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Maldives to deport arrested Indian, British journalist
Male, Feb 10 (IANS) Two journalists including an Indian national working for a global news agency, who were arrested in the Maldives amid the raging political turmoil, will be deported, the police said.
Indian citizen Money Sharma from Amritsar and India-born British national Atish Ravji Patel, both working for AFP, were in the crisis-hit Indian Ocean atoll nation to cover the state of Emergency, which was declared on February 6 by President Abdulla Yameen.
The pair were picked up on Friday and are now set to be deported as they were “working in the country on a tourist visa in violation of the immigration law.” However, no legal action will be taken against them, the Maldives government said in a press release.
“We would like to note that although they (the two journalists) have been asked to leave the Maldives, no other legal steps shall be taken against them,” the statement said.
“All foreign nationals intending to work in the country should obtain either a business or work visa and this applies to journalists as well,” it said.
The India’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it had received information about an Indian national, Money Sharma, working as a journalist, was detained by the Maldivian authorities.
“We have asked our Embassy to get in touch with the local authorities to ascertain more details of the case,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
The archipelago made international headlines after its President Yameen announced a 15-day state of Emergency last Monday and arrested the Supreme Court’s top two judges and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
Yameen’s move came in the wake of a ruling by the apex court on February 1 to “release” exiled former President Mohamed Nasheed and other high-profile prisoners.
Nasheed, who has been living in self exile in Sri Lanka for the past few months, had made multiple appeals to India to intervene militarily in the archipelago country, saying that seeking an internal solution to the ongoing crisis could lead to chaos.
Amid the unrest, pro-opposition Maldives broadcaster RaajjeTV said on Friday it was going off the air because of threats from the country’s military that it would close down news outlets that were “threatening national security.”
The TV station said “it did not believe there was a safe environment for its journalists to report freely and independently”.
–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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