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Brexit deal not up for renegotiation, EU tells May
Brussels, Dec 14 (IANS) European Union leaders have refused to give UK’s Prime Minister Theresa May a lifeline over Brexit, saying that the withdrawal agreement is “not open for renegotiation”, despite her appeal to them to help her salvage the deal by putting a 12-month limit on the unpopular Irish backstop.
May came to Brussels to plead EU leaders on Thursday at a summit to make the agreement more palatable to sceptical lawmakers in London.
But after the meeting, representatives of the bloc said they were sticking with the withdrawal agreement previously agreed with London, including the Northern Ireland backstop deal which threatens to derail it in the UK Parliament.
May delayed a Commons vote on the deal earlier this week when it became clear she would suffer a heavy defeat.
“If we go into negotiations on the future relationship, we need to have a well-constructed proposal and a cogent idea from our British partners and friends, and then we’ll look at that,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters.
The UK leader had been seeking legally enforceable guarantees surrounding the Irish backstop — aimed at preventing the return of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It has emerged as the crucial sticking point for many in May’s Conservative Party, furious that Britain could only leave it with the approval of the EU.
Critics say the backstop would keep the UK tied to EU rules indefinitely and curb its ability to strike trade deals. Conservative MPs demanded changes to the backstop to make it clear that it could not last forever, and Britain could terminate the arrangement on its own.
At the summit, May was seeking legal assurances that the backstop, if used, would be temporary.
“In terms of a no deal, let’s not forget ultimately, it is within the gift of the UK government and the UK Parliament to take the threat of no deal off the table,” Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said.
“It is possible if the UK wishes to, to revoke Article 50, or, if that’s a step too far to seek an extension of Article 50,” he added, referring to the piece of EU law by which the UK triggered Brexit.
Speaking after the Brussels summit, European Council President Donald Tusk called the backstop “an insurance policy”, saying it was the EU’s “firm determination” to work “speedily” on alternative arrangements.
Tusk said the backstop would “apply temporarily unless and until it is superseded by a subsequent agreement that ensures that the hard border is avoided”.
The European Council’s conclusions on Brexit published on Thursday said that the EU would continue trying to negotiate a trade deal with the UK even if the Irish backstop had been triggered at the end of the transition period.
–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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