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Pleased with ‘upward trajectory’ of Pakistan-Afghan relations: Sharif

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Ufa (Russia): Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani here on Friday and expressed satisfaction at the “upward trajectory” of Islamabad-Kabul relations, media reported.

The meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit here, comes barely days after Pakistan brokered talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Islamabad, the Pakistani English daily Dawn reported.

The two leaders expressed satisfaction over the progress made in the July 7 talks which were held to promote peace and reconciliation process.

Ghani and Sharif exchanged views on how to carry forward the peace process. They also exchanged views on the efforts being made by the respective sides to counter terrorism and extremism.

President Ashraf Ghani appreciated Pakistan’s efforts and its role in facilitating peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, expressing the hope that these efforts would lead to lasting peace and stability in the country.

The Pakistani prime minister spoke of the need for both countries to persevere in overcoming challenges and building a cooperative relationship on “strong foundations”.

He reaffirmed Pakistan’s desire to build a positive and forward-looking relationship with Afghanistan.

Sharif also extended an invitation to President Ghani to jointly inaugurate the ministerial conference of the Heart of Asia process to be hosted by Pakistan in December 2015.

In efforts to foster a closer relationship, Afghanistan and Pakistan recently signed a landmark intelligence-sharing Memorandum of Operation.

The relationship between the two seemed tense as Afghan intelligence accused a Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence official of being involved in a brazen Taliban attack on the Afghan parliament on June 22.

Nearly a week after the information came to light, Afghan security forces in a cross-border attack wounded two security personnel in South Waziristan. However, earlier in June, Pakistani troops had, in an unprecedented cross-border “rescue operation”, evacuated an Afghan soldier who had been critically wounded in an exchange of fire with the Taliban.

Nawaz Sharif, in an earlier visit to Afghanistan this year, pledged support in the fight against the Taliban saying: “We agreed that peace and stability in the region will remain elusive until the menace of terrorism afflicting the region is comprehensively addressed.”

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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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