FB solidifies grip on gaming business

SILICON VALLEY: Facebook on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) put its spin on cloud gaming by letting players instantly hop into an array of mobile games at the social network without downloading apps — but won't be offering the service for Apple iOS devices.

Vice president of play Jason Rubin noted that Facebook is not spinning off a cloud gaming service along the lines of Google Stadia and Microsoft xCloud, which offer console-quality titles hosted online.

The new Facebook capability is designed to let players start games at the social network then switch to downloaded mobile apps without losing any progress it wouldn't synch with iPhones due to "control" exerted by Apple, according to Rubin.

"Unfortunately, we're not launching cloud games on iOS, so only Android and web players will enjoy integrated cloud games on Facebook while we work on alternative options for iOS," Rubin said in a blog post.

"Apple treats games differently and continues to exert control over a very precious resource. "

Excluding iPhones and iPads from the Facebook cloud games offering is the latest dig at Apple for its tight grip on the App Store, which is the sole source of content for the company's coveted mobile devices but takes a 30 percent cut of transactions.

Some developers say Apple takes too big a bite of the revenue and maintains rigid policies that may hamstring services competing with those of the iPhone maker. Fortnite-maker Epic Games has taken Apple to court over the practice.

Apple has argued its App Store delivers billions of dollars to independent developers, and that its practices are reasonable compared with other digital marketplaces. Only those playing with Android-powered mobile devices or through web browsers will be able to integrate with cloud games on Facebook for now, Rubin said.

Games made available in the cloud at Facebook can be accessed instantly in the application or in browsers, according to Rubin. Some 200,000 people per week played cloud-streamed games at Facebook during a trial run in a few regions, according to Rubin.

"We love console and PC gaming and both formats will be around for a long time," Rubin said. "We believe cloud gaming will increase—not replace—the options to jump into great games."

Gaming at Facebook dates back to its early days when "Farmville" by Zynga was an obsession for many users.

NYK acquires Gazocean shares from Total

NYK Line has acquired Gazocean, a ship management company from Total in what was seen as a move to strengthen its Liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier management in France.


An NYK-owned LNG carrier managed by Gazocean PHOTO FROM NYK
NYK's newly owned subsidiary, Gazocean, based in Marseille, France is responsible for the management of six LNG carriers.

NYK and Total, a leading oil and energy company headquartered in France signed a sales and purchase agreement (SPA), acquiring all the French company's shares in Gazocean on October 22.

"The move will strengthen NYK's ship-management system and expand the company's LNG transportation business in France. Before the purchase, NYK held 20 percent of Gazocean shares, and Total held 80 percent," NYK said.

Gazocéan's employee representatives reviewead the acquisition, as part of the regulatory information and consultation procedure. It also has the approval of the competent authorities.

Under its medium-term management plan "Staying Ahead 2022 with Digitalization and Green," the NYK Group is seeking to secure stable freight rates through long-term contracts, and the company will continue to encourage creative solutions in its effort to contribute to stable energy transport services.
TOKYO: Asian markets fell Tuesday following a sharp sell-off in New York and Europe that was fuelled by fears a coronavirus resurgence will force fresh economically painful containment measures.

Traders have also given up almost any hope for a new US stimulus package being passed before next Tuesday's election, with Democrats and Republicans blaming each other, though there are still expectations a new deal will be agreed afterwards.

The need for a big-spending rescue for hard-hit Americans is being highlighted by a big jump in new infections across the country that observers fear will deal a blow to an already shaky economic recovery.

Data this week is expected to show record US growth in the third quarter thanks to a multi-trillion-dollar stimulus agreed earlier this year alongside huge Federal Reserve support.

However, that follows a record contraction in the second quarter, while economists have tipped the economy to shrink this year.

"The second and third wave spread of Covid-19 is possibly triggering a point of no return for some industries as the economic damage borders on irreversible," said Axi strategist Stephen Innes. "The Covid-19 induced downward spiral continues accelerating."

With an eye on next week's vote, he added: "We should expect price action to remain choppy in the days ahead, with investors very reluctant to put on any significant risk ahead of what promises to be a headline heavy week or two."

David Kelly, at JP Morgan Asset Management, added: "A stimulus bill in the lame-duck session is urgently needed and could be supplemented by a more comprehensive measure when the new Congress meets, early in 2021."

On Wall Street, the Dow suffered its worst day since early September, dropping more than two percent while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also suffered sharp losses. That came after Frankfurt was hammered more than three percent, with Paris and London shedding more than one percent.

And the selling continued in Asia, though the retreat was not as painful. Tokyo and Shanghai fell 0.3 percent, along with Taipei and Singapore. Hong Kong sank 0.4 percent, while Sydney, Wellington and Manila were all down more than one percent.

Seoul edged up slightly, though, after data showed the South Korean economy grew more than expected in the third quarter thanks to a big jump in exports. "The Covid case news flow has clearly resonated," Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone, said in a note.

"The reflation trade which was working so beautifully is being part unwound—not because of election re-pricing, but due to the new wave of Covid cases."

Chinese e-payments giant Ant Group was planning to stop taking orders for the Hong Kong leg of its $34 billion mega-IPO owing to it being massively subscribed, Bloomberg News reported.

The dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai is tipped to be the biggest in history and would value the firm at about $315 billion, bigger than Wall Street financial titans Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. Its shares are slated to debut on November 5.

EU backs Nigerian bet as WTO head

LAGOS: Nigerian finance ministrer Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala picked up crucial backing from the European Union (EU) on Monday (Tuesday in Manila), sources said, giving her bid to become the first African head of the WTO a major boost.

The World Trade Organization will announce its new director general next month, but sources said the EU will publicly announce its support for the 66-year-old economist on Tuesday.

Okonjo-Iweala was Nigeria's first female finance minister and has long career at the World Bank as a development economist. She has emerged as the favourite to replace Brazil's Roberto Azevedo at the WTO, and to become the first director general from Africa and the first woman to lead the institution.

There is no leading European candidate for the post this time round, but some of the 27 EU member states backed South Korea's trade minister Yoo Myung-hee, the other candidate still in the race.

A first meeting on Monday failed to find consensus around the choice, but member state representatives reconvened and agreed to back Okonjo-Iweala.

One European source said that seven member states had asked that their preference for Yoo be recorded in the statement, but another said backing Okonjo-Iweala was "a clear signal to Africa and a sign of mutual trust."

The WTO's consultation process ends on Tuesday and the new leader is expected to be named in November.

If Okonjo-Iweala is confirmed she will join the WTO at difficult time, with the world facing a deep post-coronavirus recession and a crisis of confidence in free trade and globalization.

A trade war is brewing between the world's anchor economies—the United States and China—and the European Union will see G7 member Britain leave its single market at the end of the year.

US President Donald Trump faces a tough battle for re-election early next month, but under his leadership Washington's relationship with the WTO has suffered.

His administration has appealed a WTO ruling that faulted US duties imposed on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese goods. Usually, the WTO Appellate Body would have three months to rule on any appeals filed.

But that process has been complicated since the WTO Appellate Body—also known as the supreme court of world trade—stopped functioning last December as the US blocked the appointment of new judges to the panel.

AIG names new CEO, splits operations

LEIPZIG: Insurance giant AIG announced a multi-part shake up on Monday (Tuesday in Manila), naming a new chief executive officer and splitting its business in two.

Once the world's largest insurer, which needed a US government bailout to survive the 2008 global financial crisis, named Peter S. Zaffino to lead AIG starting March 1, 2021, in addition to his current role as the company's president.

Current CEO Brian Duperreault will become executive chairman of the board, the company said in a statement. "Peter has been instrumental in the significant turnaround and transformation at AIG and his vision, determination and pursuit of excellence will help ensure the company's future success," Duperreault said.

AIG also announced plan to separate the Life & Retirement business from the General Insurance unit, simplifying the corporate structure to allow each to become more profitable. Zaffino said the decision came after a long review.

"Our businesses can be further strengthened by separating Life & Retirement from AIG, which we believe will enable each entity to achieve a more appropriate and sustainable valuation," Zaffino said.

Once the world's largest insurer, AIG was teetering on the verge of collapse under tens of billions of dollars of souring, unhedged derivatives contracts in September 2008 when it sought liquidity from the New York Fed.

The government saved AIG with a controversial $182 billion bailout that was later repaid in full by the insurer, which shed numerous units in years after the crisis.

The group also said Monday that it expects a third quarter pre-tax loss of $790 million in its catastrophe division, $185 million of which is related to Covid-19, including travel and event cancellations.

Another $605 million of losses come from storms in the Americas and Japan, as well as fires in the western United States. The company is set to releases its quarterly results on November 5.

Ant Group eyes $34.5B in biggest IPO in history

BEIJING: Chinese financial technology giant Ant Group will raise $34.5 billion in dual initial public offerings (IPOs) in Hong Kong and Shanghai after setting its prices for its shares, championing the biggest IPO in history.

The company's Shanghai-listed shares are priced at 68.8 yuan ($10.26) each. The goal for Ant is to raise 114.9 billion yuan through the IPO on the A-share market. The price will make Ant's valuation soar to $313 billion, larger than major banks such as Goldman Sachs, or China's ICBC.

The price in Hong Kong has been set at HK$80 ($10.32) each, and the shares are expected to start trading on November 5, though it did not reveal when it would start trading at the Shanghai exchange.

Alibaba Group is expected to hold 31.8 percent of Ant's equity, or 31.2 percent if the underwriters subscribe for additional shares under the A-share issue and the H-share issue, the company said on Monday.

According to media reports, the institutional portion of the H-share offering was over-subscribed. Most of the orders were valued at more than $1 billion.

For the first time, Ant Group revealed that China's Social Security Fund invested an additional 7 billion yuan to subscribe for more than 100 million Ant shares, and hence it becomes the second-largest strategic investor after Alibaba.

Chen Wenhui, vice chairman of the National Council for Social Security Fund, said on Sunday the fund is actively participating in Ant's IPO.

Though reportedly under consideration by the Trump administration for inclusion on the US government's trade blacklist, Ant Group is steadfast in pursuing its dual IPOs in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
"Ant Group's business is primarily in China, and we are excited about our growth prospects in the China market. Our mission is to contribute to economic growth and job creation through serving ordinary consumers and small businesses," the company said in a statement sent to the Global Times previously.

Education in the new reality

One day, we are able to move again to our pre-coronavirus disorder 2019 (Covid-19) lives, however it's going to take a while even after the discovery of a vaccine. As we attempt to convey returned "normalcy" in our society, we sense that our manner of residing, running and learning will by no means be the same.

This pressured faculties to shift their guides to online gaining knowledge of and that has been very complicated. With this new fact, educators everywhere in the world have an possibility to re-consider how training is to be brought to succeed.

Despite the technological advancements, educators nonetheless in large part favor the conventional face-to-face technique. As era turns into an integral a part of our daily lives, it's far tough to assume that it will not have a dominant position in our schooling device. In emergent situations like the Covid-19 pandemic, educators have to absolutely include instructional era and online getting to know.

What is online learning and what isn't?

Online getting to know is described as an emerging method in which students get entry to training whenever and anywhere the use of https://atozmarkets.com/brokers/deltamarket/ more than a few technology tools both asynchronously or synchronously.

Many colleges lodge to emergency far flung coaching through lecturing online through Zoom or MS Teams. This is basically not online studying when you consider that students can not research at their very own pace. Our school curriculum is really now not designed for on-line delivery and bring it online the usage of web-conferencing platforms will no longer work over the long term.

Technology integration in faculties

Understanding generation integration is vital because faculties tend to select technologies which might be beside the point or unfitted. Technology integration is the well-coordinated use of virtual tools for trouble-solving, deeper learning and knowledge. It enables get admission to to curriculum but isn't always the curriculum itself. Educators ought to guide learners in using generation as a device for getting access to and understanding instructional content.
Successful generation integration in the lecture room lies in expertise technology's function in the lecture room and putting our college students — no longer the technology and the teacher — on the center of instruction. Technology is merely the automobile that makes these items manifest.

The want for a single virtual gaining knowledge of platform

To succeed in online schooling, colleges need to apply a number technology, which includes a studying management system and content material authoring tool. While it's far tempting to apply instructional era (ed-tech) tool available, faculties need to have a unmarried digital platform that students can continually go to to access content material, gear, activities and tests.

A getting to know control machine (LMS) is a software application that offers the platform to manage all components of the learning process from content to checks; while a content authoring tool is a software program used to create content. These systems are pretty expensive, difficult to put into effect, and unaffordable by way of smaller faculties.

There are "free" LMS systems that schools can use just like the Google Classroom, but "free" isn't proper to its phrase as it misses numerous the terrific matters that paid LMS has to provide, such as gamification, microlearning and different enticing features.

When investing in an LMS, pick out the authoring tools to permit educators to create interactive and engaging content material. These will help educators boost their ordinary coaching slides and motion pictures by means of including interactive elements, along with quizzes, multi-media or embed outside assets.

Training instructors to correctly train on line

Many schools rush to move practise online, leaving many educators unprepared and unexpected with online teaching. This isn't always an excellent, but educators ought to fly and attain for the sky.

Educators are doing their first-rate in an exceptional and endlessly converting scenario, however their loss of training to correctly train online has created a patchwork of best and gaps in accessibility. The biggest challenges going through colleges are the lack of economic assets and educators lack sufficient time for schooling to apprehend how to educate on line.

Planning, designing and imposing an online course take time and the fine education is
tailored to fulfill educators wherein they may be and build on their know-how.
Rethinking about tests

Another mission of on-line education is the instructor-students setup is no longer within the same room to together analyze. In a digital setting, maximum of mastering time is driven by means of duties that require a high stage of self-course.

In a conventional placing, endless regulations and techniques installed vicinity to hold the integrity of exams process, while in a virtual surroundings, matters are very one of a kind. Teachers are not physically present to monitor their students whilst conducting activities and exams. Now, everything is viable, and schools can by no means supply assessments in the identical way they have earlier than.

Educators have to reconsider about checks and begin shifting far from the multiple-preference exam layout. Educators can alternatively prioritize longer, student-driven assignments and obligations, including collaborative initiatives, online presentation, case studies or even running a blog.

Effective tests in a virtual environment require schools to map and pick out the proper generation to use for checks.

Educators however should offer authentic assessments that mimic greater actual-world interactions and layout exams that measures actual mastering results.

Blended gaining knowledge of as the brand new ordinary in training

In the new reality, extra classrooms will undertake and put in force combined getting to know, which has emerged as a much greater bendy version for mastering. The use of training generation has caused the rise of this new approach.

Why is blended learning the future of training?

This is as it caters to the strengths and weaknesses of each student than conventional face-to-face tactics to education. Blended getting to know is past the obstacles of area and time.

An crucial step in powerful implementation of combined studying in colleges is to choose the right virtual mastering platform (i.E. LMS). This will enable customized mastering for each student, letting them learn at their very own pace, and get right of entry to multiple content sorts which will select the layout that first-class enables them recognize complicated concepts.

By the time the arena returns to "ordinary," schools could have tailored to on line gaining knowledge of, invested in digital learning platforms, and determined how a good deal greater price powerful it is able to be than traditional schooling.

So, which do you opt for? Traditional or blended? Take your select.