Under the leadership of Pansy Ho, Kenneth Feng and Hubert Wang, MGM China is topping its pre-Covid results, unlike other Macau casino operators.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for Clarion Media, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his biography, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, ex-Twitter @MuhammadCohen and now on Blue Sky @MuhammadCohen.bsky.social.

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With more than 200 outlets in 76 countries and millions of tee-shirts, Hard Rock is one of the world’s most recognized brands. But its gaming arm has just two casinos outside the US. Chairman Jim Allen says Hard Rock is upping its gaming overseas and at home, including a 700 foot guitar hotel coming to the Las Vegas Strip.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for Clarion Media, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his biography, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, ex-Twitter @MuhammadCohen and now on Blue Sky @MuhammadCohen.bsky.social.

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The Ubud Writers and Readers Festival always produces surprises. That was true of the 2025 edition that ended on Sunday.

During the festival, I met poets Bella Lee from Australia and Maja Klaric from Croatia. I also got reacquainted with US poet Neal Hall, who I met at the 2012 festival.

These encounters with poets in the art-infused air of Ubud inspired me to share the first poem I’ve written in decades with them, and now with you:

Come to the festival in 2026 to see what Ubud inspires in you.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for Clarion Media, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his biography, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, ex-Twitter @MuhammadCohen and now on Blue Sky @MuhammadCohen.bsky.social.

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At the Ubud Writers Festival in Bali, travel writer Pico Iyer shrugged off the idea of conflicted identity as an ethnic South Asian born in the UK that moved to California as a child: “It just means I have three sets of eyes through which to view things.”

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for Clarion Media, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his biography, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, ex-Twitter @MuhammadCohen and now on Blue Sky @MuhammadCohen.bsky.social.

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Toppling Thailand’s Shinawatra dynasty stopped casino legalization in its tracks. But issues that spurred interest in integrated resorts – slowing tourism momentum, growing government debt and deficits, desire new economic drivers – have not disappeared. When there’s a new government, casinos could be back on the table.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for Clarion Media, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his biography, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, ex-Twitter @MuhammadCohen and now on Blue Sky @MuhammadCohen.bsky.social.

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