Entertainment
Hollywood director Brett Ratner accused of sexual misconduct
Los Angeles, Nov 2 (IANS) American filmmaker and producer Brett Ratner has been accused of sexual harassment and misconduct by six actresses.
Actress Natasha Henstridge and five other actresses accused Ratner of sexual harassment and misconduct that took place in various places, The Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday.
Recalling the episode, Henstridge, 43, said she was watching a movie along with friends at his New York apartment and later fell asleep. She was then a 19-year-old fashion model and he was an up-and-coming music video director in his early 20s.
When Henstridge woke up, the others had left. As she got up to leave, Henstridge blocked the doorway, began touching himself, she said, then forced her to perform oral sex.
“He strong-armed me in a real way. He physically forced himself on me,” Henstridge said. “At some point, I gave in and he did his thing.”
Henstridge has found success as an actress – starring in the films “Species” and “The Whole Nine Yards.”
But she said she has carried the memory of the run-in with her, and watched from afar as Ratner became one of Hollywood’s most powerful players – directing, producing or financing dozens of biggest box-office hits, including “Rush Hour,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “The Revenant” and “Horrible Bosses.”
As hundreds of women have come forward in recent weeks with allegations of sexual misconduct at the hands of producer Harvey Weinstein, director James Toback and numerous other powerful men, Henstridge decided she would no longer remain silent.
In interviews with the Los Angeles Times, Henstridge and five other women accused Ratner of a range of sexual harassment and misconduct that allegedly took place in private homes, on movie sets or at industry events.
None of the women reported the allegations to police.
Olivia Munn told Los Angeles Times that while visiting the set of the 2004 Ratner-directed “After the Sunset” when she was still an aspiring actress, Ratner masturbated in front of her in his trailer when she went to deliver a meal, according to a Xinhua report.
Actress Jaime Ray Newman said Ratner put it more bluntly to her when she encountered Ratner on an Air Canada flight in 2005, explaining in vulgar terms that he needed sex.
Actresses Katherine Towne, Eri Sasaki and Jorina King also described sexually charged run-ins with Ratner.
On Ratner’s behalf, his attorney Martin Singer “categorically” disputed their accounts.
“I have represented Ratner for two decades, and no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment,” Singer said in a 10-page letter to The Times.
“Furthermore, no woman has ever requested or received any financial settlement from my client.”
Ratner is known for directing the “Rush Hour” film series, “The Family Man,” “Red Dragon,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” and “Tower Heist.” He was also a producer on the Fox drama series “Prison Break,” the comedy “Horrible Bosses” and its 2014 sequel.
–IANS
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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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