Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: MGM gets more time to sell 50 percent ownership in Borgata casino

Superblogging - Saeo

ATLANTIC CITY – MGM Resorts International is getting more time to sell its 50-percent stake in Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa as part of a settlement with New Jersey gaming regulators to leave the Atlantic City market.

The state Casino Control Commission voted Monday to extend the sale deadline by 18 months, from Sept. 24, 2011, to March 24, 2013.

MGM representatives told the commission that the company simply needs more time to sell the casino amid the weak regional and national economy. They said New Jersey’s recent regulatory overhaul of the casino industry, combined with Gov. Chris Christie’s creation of a new state-run Tourism District to make Atlantic City safer and cleaner, should help to entice potential buyers in the future.

“We’re very optimistic that all of the changes implemented in the last six months or so will be very helpful,” MGM attorney Nicholas Casiello Jr. said.

MGM has agreed to sell off its Atlantic City holdings after the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement objected to the company’s partnership in a Macau casino with a Hong Kong businesswoman whose father has alleged ties to Chinese organized crime. Pansy Ho and her father, Stanley Ho, have denied any mob links.

The DGE supported the commission’s vote to extend the Borgata sale deadline, but reiterated the findings of its 2009 investigative report that called Pansy Ho an “unsuitable” business partner for MGM.

“We want people to understand that nothing has changed with our opinions in that report,” said George Rover, an assistant state attorney general who represents the DGE.

The remaining 50 percent of Borgata will continue to be owned by Boyd Gaming Corp. Up to this point, Boyd has not shown any interest in buying MGM’s share.

Last October, MGM announced it had received a $250 million offer from an undisclosed potential buyer for a half-share of Borgata, but that deal fell through. The Press of Atlantic City and the Bloomberg news agency reported that the offer came from the Los Angeles-based buyout company Leonard Green & Partners LP.

Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: Province sees dollars and ‘sense’ in partnerships with China - Saeo

Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: Province sees dollars and ‘sense’ in partnerships with China - Saeo

Education Minister Jody Carr says appointing Dennis Cochrane as president of Atlantic Education International for the next two years will help the company grow educational partnerships on the international stage.

Cochrane, a former educator, provincial Progressive Conservative leader and interim president at St. Thomas University, has already started the part-time position that pays $30,000 annually.

“There’s a lot of growth potential for AEI, but growth needs to be done strategically and with a co-ordinated approach,” Carr said in an email.

“Dennis Cochrane’s experience, knowledge and proven track record make him well suited to oversee the execution of AEI’s mandate and the development of a business and expansion strategy for international education in New Brunswick.”

In addition to the N.B. International Student Program and a teaching abroad initiative, Atlantic Education International oversees operations at the Confucius Institute in New Brunswick and maintains partnerships with schools in China that use New Brunswick curriculum.

The first partnership was put in place in 1998 under the Liberal government. Since then, five schools have started teaching New Brunswick curriculum, including one that opened in July with a capacity for 3,000 students.

But while department officials say Cochrane’s appointment will be good for Atlantic Education International, one man said he wonders what selling educational services to countries such as China means for the integrity of the New Brunswick curriculum.

Charles Burton, a professor at Brock University in St. Catherines, Ont., has had two postings in China as a diplomat.

In the past, Burton has spoken about the curriculum compromises made at the New Brunswick Confucius Institute, a program that teaches New Brunswick students the Chinese language and culture, but under the terms of the Chinese Ministry of Education.

He’s never taught at a school that buys New Brunswick curriculum, but Burton said the unified nature of Chinese education would mean even though Chinese students walk away with a New Brunswick diploma, that doesn’t mean they’re educated the same way as New Brunswick students.

“Anyone who has gone through the schools you’re talking about has to have had the Chinese curriculum, and that includes a few things like the politics and that interpretation of history that the Chinese government requires the children learn,” he said in an interview with The Daily Gleaner.

“There’s no question about it, it is a bit problematic that they’re not getting the same education as New Brunswick students get in New Brunswick because New Brunswick students in New Brunswick are not learning the things about how the Communist party saved China from Western colonialism and that kind of thing. And certainly free democracy is not going to be taught. The civics content is not going to be the same.

“There’s no way that they would allow that aspect of the curriculum to be dominant in the education of the Chinese children in China.”

Christina Windsor, communications director for the Department of Education, said students at the Concord colleges in China are required to take a number of courses in English, including social studies, as part of their New Brunswick diploma requirements.

But speaking on behalf of Atlantic Education International, Windsor said the goal of the courses is to focus on meeting New Brunswick curriculum outcomes – that means the student’s ability to learn what the course is designed to teach.

“Course content is a vehicle for reaching the curriculum outcomes, therefore many of the materials used can be adapted to suit the interests and needs of the students,” she said.

Windsor said in addition to receiving positive feedback from teachers and students who have participated in the China experience, the provincial government also made $3 million in revenue last year.

Upon returning from a trip to China in July, Carr said $3 million isn’t a lot of money but it’s some.

Carr said he expects to see more revenue from the partnership as a result of his visit, where he officially opened the fifth school and attended meetings about potential future partnerships.

“But (South Korea is) interested in having us partner with them in teacher training. Teacher training and culture experience. So they would like to send some of their teachers in South Korea to our schools here in New Brunswick.”

Carr said he also met with representatives from Cambodia who are interested in buying N.B. curriculum.

But while Burton sees benefits to the partnership, he questions leaving out the less favourable elements of Chinese history but still giving students a New Brunswick diploma.

“It does give students a New Brunswick diploma who are not getting the same education as in New Brunswick,” he said.

Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: MGM gets more time to sell 50 percent ownership in Borgata casino

http://atlanticinternationalpartnershipnews.com/

ATLANTIC CITY – MGM Resorts International is getting more time to sell its 50-percent stake in Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa as part of a settlement with New Jersey gaming regulators to leave the Atlantic City market.

The state Casino Control Commission voted Monday to extend the sale deadline by 18 months, from Sept. 24, 2011, to March 24, 2013.

MGM representatives told the commission that the company simply needs more time to sell the casino amid the weak regional and national economy. They said New Jersey’s recent regulatory overhaul of the casino industry, combined with Gov. Chris Christie’s creation of a new state-run Tourism District to make Atlantic City safer and cleaner, should help to entice potential buyers in the future.

“We’re very optimistic that all of the changes implemented in the last six months or so will be very helpful,” MGM attorney Nicholas Casiello Jr. said.

MGM has agreed to sell off its Atlantic City holdings after the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement objected to the company’s partnership in a Macau casino with a Hong Kong businesswoman whose father has alleged ties to Chinese organized crime. Pansy Ho and her father, Stanley Ho, have denied any mob links.

The DGE supported the commission’s vote to extend the Borgata sale deadline, but reiterated the findings of its 2009 investigative report that called Pansy Ho an “unsuitable” business partner for MGM.

“We want people to understand that nothing has changed with our opinions in that report,” said George Rover, an assistant state attorney general who represents the DGE.

The remaining 50 percent of Borgata will continue to be owned by Boyd Gaming Corp. Up to this point, Boyd has not shown any interest in buying MGM’s share.

Last October, MGM announced it had received a $250 million offer from an undisclosed potential buyer for a half-share of Borgata, but that deal fell through. The Press of Atlantic City and the Bloomberg news agency reported that the offer came from the Los Angeles-based buyout company Leonard Green & Partners LP.

Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: Dennis Cochrane lands in education post

http://atlanticinternationalpartnershipreviews.com/

Former St. Thomas University president Dennis Cochrane has accepted a two-year position as the president of Atlantic Education International, an appointment geared at boosting the provincial government’s foreign education program.

Cochrane, the former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and a member of Premier David Alward’s transition team, has already started in the new position, which is a two-year appointment that pays $30,000 annually.

Education Minister Jody Carr said Cochrane’s experience in building relationships will be important in his new position in growing the institute.

“There is a lot of growth potential for AEI but growth needs to be done strategically and with a coordinated approach,” Carr said in a statement.

“Dennis Cochrane’s experience, knowledge and proven track record make him well suited to oversee the execution of AEI’s mandate and the development of a business and expansion strategy for international education in New Brunswick.”

Atlantic Education International is an arm’s length organization that offers international learning opportunities. It has a series of partnerships, including the China partnership, N.B. International Student Program, a teaching abroad initiative and overseeing the operations of the Confucius Institute.

While AEI has a board of directors, its sole shareholder is the Department of Education.

Last year, the institute made $3 million for the provincial government.

The institute has four schools in China with roughly 3,000 students. The Anhui Concord College will open in September and has a projected student population of 400.

Cochrane has a long background in the education sector. He was a high school principal in Moncton and he also served as the deputy minister of education in both the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia governments.

His political resume includes terms as a city councillor, the mayor of Moncton, federal Progressive Conservative MP and a Progressive Conservative MLA. He served as the provincial party leader from 1991 to 1995.

Cochrane returned to New Brunswick in 2009 as the interim president of St. Thomas University, the Fredericton-based liberal arts institution.

Cochrane provided two years of leadership after a period of labour unrest under the previous president, Michael Higgins.

As president, he also raised the university’s profile in many public policy issues.

After the Alward government won the 2010 election, he was asked to be a part of the transition team.

He has also been a proponent of moving toward four-year funding plans for universities, which is being adopted by the Alward government.

Other members of Alward’s political circle have moved into government positions. Robert MacLeod, Alward’s campaign co-chair, is the new president of Invest New Brunswick, and Daniel Allain, the other campaign co-chair, is the president of NB Liquor.

Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: Province sees dollars and ‘sense’ in partnerships with China

http://altlantic-internationalpartnership.com/

Education Minister Jody Carr says appointing Dennis Cochrane as president of Atlantic Education International for the next two years will help the company grow educational partnerships on the international stage.

Cochrane, a former educator, provincial Progressive Conservative leader and interim president at St. Thomas University, has already started the part-time position that pays $30,000 annually.

“There’s a lot of growth potential for AEI, but growth needs to be done strategically and with a co-ordinated approach,” Carr said in an email.

“Dennis Cochrane’s experience, knowledge and proven track record make him well suited to oversee the execution of AEI’s mandate and the development of a business and expansion strategy for international education in New Brunswick.”

In addition to the N.B. International Student Program and a teaching abroad initiative, Atlantic Education International oversees operations at the Confucius Institute in New Brunswick and maintains partnerships with schools in China that use New Brunswick curriculum.

The first partnership was put in place in 1998 under the Liberal government. Since then, five schools have started teaching New Brunswick curriculum, including one that opened in July with a capacity for 3,000 students.

But while department officials say Cochrane’s appointment will be good for Atlantic Education International, one man said he wonders what selling educational services to countries such as China means for the integrity of the New Brunswick curriculum.

Charles Burton, a professor at Brock University in St. Catherines, Ont., has had two postings in China as a diplomat.

In the past, Burton has spoken about the curriculum compromises made at the New Brunswick Confucius Institute, a program that teaches New Brunswick students the Chinese language and culture, but under the terms of the Chinese Ministry of Education.

He’s never taught at a school that buys New Brunswick curriculum, but Burton said the unified nature of Chinese education would mean even though Chinese students walk away with a New Brunswick diploma, that doesn’t mean they’re educated the same way as New Brunswick students.

“Anyone who has gone through the schools you’re talking about has to have had the Chinese curriculum, and that includes a few things like the politics and that interpretation of history that the Chinese government requires the children learn,” he said in an interview with The Daily Gleaner.

“There’s no question about it, it is a bit problematic that they’re not getting the same education as New Brunswick students get in New Brunswick because New Brunswick students in New Brunswick are not learning the things about how the Communist party saved China from Western colonialism and that kind of thing. And certainly free democracy is not going to be taught. The civics content is not going to be the same.

“There’s no way that they would allow that aspect of the curriculum to be dominant in the education of the Chinese children in China.”

Christina Windsor, communications director for the Department of Education, said students at the Concord colleges in China are required to take a number of courses in English, including social studies, as part of their New Brunswick diploma requirements.

But speaking on behalf of Atlantic Education International, Windsor said the goal of the courses is to focus on meeting New Brunswick curriculum outcomes – that means the student’s ability to learn what the course is designed to teach.

“Course content is a vehicle for reaching the curriculum outcomes, therefore many of the materials used can be adapted to suit the interests and needs of the students,” she said.

Windsor said in addition to receiving positive feedback from teachers and students who have participated in the China experience, the provincial government also made $3 million in revenue last year.

Upon returning from a trip to China in July, Carr said $3 million isn’t a lot of money but it’s some.

Carr said he expects to see more revenue from the partnership as a result of his visit, where he officially opened the fifth school and attended meetings about potential future partnerships.

“But (South Korea is) interested in having us partner with them in teacher training. Teacher training and culture experience. So they would like to send some of their teachers in South Korea to our schools here in New Brunswick.”

Carr said he also met with representatives from Cambodia who are interested in buying N.B. curriculum.

But while Burton sees benefits to the partnership, he questions leaving out the less favourable elements of Chinese history but still giving students a New Brunswick diploma.

“It does give students a New Brunswick diploma who are not getting the same education as in New Brunswick,” he said.

atlantic international partnership, atlantic international partnership madrid latest news headlines

atlantic international partnership: Dennis Cochrane lands in education post

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/08/05/nb-cochrane-atlantic-education-international-149.html

Former St. Thomas University president Dennis Cochrane has accepted a two-year position as the president of Atlantic Education International, an appointment geared at boosting the provincial government's foreign education program.

Cochrane, the former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and a member of Premier David Alward's transition team, has already started in the new position, which is a two-year appointment that pays $30,000 annually.

Education Minister Jody Carr said Cochrane's experience in building relationships will be important in his new position in growing the institute.

"There is a lot of growth potential for AEI but growth needs to be done strategically and with a coordinated approach," Carr said in a statement.

"Dennis Cochrane's experience, knowledge and proven track record make him well suited to oversee the execution of AEI's mandate and the development of a business and expansion strategy for international education in New Brunswick."

Atlantic Education International is an arm's length organization that offers international learning opportunities. It has a series of partnerships, including the China partnership, N.B. International Student Program, a teaching abroad initiative and overseeing the operations of the Confucius Institute.

While AEI has a board of directors, its sole shareholder is the Department of Education.

Last year, the institute made $3 million for the provincial government.

The institute has four schools in China with roughly 3,000 students. The Anhui Concord College will open in September and has a projected student population of 400.

Cochrane has a long background in the education sector. He was a high school principal in Moncton and he also served as the deputy minister of education in both the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia governments.

His political resume includes terms as a city councillor, the mayor of Moncton, federal Progressive Conservative MP and a Progressive Conservative MLA. He served as the provincial party leader from 1991 to 1995.

Cochrane returned to New Brunswick in 2009 as the interim president of St. Thomas University, the Fredericton-based liberal arts institution.

Cochrane provided two years of leadership after a period of labour unrest under the previous president, Michael Higgins.

As president, he also raised the university's profile in many public policy issues.

After the Alward government won the 2010 election, he was asked to be a part of the transition team.

He has also been a proponent of moving toward four-year funding plans for universities, which is being adopted by the Alward government.

Other members of Alward's political circle have moved into government positions. Robert MacLeod, Alward's campaign co-chair, is the new president of Invest New Brunswick, and Daniel Allain, the other campaign co-chair, is the president of NB Liquor.

Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: Madrid and Istanbul set to enter 2020 Olympics bidding race

http://your-story.org/atlantic-international-partnership-headlines-madrid-and-istanbul-set-to-enter-2020-olympics-bidding-race-254092/

The Spanish capital of Madrid and Istanbul in Turkey are set to join the race to host the 2020 Olympics after the two cities moved a step closer to submitting official bids on Wednesday.

At a press conference, Madrid Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, flanked by spokesmen for the two main political parties in Spain, said he would present a bid proposal to city legislators for a vote on July 20. Madrid came desperately close to securing the hosting rights in the tenders for the 2012 and 2016 Games. Although there are serious concerns about Spain’s economy, and the country’s Sports Minister has admitted “if this (financial downturn) did not exist, our support would have been automatic”, Ruiz-Gallardon insisted that the Games could provide a timely boost.

“Madrid has finished an extremely high percentage of the infrastructure needed for the organisation of the Olympics and Paralympics and can count on the experience of the previous two bids and the recognition of the Olympic family,” Gallardon said, according to Reuters. “The completed work means the cost of the bid will be significantly less, following criterion of austerity and efficiency with the highest possible return for the image of Madrid and Spain.”

Turkey’s Sports Minister, Suat Kilic, told CNN-Turk television on Wednesday that Turkey was set to make its bid for the 2020 Games official, and added: “We are one of the rare countries that can shoulder the financial burden of the Olympics.” Kilic said that a final decision would be made by July 29 after a meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, although the International Olympic Committee’s deadline for applicant city nominations is September 1.

Istanbul mounted four consecutive failed bids for the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. If Turkey does confirm Istanbul’s applicant city status, it will face competition from Southern Europe in the form of Italy, with Rome the only city so far to confirm it has entered the bidding. Berlin could also provide competition on the continent, with the city’s Mayor Klaus Wowereit telling Der Tagesspiegel newspaper on Wednesday: “Berlin is ready for the Olympic Games and Berlin has all the requirements.”

However, the German National Olympic Committee, which saw Munich lose out to PyeongChang in last week’s vote for the 2018 Winter Olympics, has suggested there may not be enough time to table a bid for 2020. A bid from the Qatari capital of Doha may materialise, though, according to Olympic Council of Asia president Sheik Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah. “I hear Doha have an interest,” Sheikh Ahmad told Japan’s Kyodo news agency. “This is what I’m hearing, but we don’t have anything officially announced yet.” The Japanese capital of Tokyo is also expected to announce a formal bid in the coming days after missing out on the 2016 Games.

Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: Leaked HP Memo Tackles TouchPad Shortcomings

http://updates.atlanticinternationalpartnershipreviews.com/2011/07/altlantic-international-partnership-headlines-leaked-hp-memo-tackles-touchpad-shortcomings/


Hewlett-Packard is taking mixed reviews for its new TouchPad tablet with webOS pretty seriously, going by a leaked internal memo from the head of HP’s Palm Global Business Unit to staff that declares it will be “a marathon not a sprint” to fix the initial shortcomings of the device.
John Rubenstein, senior vice president and general manager of HP’s Palm unit, sent the memo on July 1, the day the TouchPad was officially released in the U.S. It was apparently leaked by an anonymous tipster to Pre Central, a specialist tech website covering HP’s mobile business.
While the memo cites The New York Times reviewer David Pogue’s opinion that the TouchPad shows “signs of greatness,” Rubenstein also concedes that Pogue and other “reviewers rightly note things we need to improve about the webOS experience.”
That’s a tacit admission that the TouchPad has a long way to go in areas like app availability and user friendliness before it lives up to one HP executive’s pre-release boast that the tablet would take on Apple’s market-dominating iPad and “become better than number one.”
PCMag’s Lead Analyst for Audio and Video Timothy Gideon didn’t disagree with Rubenstein’s assessment (reprinted below), offering up the “general feeling that the good outweighs the bad with the TouchPad.” Our full review of the tablet offers much the same sentiment.
Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard is planning to follow up on its Wi-Fi-only, 16GB and 32GB TouchPads with a “white glossy” model due out in August that sports a more powerful processor and 64GB of internal storage, as well as a 32GB TouchPad with support for AT&T’s 4G HSPA+ network in the same August timeframe, according to leaked HP product roadmap slides, also published this week by Pre Central.
Here’s the leaked internal email:
“Team,
“Today we bring the HP TouchPad and webOS 3.0 to the world. The HP team has achieved something extraordinary—especially when you consider that it’s been just one year since our work on the TouchPad began in earnest. Today also marks the start of a new era for HP as our vision for connected mobility begins to take form—an ecosystem of services, applications and devices connected seamlessly by webOS.
“If you’ve seen the recent TouchPad reviews you know that the industry understands HP’s vision and sees the same potential in webOS as we do. David Pogue from The New York Timessays, “[T]here are signs of greatness here.” … You’ve also seen that reviewers rightly note things we need to improve about the webOS experience. The good news is that most of the issues they cite are already known to us and will be addressed in short order by over-the-air software and app catalog updates. We still have work to do to make webOS the platform we know it can be, but remember—it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
“In that spirit, Richard Kerris, head of worldwide developer relations for webOS, reminded me yesterday of the first reviews for a product introduced a little over ten years ago:
“…overall the software is sluggish”
“…there are no quality apps to use, so it won’t last”
“…it’s just not making sense…”
“It’s hard to believe these statements described MacOS X—a platform that would go on to change the landscape of Silicon Valley in ways that no one could have imagined.
“The similarities to our situation are obvious, but there’s also a big difference. Like David Pogue, our audiences get that webOS has the potential for greatness. And like me, they know that your hard work and passion, and the power of HP’s commitment to webOS, will turn that potential into the real thing.”

Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: DOJ approves Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype

http://updates.atlanticinternationalpartnershipreviews.com/2011/


The continuing arrests of alleged members of the Anonymous and LulzSec hacking groups suggests that either the hackers are not as clever as they want us all to believe, or that law enforcement is getting better at catching them.
(The third option of course is that law enforcement is catching all the wrong people, but we won’t know that for some time.)
Last week, police in the U.K. arrested Jake Davis, an 18-year old who is allegedly ‘Topiary,’ one of the leaders of LulzSec and the chief spokesman for the group.
Davis was charged Monday in connection with attacks against the News International’s newspaper websites, the U.K.’s Serious Organized Crime Agency and Britain’s National Health Service. He was freed on bail today by a British judge.
It’s entirely possible that the police have the wrong man. It would certainly not be the first time.
However, police claim they have found lots of incriminating evidence on a computer seized from Davis’ home. The computer allegedly contains details of numerous pre-paid cards in false names, names and passwords of 750,000 random people, and drafts of a fake news story about media baron Rupert Murdoch’s death (used in the attacks against News International).
Davis’ arrest builds on a recent string of similar successes for law enforcement in Europe and in the U.S. In June, British police charged Ryan Cleary, a 19-year old believed linked to LulzSec, with using a botnet to bring down the website of the Serious Organized Crime Agency.
Less than two weeks ago the FBI arrested 14 alleged members of Anonymousin a series of early morning raids in cities around the country. All 14 have been charged in connection with a series of distributed denial of service attacks against PayPal last December. If convicted on all charges, each one faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.
The arrests suggest that those who got caught were either brazen or careless about the way they went about launching their attacks. Clearly, none of them appear to have been particularly good at concealing their tracks. And there’s no telling how many of them left incriminating evidence openly sitting on their computers for law enforcement to sift through, just like Davis reportedly did.
For their part, the FBI and their law enforcement counterparts in Europe appear to be working in more coordinated fashion than usual to track down members of Anonymous and LulzSec. It’s very likely that the computers and other information seized from the recent arrests will lead to more arrests in the coming weeks and months. Their big challenge of course will be to make the charges actually stick.
It’s too soon to say what impact the arrests will have on the activities of LulzSec and Anonymous. Both groups have recently rallied a lot of supporters to their brand of hactivist activity and it’s likely that the arrests are only going to spur more attacks.
In fact, soon after the FBI arrests of a couple of weeks ago, the two groups released a defiant statement vowing to carry on their attacks and daring law enforcement to catch them. “Arresting people won’t stop us, FBI,” Lulzsec had said in a Twitter message after the arrests.
“We will only cease fire when you all wear shoes on your heads. That’s the only way this is ending.”
Clearly, for the moment at least, the FBI and others seem to be intent on scripting their own ending.