Durov's Code

📨 Unexpected invitation // The UAE Ministry of Finance wants to get local business opinion on the country's recently announced the corporate tax, which raised the base rate from 0% to 9%. It will not affect companies registered in free zones or foreign investors who do not conduct business in the country. The new corporate tax will be enforced in June 2023. The Ministry wants clear and concise comments on the document, focusing on aspects of the proposed tax regime that could help reduce the cost of tax compliance and any difficulties associated with it. This will increase certainty for both the tax administration and taxpayers. Other stakeholders with an opinion on the matter can also leave their feedback on the Ministry's website or on the UAE government portal. @kod_ae

🍏 Another Obstacle // A new Covid-19 outbreak in China could hamper Apple's sales by $8 billion in the current quarter. The Chinese government has imposed new restrictions aimed at combating Covid-19 infections in areas of Shanghai, where Apple has many suppliers. Despite the pandemic, Apple's revenue for the most recent period rose 9% to $97.3 billion, far above analysts' expectations of $94 billion. Earnings per share rose to $1.52 from $1.40 a year earlier, beating estimates of $1.42 a share and setting a record for Apple's second fiscal quarter. The results reflect the company's ability during the period to overcome supply problems that plagued the technology and automotive industries, allowing it to sell more iPhones than Wall Street had anticipated. @kod_ae

🧕 Women in Saudi Tech Start-ups // The Endeavor Insight report revealed that Saudi Arabia has a higher percentage of women working in the tech start-up sector than Europe. In addition, there is a higher startup rate for women in the tech sector than for men. In the third quarter of last year, the number of women in the sector was 28%, more than 10% higher than the European average of 17.5% in the same period. According to the Kingdom's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Saudi Arabia issued 139,754 new commercial licences to women in 2021, one of the highest growth rates in the world. @kod_ae

🏡 Buy a house with BTC and ETH // Dubai's leading real estate developer Damac Properties announced that it would facilitate the sale of property to Bitcoin and Ethereum holders. According to the company, it wants to "accelerate the new economy for newer generations, and for the future of our industry". Recently DAMAC also announced plans to invest $100 million in building its own digital cities in the metaverse. @kod_ae

🧷 Ramadan NFT Majlis // Dubai-based technology and Web3 company BEDU held its first Ramadan NFT Majlis in association with ARTS DAO. The event was held at Foundry, Downtown, Dubai, and brought together over 100 members of the NFT community to discuss the latest trends in the Metaverse, NFT and Web3 space. During the event, BEDU also announced the launch of UAENFT Keypass as well as its first art drop entitled 'From Desert to Mars'. Keypass is a unique NFT membership for the Web3 community launched by UAENFT, the NFT curated division of BEDU. UAENFT Keypass members will receive information on the latest developments in the NFT space as well as upcoming BEDU projects. Keypass will also provide exclusive access to NFT art collections curated and selected by Giuseppe Moscatello, BEDU art curator and director of Foundry, Downtown, Dubai. @kod_ae

📝 Elon Musk's Understanding of Free Speech // Elon Musk says he bought Twitter to protect free speech. But what does Musk mean by "free speech"? Musk gave an answer in his tweet on Tuesday, a day after the deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. There are several ways to interpret Musk's statement. In the USA, the First Amendment does not allow the government to restrict free speech, but the courts have ruled that it does not prohibit private companies from doing so. In the rest of the world, free speech laws vary from country to country. Twitter faces various obstacles around the world. For example, China is blocking Twitter. In Europe, Twitter will face a new set of rules to moderate illegal and harmful content. But Musk's new statement, which defines free speech as "that which complies with the law", suggests an approach in which he is willing to restrict free speech in any country where the government requires it. @kod_ae

💎 VC Finance Fund to Foster Start-ups // Dubai has introduced the launch of a venture capital finance fund with about Dh370 million ($100.7m) to promote its ambition of changing into a world FinTech hub. @kod_ae

❤️‍🔥 Sincere love // Pavel Durov drew attention to Sensor Tower’s Q1 2022 Data Digest that ranked Telegram fifth in terms of downloads from the App Store and Google Play for the first quarter of 2022. We reported this yesterday. He noted that of the top 5 apps, Telegram messenger is the only one that doesn't spend billions on marketing to "buy" downloads. @kod_ae

🤖 Delivery Robots // An innovative hypermarket, where robot developed by US-based Purple Cloud delivers food to customers' tables after they place their orders, has opened in Sharjah. UAE retail giant LuLu Group has opened a three-level 165,000 sq ft hypermarket designed using the latest technology for shopping. It is located in the Bu Tina area. @kod_ae

ℹ️ Data Lineage // Facebook cannot properly track the entire path of private data and its use. @kod_ae

🕺 Russians in Dubai // The influx of Russian IT specialists can change Dubai tech scene and turn it into the next Silicon Valley. @kod_ae

🚗 Saudi Arabia buys 100,000 EVs from Lucid // Saudi Arabia has committed to buy 50,000 vehicles, with an option to purchase an additional 50,000 vehicles during the ten-year time frame. The agreement between the Saudi government and California-based company is part of the Saudi Vision 2030 plan to diversify away from fossil fuels. At the moment Lucid is building a factory to assemble its electric vehicles in Saudi Arabia, which will be its first overseas. Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund is Lucid's largest shareholder, with about a 61% stake in the company. @kod_ae

❓Newsfeed on Telegram? // Recently, Russian media have posted news about Telegram possibly introducing newsfeed. There is already something similar on the app: after reading messages in one channel, you can swipe up to read the next one. However, our readers still dream of a newsfeed more familiar to them. Here, for example, is one concept. It implies creating a separate chat, where you can add any channels you wish, instead of a newsfeed. @kod_ae

5️⃣ Telegram ranked 5th among the most downloaded apps worldwide In Q1 2022 Telegram remained among the top 5 most downloaded apps worldwide with more than 100 mln downloads. The app surpassed Snapchat, Messenger and Spotify. Meanwhile Tik-Tok remained the most downloaded app worldwide achieving a record of 3,5 bln all-time downloads. @kod_ae

📲 Israeli tech firms secured $5,95 billion in funding in Q1 2022 // A total of 132 Israeli tech firms secured $5,95 billion in funding during the first quarter of 2022, which marks a slight increase compared to the corresponding period in 2021 ($5.90 billion). @kod_ae

⚡️ Send TON to a friend directly on Telegram // An official bot @wallet is the first to integrate a cryptocurrency wallet right into the attachment menu on Telegram. This means, that already today you can quickly and easily send TON to other users. @kod_ae

🏙 Dubai virtual real estate boom // Dubai is set to experience a virtual real estate boom in the near future. Here are two companies that lead the drive. @kod_ae

🚀 'Elon Buys Twitter' token shows 6000% growth // Even before Elon Musk actually bought Twitter, someone launched a crypto named ‘Elon Buys Twitter’ which has witnessed price jump of over 6000% over the last 24 hours. The team of creators believes the token is something more than just a joke. They say it will “give meme creators a chance to earn and allow them to gain a stipulated revenue on for their work". @kod_ae

🛒 Elon Musk Buys Twitter for about $44 billion // The company's board of directors and Tesla's CEO have agreed to the final details of his offer at a price of $54.20 per share. On Monday, the company announced purchase of company by Elon Musk. The world's richest man has thus become the owner of one of the most influential social networks, which serves as a platform for political leaders, a board for experts in various industries and an information hub for millions of ordinary users. @kod_ae

🏙 Instagram Travel Guide // Dubai sites are the most popular among Instagram users. @kod_ae