetic, Sparks Digital Capital, ICO Pantera, SL2, Oddiyana Ventures, Beyond NEXT, QUDAX LLC, and AVStar Capital also participated in the round.

Gemie's goal is to connect top-tier celebrities in Asia with their fans without geographical limitations through an immersive metaverse experience. Fans will be able to interact with their favorite stars and IPs by traveling through different virtual planets and enjoy exclusive perks with utility-focused NFTs. Fans can also show support by purchasing licensed digital collectibles through the Gemie Store.

The company has already reached partnerships with several high-level artist management firms and movie production houses in the region. With additional resources, the company will widen the discussions with more players in the entertainment industry. Gemie is expected to announce the first onboarding celebrity in early 2Q22.

John Fung, Co-founder of Gemie, said, "Pop culture and the entertainment landscape in Asia have their own dynamic and are very different from in the west. When you look at how K-pop has impacted the world, it's not hard to realize it's a powerful force. While we have seen western celebrities like Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, and Travis Scott are well received in the metaverse, things are still relatively behind in the East. We see huge potential for artists in Asia to embrace this new virtual way of fan engagement, and we are glad that our investors share our vision of bringing the Asia entertainment industry into the Web3 world."

About Gemie

Gemie is an Asia-based celebrity metaverse platform and premium NFT marketplace. The start-up was founded in 2021 and aims to reinvent the entertainment industry by directly connecting celebrities and fans through customized virtual planets and digital collectibles.

Social Links
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gemie_official
Medium: https://medium.com/gemie
Telegram: https://t.me/gemieofficial

Media contacts
Brand: Gemie
Contact: Janice Chan
E-mail: info@gemie.io
Website: https://gemie.io/

SOURCE: Gemie

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.com

National media hype surrounding a new dispensary opening typically is reserved only for when cannabis plants a big green flag somewhere audacious — like MedMen’s location on Fifth Avenue in […]

HONG KONG, Feb 28, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Tianyun International Holdings Limited ("Tianyun International", together with its subsidiaries, (the "Group") (Stock Code: 6836.HK), a leading seller and manufacturer of processed fruit products in the People's Republic of China ("PRC"), is pleased to announce that the grand commencement ceremony was held in the morning of 25th February, 2022 for its comprehensive production base located in Honghe Prefecture of Yunnan Province, PRC (the "Yunnan Project"). This is one of the major new industrial projects to commence in Yunnan Province during the first quarter of 2022. The commencement ceremony was officiated by key government officials and business partners of Yunnan Province and marks the official launch of the new production base.
The Yunnan Project is expected to begin its operation this year and will further expand the Group's product categories, and enhance its production capacity and sales.

The Yunnan Project is located in the Mile Green Food Processing Park. It covers an area of 130,000 square metres and is designed to produce a total of 90,000 tonnes of fruit-based products per annum. The Group will establish a research centre, processing centre, grading centre, sales and trading centre, and storage and logistics center in the new facility. Its businesss scopes include the production, processing and selling of canned fruit and vegetable products, specialty beverages, jelly products and so on.

The Yunnan Project will take advantages of the diverse climate, superior road connections, excellent ecological environment and abundant fruit resources in the Yunnan Province to develop green food brands and build a model production base. This will also enable the Group to introduce more fruit varieties sourced from the tropical climate region.

Mr. Yang Ziyuan, Chairman and CEO of the Group, said, "We are pleased to officially commence the construction of the Yunnan Project. The new production base enjoys an advantageous geographical location close to many fruit-supplying countries. It will also be benefit from tariff concessions under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement ("RCEP") that will help the Group reduce procurement costs in the region."

Mr. Yang added, "The Yunnan Project is a key initiative for the Group's development in China's tropical climate zone. By creating synergies with the Group's other production bases in Shandong and Hubei provinces, it will greatly increase the Group's total production capacity. At the same time, it will help our Group to develop the production and sales of processed fruit products, specialty beverages and fresh fruit trade in different climate zones. It will also enrich the varieties of processed fruits and fresh fruits, improve market intelligence and increase our market share in China."

About Tianyun International Holding Limited (Stock Code: 6836.HK)
Tianyun International Holdings Limited (the "Company") and its subsidiaries (collectively referred to as the "Group") are principally engaged in (i) the research and development, production and sales of processed fruit packaged in metal containers, plastic cups, glass containers and aluminum foil bags and beverages ii) trading of fresh fruit. Processed fruit products are sold both under its own brands "Bingo Times", "fruit zz" and "Tiantong Times" and on an OEM basis. The beverages are sold under its own brand Shiok Party "Shiok Party".

The Group has been consistently committed to providing its customers with healthy and safe products. As a food enterprise with one of the most complete quality certifications, we rigorously adhere to stringent international production standards and are accredited with BRC (A), IFS Food (High), FDA(FSMA), HALAL, SC, KOSHER, BSCI and ISO22000, etc. in respect of our production facilities, quality control and management. The Group has also passed the internal food-production standards reviews and audits from several UK and US supermarket chains. At the same time, as a Chinese "Equal production line; Equal standard; Equal quality" food production and export enterprise, the Group has been supplying products of equivalent quality to domestic and international markets. Since 2016, the Group's own-brand processed fruit products have continued to achieve high market recognition, and the Group became China's first fruit-processing company to place a "Zero Added Preservatives" label on its products.

The Group was awarded respectively the China's Most Promising Listed Companies by the internationally renowned financial magazine Forbes, and the "2017 Linyi Mayor Quality Award" by the PRC government in 2017. The Group's newly and proprietary researched, developed and produced pure fruit snack food received a national "Certificate of Invention Patent" in 2018. The Group was awarded the national Hi-tech Enterprise Certificate in 2019. In 2020, the Group was recognised as one of the Most Valuable Chinese Brands for the fourth consecutive year.

For more information, please visit www.tianyuninternational.com


Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.comTianyun International Holdings Limited ("Tianyun International", together with its subsidiaries, (the "Group") (Stock Code: 6836.HK), a leading seller and manufacturer of processed fruit products in the People's Republic of China ("PRC")

JAKARTA, Feb 28, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - In October 2021, former Garuda Indonesia commissioner Peter Ghonta took the lid off various problems brewing in the company.
Gontha urged the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Ministry to dismantle past cases of alleged corruption in the company related to aircraft leasing.

He cited issues related to powerful groups in the company and the price difference between Boeing 777-300ER aircraft rental and CRJ1000 aircraft purchase.

Ghonta spoke of having reported the problems to several institutions ranging from the director-general of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights to the chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir then filed a report on an alleged graft case in the financially beleaguered state-owned airline PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) to the Attorney General's Office.

The report outlines the government's plan to restructure Garuda Indonesia as well as provides evidence regarding the procurement of ATR 72-600 aircraft.

We provide evidence from the investigative audit, so it is not an accusation, he asserted.

For the past two years, Garuda Indonesia had faced a financial storm due to past mismanagement that caused the company's debt to swell to more than Rp140 trillion, Thohir remarked.

Meanwhile, Thohir noted that the Garuda Indonesia case was not just about an aircraft but pertaining to an ecosystem.

He encouraged the Garuda Indonesia case to be resolved, as it was impossible to buy or rent an aircraft without a business plan and without calculating flight routes.

In the absence of such a calculation, Garuda ultimately paid the aircraft rental fee of up to 28 percent to the lessor as compared to only eight percent to other airlines' aircraft lessors.

"Hence, there is a system and there is a solution, so that in the future, Garuda will not repeat similar cases again since due to no management, the loss will also affect the people, in the form of expensive tickets," he pointed out.

In addition, the SOEs Ministry has taken steps to restructure and salvage the state-owned airline.

The ministry will focus on transforming the airline to make it more accountable, professional, and transparent.

More than 470 creditors have submitted claims of up to US$13.8 billion, or equivalent to Rp198 trillion, to Garuda Indonesia as of January 5, 2022, as part of a debt recast.

The figure has been cited by Garuda Indonesia's Suspension Debt Payment Obligation (PKPU) team, Thohir remarked.

After the verification is completed, the PKPU team will take a decision on January 19, 2022, regarding the amount considered to be valid and can be included in the restructuring process, he remarked.

The Garuda management had earlier submitted a proposal to reduce its liabilities by more than 60 percent, from US$9.8 billion to US$3.7 billion through restructuring.

The proposal aimed to help the company survive amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has protracted for two years.

Save Garuda

Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives formed a working committee to rescue national carrier Garuda Indonesia.

"In principle, the Committee for Rescuing Garuda is a follow-up to the three work meetings undertaken by Commission VI with the SOEs minister, deputy ministers, and the Garuda Indonesia Board of Directors," Head of the Committee for Rescuing Garuda Martin Manurung stated.

Manurung explained that the working committee will work not only to look for management issues within the state-owned airline but also to explore options offered by the government.

The deputy chairman of Commission VI stated that the formation of the working committee was also a form of political support for Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives for Garuda Indonesia to stay afloat.

"We want Garuda Indonesia, as a national flag carrier, to be able to stay in the air, to be able to fly, as an airline of national pride," Manurung noted.

Meanwhile, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir expressed support for the establishment of a working committee by Commission VI of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) to rescue and reform national carrier Garuda Indonesia.

Establishment of the working committee is proof of DPR RI's concrete support and commitment to monitoring the state-owned airline's rejuvenation process, the minister noted.

The political support that the legislature has exhibited would be key to rescuing the flag carrier, the minister noted while adding that his ministry is committed to cooperating with the parliament's working committee for seeking solutions to remedy issues that have plagued the national airline.

The ministry will also inform the working committee, which will monitor the airline's restructuring and reform progress, about Garuda Indonesia's future business and reform plan, he added.

The State-Owned Enterprises Ministry cannot rescue the airline alone, and we need to collaborate with relevant stakeholders, including DPR RI's Commission VI, in mending Garuda Indonesia, Thohir remarked.

Transforming Garuda Indonesia is a must to ensure the flag carrier survives amid the economic uncertainty posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and to ascertain that it records positive performance after the pandemic, he noted.

The ministry has also collaborated with the Attorney General's Office to investigate allegations of corruption by the airline management in the past, the state firm minister remarked.

Thorough reforms in the law enforcement and business aspects are expected to bolster Garuda Indonesia's performance to become more accountable, professional, and transparent in the future, Thohir affirmed.

Jiwasraya, Pension Fund

Efforts to eradicate corruption by the minister are also being made in the insurance business sector.

Thohir revealed that the completion of Jiwasraya's mega scandal case provided a solution for the aggrieved parties.

"However, what distinguishes us from other corruption cases is that the Jiwasraya case has a solution for those who were harmed. It is not a pending case for which there is no explanation. Those who were harmed will be recompensated for their losses," Thohir stated.

The minister drew attention to no solution being found to this day in several cases of corruption in pension funds and insurance. No refund was offered to the cheated parties.

For instance, the case of illegal online loans where no perpetrators or masterminds had yet been revealed and no refund was provided to the victims and deceived parties.

Thohir affirmed that the collaboration was necessary to solve the Jiwasraya case.

President Joko Widodo gave directions that the Jiwasraya case should be solved immediately.

After looking at the facts and evidence, an audit investigation from the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) and a report from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), the Ministry of SOEs officially reported the Jiwasraya case to the Attor ney General's Office.

"The Ministry of SOEs does not want to become trapped in legal problems, and it focuses on corporate issues," the minister stated.

In addition, Thohir will fix pension funds in state-owned enterprises comprehensively this year.

The pension fund has become a breeding ground for corruption, with the pensioners' bills not being paid in the end, he pointed out.

To this end, the minister of SOEs urged Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives to jointly conduct a focus group discussion on exposure regarding pension funds.

"We are ready, but we cannot clean it up right away, as there is a binding law. Hence, the Ministry of SOEs cannot intervene," Thohir noted.

Meanwhile, he remarked that comprehensive improvement in pension funds in the state firm became one of the SOE Ministry's programs in 2022.

The existence of state-owned companies aims to provide the greatest profits to the state.

Thereafter, the profits will be channeled back through various programs for the people, starting from infrastructure development to welfare improvement, and others.

There is no place for corruption within SOEs.

The accountability, transparency, and anti-graft approaches must continue to be implemented to build prosperous SOEs.

(c) ANTARA 2022. Reporter: Azis Kurmala; Editor: Sri Haryati
ANTARA/HO-Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources/pri

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.comIn October 2021, former Garuda Indonesia commissioner Peter Ghonta took the lid off various problems brewing in the company.

TOKYO, Feb 28, 2022 - (JCN Newswire) - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has received a "Silver" rating in the 2022 sustainability assessment conducted by EcoVadis, an international evaluation organization based in France. This is the third consecutive time that MHI has received this rating, conferred to companies with an overall score in the top 25%. Amid the growing demands placed on companies to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other global social issues, this rating reflects a high regard for MHI Group's initiatives in the four criteria categories of Environment, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement.

EcoVadis provides buyer companies with evaluation data on the sustainability measures of more than 85,000 companies from 200 industries in 160 countries via a global cloud-based platform. Many global companies refer to these ratings when selecting a supplier. Through this rating, MHI Group has been able to enhance its presence in global markets as a sustainable supplier.

On October 1, 2021, MHI Group established a new "Materiality Council" and "Sustainability Committee" to support the dual aims of achieving a sustainable world, and enhancing its corporate value over the longer term. This structure was created in consideration of calls from the international community, institutional investors, and other stakeholders for greater environmental, social, and economic sustainability from the corporate sector, as well as to further strengthen MHI Group's sustainability management system centered on the issues and values of modern society. As a result, MHI has been highly rated among ESG evaluation agencies throughout the world, and selected for inclusion in ESG indexes in Japan and overseas.

Going forward, MHI Group will take advantage of this Silver rating to further focus on sustainability measures, pursuing growth as a company that is trusted by stakeholders, and contributes to the realization of a dependable future for people and the planet, and a sustainable world.

About MHI Group

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group is one of the world's leading industrial groups, spanning energy, logistics & infrastructure, industrial machinery, aerospace and defense. MHI Group combines cutting-edge technology with deep experience to deliver innovative, integrated solutions that help to realize a carbon neutral world, improve the quality of life and ensure a safer world. For more information, please visit www.mhi.com or follow our insights and stories on spectra.mhi.com.


Copyright 2022 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.jcnnewswire.comMitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has received a "Silver" rating in the 2022 sustainability assessment conducted by EcoVadis, an international evaluation organization based in France.

TOKYO and SAN JOSE, CA., Feb 28, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Rakuten Symphony, Inc. today announced an agreement to acquire leading Silicon Valley-based cloud technology start-up, Robin.io. The addition of Robin.io's multi-cloud mobility, hyper automation and orchestration capabilities to the Rakuten Symphony portfolio allows the creation of highly efficient, consistent high performance cloud infrastructure and operations, from edge to central data center.

Collaboration between Rakuten and Robin.io has already been underway for more than two years, since Rakuten Mobile leveraged Robin.io in production for the Japan deployment of the world's first end-to-end fully virtualized cloud-native mobile network(1). Understanding the high performance requirements of mobile radio and network applications, combined with the need for financial efficiency and automated operation for scale, enabled Rakuten Mobile and Robin.io to create a complete cloud-native offering to deliver and manage the most demanding applications of this and the next era. Now, Rakuten Symphony and Robin.io are coming together to further accelerate and strengthen the complete end to end automated cloud offering for customers across the globe.

"Edge cloud requirements are unique and critical as mobile operators transition to 5G: The next era of digital experience requires another level of performance, responsiveness and consistency that enables telecom operator and enterprise transformation to be safely accelerated while creating a platform to support the next 10 years of experiences. Robin.io's cloud capability is proven to be effective for the most demanding workloads in mobile and we believe it will allow Rakuten Symphony to safely accelerate cloud-native transformation for our customers and prepare the industry for the future," said Tareq Amin, CEO, Rakuten Symphony. "We plan to continue to invest into Robin.io's cloud-native portfolio of products to further advance our capabilities and offer the most advanced and highly integrated cloud platform mobile operators demand."

"I am delighted that Robin.io's technology innovations over the last several years will now get a much bigger canvas to lead the vision for cloud-native transformation for the industry. Our vision to deliver simple to use, easy to deploy hyperscale automation is very well aligned," said Partha Seetala, CEO, Robin.io. "We believe Robin.io's customers will hugely benefit from the synergies of cloud-native technology innovations from Robin.io, and the open competitive infrastructure solutions and global scale of Rakuten Symphony. This is indeed an exciting phase for us as we work together to bring a much larger ecosystem together to deliver higher value for our customers globally."

With over 70 patents in the cloud-native technology space, Robin.io offers a highly differentiated and comprehensive product portfolio, including the following:

* Robin Cloud Native Storage (Robin CNS) -- An award winning, high performing, software-defined and industry-first application-aware storage solution that has been built from the ground-up for Kubernetes.

* Robin Cloud Native Platform (CNP) -- A leading open-source platform optimized for running data and network intensive applications used in production for various use cases involving databases, big data, data analytics, 5G, O-RAN, packet core & edge.

* Robin Multi Data Center Automation Platform (MDCAP) -- The web-scale platform for metal-to-service orchestration and automation.

Robin.io has petabyte size deployments with its software running on tens of thousands of servers in production today that span across its product portfolio and services Fortune 1000 customers across the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Adding Robin.io's portfolio for cloud-native deployment, lifecycle management and orchestration allows Rakuten Symphony to deploy highly reliable, flexible, scalable, secure and resilient mobile networks built on the principles of open interfaces, virtualization and interoperability. Together, the combined companies will also be able to deliver industry leading solutions for various traditional enterprise opportunities in areas of enterprise applications, data management, cloud and virtualization. Following the acquisition, Partha Seetala will take up the position of President of the Unified Cloud business unit of Rakuten Symphony.

The transaction is subject to closing conditions, including the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, and other customary closing conditions. The terms of the acquisition are confidential.

(1) For a large scale commercial mobile network (as of October 1, 2019). Research: Stella Associate

About Rakuten Symphony

Rakuten Symphony is reimagining telecom, changing supply chain norms and disrupting outmoded thinking that threatens the industry's pursuit of rapid innovation and growth. Based on proven modern infrastructure practices, its open interface platforms make it possible to launch and operate advanced mobile services in a fraction of the time and cost of conventional approaches, with no compromise to network quality or security. Rakuten Symphony has headquarters in Japan and local presence in the United States, Singapore, India, Europe and the Middle East Africa region. For more information, visit: https://symphony.rakuten.com/

About Robin.io

Robin.io provides cloud-native capabilities that automate deployment, scaling and lifecycle management of enterprise and 5G applications on Kubernetes. The company's core technology uses application bundles and application pipelines, which are automated through patented infrastructure and application-topology awareness technology. Robin.io allows developers and platform engineers to deploy and easily manage data rapidly- and network-centric applications - including big data, NoSQL and 5G - independent of underlying infrastructure resources.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, Robin.io solutions are recognized by Gartner, IDC, GigaOm and others for their innovation and reliability. More at www.robin.io and Twitter: @robin4K8S.

Media Inquiries:

Rakuten Symphony
Corporate Communications Department
global-pr@mail.rakuten.com
+81-50-5817-1104

Robin Systems, Inc.
San Jose, California
press@robin.io

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.comRakuten Symphony, Inc. today announced an agreement to acquire leading Silicon Valley-based cloud technology start-up, Robin.io. The addition of Robin.io's multi-cloud mobility, hyper automation and orchestration capabilities to the Rakuten Symphony portfolio allows the creation of highly efficient, consistent high performance cloud infrastructure and operations, from edge to central data center.