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HARDERWIJK - In verband met de Europese verkiezingen zal op zaterdag 17 mei, tussen 10.00 en 14.00 uur, aspirant europarlementariër Fenna Feenstra (SP) naar Harderwijk komen. Een ieder die wil weten wat de SP-standpunten zijn over Europa, die kan vragen stellen bij de stand op de Markt, het plein voor de muziekschool.
Fenna Feenstra (43) studeerde Landbouw, Informatica en bedrijfskunde. Tegenwoordig werkt ze als Hogeschooldocent bij de opleiding Sensortechnologie te Assen. Ze strijdt voor een samenleving waarin iedereen een waardig leven mag leven en waarin sociale voorzieningen voor iedereen toegankelijk zijn.
Naast de aanwezigheid van Fenna is er een roulettetafel aanwezig waarbij bezoekers kunnen inzetten op Europa. Zo proberen we inzichtelijk te maken wat er in Europa met uw geld gebeurd.
De SP is tegen het uitbreiden van de bevoegdheden naar Brussel, maar gelooft niet in het dichtgooien van de grenzen. Op veel terreinen is Europese samenwerking volgens de SP zelfs wenselijk.

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Japan is set to see an expansion in casino growth over the coming years, according to a new report.

Figures from UBS Equity suggest that Japan could develop a $9.4 billion casino market, with $8.8 billion generated from gaming.

The report also examined the long-term impact on legislation of gambling in Japan and concluded in a decade the sector could generate around $18.4 billion based on casinos being situated in Tokyo, Osaka and three other areas.

UBS discovered that Japan's gaming development would not impact heavily on Macau, as the region relies strongly on Chinese gamblers rather than Japanese residents.

The Philippines is expected to expand by $4.4 billion by 2017, with legalisation in Japan having mixed results on the three main casino developers there.

It is expected that moves to legalise gambling in Japan will move forward in June when the government opens up debate of a new bill.

This initial bill is to be followed by a second bill in 2015 and if approved, then casinos could be in operation by the time Tokyo stages the summer 2020 Olympic Games.

Two US billionaires are betting on rival cities, Tokyo and Osaka, to be the first in Japan to open casino resorts — once the government gives the go-ahead to legalize gambling.
Japan is one of the world’s last untapped gaming markets and could become the third-largest gambling destination after Macau and the US, with annual revenue of more than US$40 billion, broker CLSA has said.
Japanese lawmakers who support legalizing casino gambling hope to see initial draft legislation this year, with the first resort opening by 2020, when Tokyo is to host the Olympic Games.
In a race for first-mover advantage, 76-year-old Chicago real-estate mogul Neil Bluhm has set his sights on Osaka, while Las Vegas gaming tycoon Sheldon Adelson, four years his senior, is putting his weight behind a Tokyo flagship resort.
Bluhm, who owns casinos in Pennsylvania, Chicago and Niagara Falls, has a net worth of US$2.6 billion, according to Forbes. He believes Osaka, one of Chicago’s “sister cities,” has the kind of flexible local government that will help drive this project, and, crucially, has “shovel-ready” sites.
He says the whole process — from approval to construction — in Tokyo would be more complex, time-consuming and expensive.
While Adelson has not ruled out pitching for Osaka, he sees Tokyo as the main prize, given its highly affluent population of 13.2 million. The CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp, who Forbes says is worth close to US$39 billion, has pledged to spend US$10 billion as Japan opens up to legal gambling — an offer he says his rivals cannot match.
Sands, which has casinos in Macau, Singapore and Las Vegas, remains bullish on its Japan plans given the country’s wealthy population and proximity to China.
“We are very confident in our ability to generate a return that would be satisfactory to our shareholders,” George Tanasijevich, managing director for global development, said in a telephone interview.
He did not elaborate.
Bluhm shrugs off rivals’ talk of big spending.
“Sometimes people like to throw big numbers around in order to get picked... We have been more for Osaka in the US$4 billion to US$5 billion range,” he said.
Bluhm also reckons he may have an edge over the big operators in Macau — who he thinks likely prefer Tokyo — by working alongside local partners.
“In reality, they are going to want to totally run the project. They are probably not used to having partnership relationships like we are,” he said.
Osaka’s government is keen for foreign operators to use Japanese firms in a consortium or joint venture, said Masayuki Inoue, director general of the city’s economic strategy bureau, adding that Osaka wants a large casino resort with convention and entertainment facilities.
“Osaka is flexible. We’re ready to discuss anything,” he said.
The Kansai Keizai Doyukai, a leading local business lobby, thinks land costs in Osaka will be a tenth of those in the capital, about 250km to the northeast. And, it says, the city can offer a development area three times bigger than that occupied by Singapore’s two casino resorts — Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa.
In comparison, officials in Tokyo, already setting about preparing for the 2020 Olympics, appear more tortoise than hare.
Industry executives worry privately that Tokyo is so focused on getting the Olympics right that there’s little momentum driving the casino issue. Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe, a former Japanese health minister, has yet to say whether he will seek a casino license for the capital.

PARIS--French retailer Groupe Casino said Wednesday it would list its e-commerce business on the stock market in New York, riding a wave of interest in online retail.

Casino, which historically operates supermarkets, said it would create a separate unit grouping its e-commerce activities in France, Brazil, Colombia, Thailand and Vietnam. Pooled together, the online businesses had $4.1 billion in sales last year, Casino said.

Interest in e-commerce is reaching fever pitch. On Tuesday, Chinese Internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. filed plans to list shares in the U.S. The initial public offering could easily value the company at more than $100 billion. Alibaba, which last year recorded $248 billion in transactions on its three retail sites in China, dwarfs Casino's business.

Casino's focus on e-commerce is one of its biggest avenues for growth, along with its presence in emerging markets like Brazil. Casino "has access to sustainable long-term growth and has been a master at diversifying its portfolio," says Sanford Bernstein analyst Bruno Monteyne. "To state the obvious: online valuations are more attractive than food retail valuations."

Casino declined to comment on the timing of its listing, or how much of the new unit it plans to float.

Casino sees its e-commerce activities as a complement to its bricks-and-mortar stores. In France, for instance, its Cdiscount site has become a major dealer in home electronics and appliances, drawing some business away from supercenters selling the same items. Yet Casino has also used its stores as a distribution network for e-commerce sales, in what it sees as an advantage over rival Amazon.com Inc.

In Brazil and France, Casino is expanding into more profitable marketplace activities on its e-commerce sites. On the e-commerce marketplace, Casino acts as a dealer for third-party sales, taking an 8%-10% cut, according to JP Morgan analyst Jaime Vazquez.

Casino said it could derive more synergies by grouping its e-commerce activities together. It expects to have more sway in negotiating with suppliers and better control its technology costs.

Write to Christina Passariello at christina.passariello@wsj.com and Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com

Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/casino-mulls-listing-ecommerce-unit-in-ny-20140507-00120#ixzz31RQXuyLM

In the near future, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue a ruling that will significantly affect the likelihood of a casino at Port Huron’s Desmond Landing. I’m no legal expert, so let’s just agree the ruling either will be a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down for our casino.

I’m not going to argue for or against the casino. My opinion doesn’t matter.

What matters is the day after the ruling, all of our stakeholders, partners, friends, businesses and involved citizens need to continue pressing forward and continue our efforts at growing our regional prosperity.

Some people think a decision against the casino is the worst thing that could happen to us. Well, it isn’t. This fight has been going on for more than a decade now, and somehow we’ve survived and are seeing a new sense of optimism.

No, the worst result from the Supreme Court ruling, either way, is that we all just stop and fall into our old habits of doing nothing.

If the court rules in our favor, our struggles are not over. A casino by itself will not save or resurrect some vision of Port Huron that you might have.

A casino would be a nice addition to a growing list of real investments taking place right now. But there actually has been too much speculation about the casino, speculation that only stunted our growth in the early part of the past decade.

Too many outside investors snapped up buildings with no plans or ambition to develop them because they thought they could get rich when the casino came. That era and its results were not good for us.

The new Hilton hotel, Baker College of Port Huron’s new Culinary Institute and the Blue Water Area Convention Center didn’t happen because of a potential casino. They happened because our region has turned a corner ,and there is hope of new prosperity.

If we get the green light on a new casino we still need to be thrilled that people such as Dennis and Janne Doyle are investing in a new brewery at the former Quay Street restaurant. They could have chosen Traverse City or Mackinac Island or Grand Rapids, but they didn’t.

We need to continue to support the efforts of the Young Professionals group as it strives to enhance the experience of walking along the Black River. We need to recognize the significance of the growing number of lofts and apartments in our downtown. We need to continue our focus on quality of place, which is attracting investors from the west side of Michigan.

A favorable court ruling won’t magically transform our region. A casino rejection won’t doom us, either.

Sometime soon, we’ll get an answer. The day after that ruling, I’m not going to spend any of my time crying or celebrating. There are too many other exciting projects in varying phases of development.

The Community Foundation of St. Clair County is directly involved in several. For others, we are cheerleaders. With or without a casino, we will collectively determine the prosperity of our region for the next decade.