TLD

21 January 2010 -- ICANN is pleased to announce the successful completion of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track String Evaluation for four (4) proposed IDN ccTLDs. The requests are associated with: Egypt, the Russian Federation, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. Details of the successful evaluations are provided here.

ICANN Signs Two Historic Agreements with UN Agencies

11 December 2009 -- ICANN and the Swiss-based Universal Postal Union (UPU) have signed a historic agreement giving the UPU managing authority over .post as a top-level domain.

This agreement came about after long negotiations, public review through ICANN's public comment process, and consideration by ICANN’s Board of Directors. An equal level of effort was required from representatives of the UPU. The result is what may be the first truly secure top-level domain for the provision of services by the UPU member states.

11 November 2009 -- ICANN is soliciting information, advice and proposed models as it considers soliciting expressions of interest in new gTLDs.

The public comment forum will be open until December 11, 2009 however, community members that wish to have their input considered by the Board during its December meeting, should submit comments no later than November 27, 2009.

You can access this Expressions of Interest Public Comment Forum here:
http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-200912.htm#eoi-new...

4 November 2009 -- The ccNSO's Internationalised Domain Name Country Code Policy Development Process Working Group (IDN ccPDP WG) for the selection and delegation of IDN ccTLDs is pleased to announce the publication of its draft Topic Paper for public discussion and comment. The purpose of this Topic Paper is to identify and define the topics and issues that, in the view of the WG, need to be taken into consideration to propose a feasible policy for the selection and delegation of IDN ccTLDs.

3 November 2009 -- ICANN has announced today that it has signed an exchange of letters with the country code top level domain (ccTLD) manager for .SG, the Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC) Pte Ltd on 28 October 2009.

The Accountability Framework program provides two mechanisms by which ccTLD managers can formalise their relationship with ICANN. The first is an Accountability Framework document that sets out the obligations of a ccTLD manager and ICANN. It also covers dispute resolution and termination and is designed for ccTLD managers requiring a formal document with ICANN.

2 November 2009 -- ICANN is today posting the .POST Sponsorship Agreement for public comment. ICANN and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) reached an agreement in principle following a challenging yet fruitful negotiation process. The Agreement represents a significant accomplishment for ICANN, the UPU, and the global Internet community, as it is the first gTLD Registry Agreement between ICANN and an Intergovernmental Organization (IGO).

20 October 2009 -- ICANN and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) have reached an agreement in principle for the UPU sponsorship of the .POST Top-Level Domain. Final approval of the agreement is subject to ICANN's public comment process (which will commence after ICANN concludes its meeting in Seoul on 30 October 2009), and consideration by the Board of Directors.

8 October 2009 -- ICANN has authorized a bulk transfer of registrar Red Register Inc.’s domain names to DirectNIC Ltd., due to the de-accreditation of Red Register Inc.

The affected gTLD registries have taken steps to effect bulk transfers of Red Register's names.

Former registrant-customers of Red Register should soon receive notices of the transfer from DirectNIC. Customer questions about the transfer should be directed to DirectNIC at:

Telephone: +1-504-679-5170

Email: redregister@directnic.com

Web: http://www.directnic.com/

Afilias recognizes the best .INFO Sites and offers over US$15,000 in rewards to the winners

DUBLIN, IRELAND – October 7, 2009 – Today, Afilias announced the opening of the 2009 .INFO Awards. The awards, first created in 2006, rewards the best professionally created .INFO Web sites from around the world. .INFO Site owners are able to submit their .INFO site for consideration until 11:59 p.m. on October 23, 2009.

4 October 2009 -- In the past several days, ICANN has announced recent milestones regarding changes in how the Internet community will use the Internet in the near future. These important developments include the plan for deployment of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) in the next few months and significant progress in developing the model for delegating new generic top-level domains (gTLDs).

Proposed Final Implementation Plan: IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process

http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/fast-track/idn-cctld-implementation-p...