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US Secret Service ‘bullying’ Indian agencies over Obama security?

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New Delhi: An advance team of US Secret Service agents who are in the capital to ensure the security of President Barack Obama during his three-day India visit are reportedly “bullying” their Indian counterparts on every aspect of the security.

Well-informed sources said that around 25 Secret Service agents arrived in the capital Jan 13. They have attended several meeting with the Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials and Delhi Police personnel for the security arrangements for Obama’s visit, but their “overbearing” attitude is said to be upsetting junior police officials.

“We have discussed every minute security detail of our arrangements with the Secret Service agents. We are also working on the suggestions they shared with us. But their demands are increasing every time. They don’t behave like the security agencies of other countries,” an official, close to the security arrangements for the Obama visit, told.

He said: “I have done my 30 years in Delhi Police and made arrangements for several high profile foreign dignitaries. I have good friends in security agencies of other countries, but the US Secret Service agents are not like them. They are very rude and overbearing. It appears that they do not like to give importance to us.”

Another source told  that the advance US Secret Service agents are “interfering in all our security arrangements and trying to show themselves as more competent and with more expertise”.

Since the US Secret Service team arrived in the capital, they are “demanding new things and trying to point out loopholes in several aspects”, he said.

“Now they want to position surveillance satellites to track each and every movement of Obama, and are pressurizing us to cut short the time of Obama’s stay in the open air on Rajpath for the Republic Day parade,” the official said.

“We are ready to provide surveillance satellite facility on Rajpath on Jan 26 as we are also keen to ensure safe arrangements for the VVIP enclosure where Obama will be seated along with President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Despite all our efforts to please them with our arrangements, the Secret Service agents are exhibiting their mistrust in us. Now they have demanded to deploy dozens of their own snipers on the rooftops in the two-kilometre circle of Rajpath along with Delhi Police snipers,” he said.

The Indian security agencies are ready to provide a seven-layer security on Rajpath during the two hours that Obama will spend in the open watching the parade.

The US forces will provide close proximity security to Obama while the National Security Guard (NSG) commandos will be in the second layer, and the third will be covered by the Special Protection Group (SPG), while other three layers will be managed by the Delhi Police.

Another team of over 300 US Secret Service agents will reach Delhi Jan 25 morning along with the US president, another official said.

The US team is staying in the super-luxury ITC Maurya hotel where the US president will be stationed during his three day visit between Jan 25 and Jan 27,

Entertainment

Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

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.

CasinoDays India

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.

 

CasinoDays India

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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