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Pakistan civil-military brass huddles to respond to US warning (Lead)
Islamabad, Aug 24 (IANS) Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday met the top military leadership to formulate a response to the new US policy on Afghanistan that includes greater pressure on Islamabad to do more to rein in militants.
The meeting was attended by senior civil and military officials, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and service chiefs, besides the Defence, Interior, Foreign Affairs and Finance Ministers.
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar and National Security Adviser Lt Gen Nasser Janjua (retd) were also in attendance, Geo News reported.
Sources said the Director General of Military Operations briefed the meeting over the ongoing military operations on the Pakistan-Afghan border as well as the internal security situation of the country and the situation along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
The weekly press briefing of the Foreign Office was postponed until Friday in view of the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting — the Prime Minister’s second since he assumed office on August 1.
Abbasi’s first NSC meeting was held on August 16 and focused on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and “unprovoked” cross-border firing.
Abbasi on Wednesday dashed to Saudi Arabia for a day-long visit following Trump’s policy speech, and held a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
The national security meeting is being held to come up with a combined response after President Donald Trump chastised Pakistan for harbouring terrorists and providing safe havens to militant groups waging an insurgency against a US-backed government in Kabul.
White House officials have gone further and threatened aid and military cuts, as well as other measures to force Pakistan’s hand and force them to help bring about an end to the 16-year-old war.
Abbasi was yet to respond to Trump’s remarks, but Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said Washington must work with Islamabad “instead of relying on the false narrative of safe havens”. Pakistan denies harbouring militants.
Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who is part of the meeting, on Wednesday told US Ambassador David Hale that Islamabad will continue to do what it is doing in Afghanistan out of its national interests, not to appease Washington.
Hale called on the Army chief and told him that the US valued Pakistan’s role in the war against terror and was seeking cooperation from it to resolve the Afghan issue, a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations said.
–IANS
ahm/dg
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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