Despite being the highest-grossing sector in the world of entertainment, gaming is still viewed as a waste of time in certain circles. However, with global lockdowns forcing people to stay home during the Covid-19 pandemic, there’s been an increase in players picking up controllers. They do so to connect with the rest of the world through online multiplayer games at a time when physical contact has been prohibited in certain places.
Gaming, then, has been a force for good in these testing times.
Preserving minority languages
A platform that has been central to connecting people around the world is Twitch. It’s a service where users can host streams of themselves playing games, and it has recorded an increase in registrations over the past year. Data company Statista reported a peak in January of 9.89 million active streamers on Twitch. The top-ranked user is a gamer named Ninja, who has 16.8 million followers.
While it has a multitude of benefits for gamers, this virtual hub has offered up another, more surprising positive: the preservation of almost extinct languages.
As reported by US tech website The Verge, thousands of like-minded people are working together to keep native languages alive through Twitch streaming. Where once these minority dialects would have been limited to households and circles of friends in far reaches of the world, they are now being showcased through game streaming.
Twitch, recognising certain petitions started by motivated activists, introduced 350 new tags recently that help users to find specific content. These include a number of minority languages designed to help those searching to discover certain channels.
However, despite adding tags for languages such as Ukrainian, Twitch overlooked the likes of Basque, Galician and Maori. Basque is one of the oldest languages in the world and is native to the Basque Country, an area that has been seeking independence from Spain for decades. Galician is spoken in a remote part of Spain, while Maori comes from New Zealand and the surrounding Pacific Islands. These three languages in particular have generated popular campaigns that have gained momentum.
Users can set their preferred language when they log in so they’re able to navigate the site in whatever option is easier to read, but of the 29 options available right now, Arabic still hasn’t made the cut
#3000Twitz, the hashtag associated with recognising the Basque language, has been trending across Twitch and other social networks. It's also one of the most-voted-on threads in the Twitch UserVoice community pages.
"Twitch in Galician" is a service that posts across its social media feeds whenever a Galician-speaking streamer is about to go live, and has even made it to the user-generated content of Reddit, the self-proclaimed "front page of the internet".
In the case of Maori, Twitch user Rangiora has been at the forefront of his native language's campaign. His streams are educational and entertaining, and he's being championed by other Maori Twitch users to achieve "Partner" status (official Twitch recognition) on the platform and carry the fight for recognition onwards.
Why is Twitch neglecting the Arabic language?
While the platform no doubt has a mammoth task on its hands to create tags for every language in existence and keep all of its community happy, it will probably meet these demands in the future. However, Twitch has a much bigger and more fundamental problem when it comes to the Middle East.
At present, users can set their preferred language when they log in so they’re able to navigate the site in whatever option is easier to read. But of the 29 options available, Arabic still hasn’t made the cut, despite it being the fifth most-spoken language in the world, after English, Mandarin, Hindi and Spanish, with about 274 million speakers, according to Statista. Meanwhile, Hungarian Magyar, which has about 13 million speakers worldwide, is one of the options.
As Twitch users are deeply aware, the lack of Arabic as a default language on the platform is somewhat holding it back in the region when it comes to finding new subscribers.
I think [Twitch] having a fully localised user interface will help me reach a wider audience that won’t struggle with the language
Abdullah Bashan,
Twitch user
“A large group of my Arabic audience can't understand English at all,” says Omani streamer Ahmed Al Maimani, who goes by the handle Pisty. “This makes it very difficult for them to navigate the platform, know how to watch my streams or even find my profile. And this affects my viewership greatly.”
Despite this, Al Maimani still plays to 75,000-plus subscribers. But the possibilities of where that could go with a bit more attention to Arabic is sky high.
“Streamers and eSports communities are growing rapidly in the region, with hundreds of new talents given Partner status on a daily basis,” Al Maimani explains. “Many bigger ones [Arabic users] reach the top spots globally with their streams, too.”
It’s a sentiment that’s shared by fellow streamer Abdullah Bashan, or Abdullah Reviews, as he is known online. “I am mainly a YouTuber as my biggest fan base is there, since it is fully localised in Arabic,” Bashan says. “When I decide to make a livestream on Twitch, I notice a lot of my fans lose interest in it. I think [Twitch] having a fully localised user interface will help me reach a wider audience that won’t struggle with the language. Especially for younger people as my streams are family-friendly.”
The National reached out to Twitch to find out if there were any plans to rectify this issue, but a representative said they were unable to comment at this time.
Although these groups have different immediate targets – smaller communities looking for recognition and GCC users' need for Arabic as a default setting – the long-term goals are the same: to preserve languages and unique dialect through Twitch.
We live in a fast-moving society where things are easily forgotten about, but while this hyper-digital age has increased the pace at which technology and ideas are thought up, actioned or lost, it’s warming to know that playing video games is also enabling people to connect and come together for important causes, even when times are tough.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Primera Liga fixtures (all times UAE: 4 GMT)
Friday
Real Sociedad v Villarreal (10.15pm)
Real Betis v Celta Vigo (midnight)
Saturday
Alaves v Barcelona (8.15pm)
Levante v Deportivo La Coruna (10.15pm)
Girona v Malaga (10.15pm)
Las Palmas v Atletico Madrid (12.15am)
Sunday
Espanyol v Leganes (8.15pm)
Eibar v Athletic Bilbao (8.15pm)
Getafe v Sevilla (10.15pm)
Real Madrid v Valencia (10.15pm)
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20Z%20FOLD%204
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Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet
Price, base: Dh429,090
Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km
As You Were
Liam Gallagher
(Warner Bros)
If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
MATCH INFO
Chelsea 4 (Mount 18',Werner 44', Hudson-Odoi 49', Havertz 85')
Morecambe 0
Company%C2%A0profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ELeap%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ziad%20Toqan%20and%20Jamil%20Khammu%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Undisclosed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 374hp at 5,500-6,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm from 1,900-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.5L/100km
Price: from Dh285,000
On sale: from January 2022
World ranking (at month’s end)
Jan - 257
Feb - 198
Mar - 159
Apr - 161
May - 159
Jun – 162
Currently: 88
Year-end rank since turning pro
2016 - 279
2015 - 185
2014 - 143
2013 - 63
2012 - 384
2011 - 883
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Florida: The critical Sunshine State
Though mostly conservative, Florida is usually always “close” in presidential elections. In most elections, the candidate that wins the Sunshine State almost always wins the election, as evidenced in 2016 when Trump took Florida, a state which has not had a democratic governor since 1991.
Joe Biden’s campaign has spent $100 million there to turn things around, understandable given the state’s crucial 29 electoral votes.
In 2016, Mr Trump’s democratic rival Hillary Clinton paid frequent visits to Florida though analysts concluded that she failed to appeal towards middle-class voters, whom Barack Obama won over in the previous election.
Results
6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,400m. Winner: Rio Angie, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer).
7.05pm: Handicap Dh170,000 (D) 1,600m. Winner: Trenchard, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
7.40pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m. Winner: Mulfit, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.15pm: Handicap Dh210,000 (D) 1,200m. Winner: Waady, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Handicap Dh210,000 (D) 2,000m. Winner: Tried And True, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
9.25pm:Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,400m. Winner: Midnight Sands, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
