https://www.scmp.com/rss/323150/feed Muhammad Cohen is a contributor to Forbes Asia, Editor at Large of Inside Asian Gaming and wrote Hong Kong On Air, a novel set during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance and cheap lingerie. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com When the world is on fire, it’s difficult to find your proper place in it. Fatima Bhutto’s new novel The Runaways faces that question from perspectives highlighting the many facets of modern Pakistan, inevitably encompassing issues of radicalism and Muslim identity. Bhutto herself, the granddaughter and niece of prime ministers and daughter of a political martyr – leading many to wonder if she is destined for Pakistani politics – faces questions about her own place in a tumultuous world. “You... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/2174085/i-never-escaped-violence-fatima-bhutto-her-new-novel-runaways?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/2174085/i-never-escaped-violence-fatima-bhutto-her-new-novel-runaways?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Nov 2018 08:03:05 +0000 Muhammad Cohen Muhammad Cohen Kazuo Okada is a true maverick, an unconventional Japanese self-made billionaire who takes big chances. He helped Steve Wynn fund the casinos with Wynn’s name on top, then built one with his own name on top in Manila. As fraud and bribery allegations mounted against Okada, the embattled pachinko billionaire always presented reasonable explanations. But with Okada detained and questioned by Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption on fraud allegations, he may have run out of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2159252/pachinko-king-kazuo-okada-denies-charges-hong-kong-arrest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2159252/pachinko-king-kazuo-okada-denies-charges-hong-kong-arrest?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Aug 2018 14:15:15 +0000 Macau casino licensees have gone all-in on Japan, as the final bill for casino legalisation rolls towards a June 20 deadline. But even if the bill passes, developing integrated resorts there may not be a game Macau players can win. Macau casino companies, and just about every other gaming enterprise on Earth, have gushed over the prospect of casinos in Japan for decades. Excitement grew when Shinzo Abe returned as prime minister in September 2012 and declared that integrated resorts –... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2149491/are-macau-casinos-playing-losing-hand-japan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2149491/are-macau-casinos-playing-losing-hand-japan?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Jun 2018 01:30:30 +0000 As Indonesia’s first female stand-up comedian, Sakdiyah Ma’ruf likes to confront the serious subjects head-on. “Governments around the world are trying and failing to tackle extremism. Now you’re turning to comedy?” she asks from under her hijab. Sakdiyah was referring to the SEJUK Awards Gala that she will host at Jakarta’s Goethe Haus on March 9, sponsored by the Norwegian embassy. SEJUK is the Indonesian acronym for United Journalists for Diversity, established by 30 prominent journalists,... https://www.scmp.com/culture/arts-entertainment/article/2133375/hijab-wearing-stand-comic-fights-islamic-extremism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/arts-entertainment/article/2133375/hijab-wearing-stand-comic-fights-islamic-extremism?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Feb 2018 00:45:15 +0000 Bali’s tourism industry is struggling to have a merry Christmas as Mount Agung gurgles over the Indonesian holiday island. Four months of heightened seismic activity has yet to produce a major eruption, but has still managed to devastate a crucial tourism season. Airport closures in late November prevented international travellers from going home for a few days, while tens of thousands of villagers living near the volcano have been unable to go home for months. They’re the most directly impacted... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2125704/no-sign-bali-volcano-it-has-already-destroyed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2125704/no-sign-bali-volcano-it-has-already-destroyed?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Dec 2017 08:57:14 +0000 When Macau started casino liberalisation in 2002, it had been four centuries since the city led the world in anything besides pork chop buns and pawn shops. In the 1600s, Macau was the linchpin in Portugal’s East Asia trade routes, at the heart of efforts to spread Christianity, as evidenced by the façade of Saint Paul’s Church and other structures from that era in the Historic Centre of Macau, a Unesco World Heritage site. It took another modern medieval European building, the Venetian Macao,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2107790/how-venetian-made-macau-great-again?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2107790/how-venetian-made-macau-great-again?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Aug 2017 01:02:41 +0000 Las Vegas Sands’ Venetian represented precisely what Macau’s government had in mind when it began casino liberalisation, so it got its own version. In the decade since opening its doors, here some key impacts of Venetian Macao on the city, global gaming and more. SIZE MATTERS Venetian Macao brought casino mega-resorts to Asia, raising the bar for the region and upping the ante to US$1 billion to be taken seriously. South Korea joined the game with US$1 billion Paradise City in April. Manila... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2107798/five-ways-venetian-changed-macau-and-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2107798/five-ways-venetian-changed-macau-and-world?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Aug 2017 00:01:48 +0000 Batman rides, water slides and scale models of landmarks like the Eiffel Tower – it was attractions like these that were supposed to represent the future of Macau. Gone was the city’s past as a destination reliant on high-rolling gamblers, in its place an image of nirvana for middle-class tourists who came for the fun and the spectacle – then lingered to bet a few bucks. That was the vision of government officials, casino operators, financial analysts and tourism experts when Macau’s... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2101720/whats-brought-high-rollers-back-macau?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2101720/whats-brought-high-rollers-back-macau?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Jul 2017 01:30:15 +0000 Hong Kong and Singapore vie for recognition as Asia’s international business and finance centre, leading shopping destination, port and air hub. While neither city wins renown for literary tradition, for 10 days this month they concurrently hosted writing festivals that claim not to compete but cooperate to bag bigger names, part of broader civic drives to enhance cultural credentials. At the local level, the Singapore Writers Group and Hong Kong Writers Circle collaborated on short story... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2046859/hong-kong-singapore-rivalry-forget-finance-and-shopping-literature?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2046859/hong-kong-singapore-rivalry-forget-finance-and-shopping-literature?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Nov 2016 04:30:00 +0000 Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan isn’t complaining, and she certainly wouldn’t call the Singapore Writers Festival blur, which is Singlish for dumb. The author of Sarong Party Girls, probably the world’s first novel written entirely in Singapore’s patois Singlish, has been rebuffed by the festival this year, even though she’s previously been welcomed by it and remains generously supported by Singapore’s National Arts Council, the government agency behind it. In fact, NAC (indulging Singapore’s fondness for... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2043139/why-did-singapore-writers-festival-bar-singlish-novel-girls?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2043139/why-did-singapore-writers-festival-bar-singlish-novel-girls?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Nov 2016 02:00:45 +0000 After haemorrhaging money and prestige since early 2014, Macau’s junket promoters’ luck appears to have turned. This month’s re-emergence of junket executive Huang Shan, who allegedly embezzled US$1.3 billion, and the detention in mainland China of 18 Crown Resorts employees suspected of illegally promoting gambling should benefit Macau’s junkets and VIP sector that still accounts for roughly half of the global casino capital’s gaming revenue. Junkets play a vital role in Macau’s high-roller... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2039082/macau-junkets-are-finally-roll-will-it-last?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2039082/macau-junkets-are-finally-roll-will-it-last?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Oct 2016 00:30:15 +0000 B ali is famous for terraced rice fields, surging surf, simmering volcanoes, striking temples celebrating the island’s dominant Hindu faith – and wine. Okay, Bali isn’t Bordeaux, but you can find Sababay Winery’s Moscato d’Bali in that French region’s wine museum and order Hatten Wines’ Pino de Bali at Hong Kong’s Peninsula Hotel. This year, Bali will turn more than 1,250 tonnes of island grapes into hundreds of thousands of litres of white and red wines in the heart of Indonesia, the country... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2002371/how-balis-winemakers-are-battling-islamisation-and-sour-grapes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2002371/how-balis-winemakers-are-battling-islamisation-and-sour-grapes?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Aug 2016 03:00:53 +0000