Meet Michigan's Democratic 'Trump' | Asian Countries Woo China’s Gamblers

Self-made millionaire Shri Thanedar bought his way to the top of the governor’s race. Whether he can stay there is another story.

Shri Thanedar’s gubernatorial campaign headquarters peek out between a nail salon and a Coney Island hot dog joint in a low-slung strip mall on Ann Arbor’s far south side, a world away from the University of Michigan’s stately downtown campus. An oversize “We for Shri” banner announces the candidate’s presence. Inside, the air conditioner works overtime on an unseasonably warm summer day, muffling elusive staffers’ conversations in a half-filled space.

The setting is low-key for a businessman given to unapologetic shows of wealth. Ahead of the Aug. 7 primary election, Thanedar has backed his bid with at least $11.4 million of his own money — including an unusually large $2 million on TV ads.

OZY and McClatchy are teaming up to deliver in-depth coverage of this year's most pivotal political campaigns in the run-up to the U.S. midterm elections.

Countries near China are setting up casinos to attract Chinese gamblers. But locals aren’t happy.

It was as a slow-paced town that Sihanoukville, on Cambodia’s southern coast, built its reputation, for years attracting Western travelers, expats and only occasional rumors of Russian organized crime. Restaurants line long beaches with wicker chairs facing a warm ocean. But now that pace is changing, and fast, with loads of Chinese gambling enthusiasts pouring into town. In terms of money flooding in, the tide is rising fast, and yet many Cambodians are left high and dry.

The rat-a-tat of hammers and a constant cicada-like hum of saws are increasingly competing with the sounds of lapping waves, thanks to the Cambodian coast accepting massive infrastructure investment from China as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. But alongside a Chinese deepwater port in Sihanoukville, the town is investing in casinos. Sihanoukville today has 24 registered casinos — nine more than in 2015 — whose target customers do not include the local population of fewer than 100,000 people, but Chinese tourists.

Motorbiking champ Tina Meier is determined to bring more women into the overwhelmingly male sport she loves.

Tina Meier is mad as hell: “From my experience, women underestimate a lot of what they are capable of doing. There are limiting beliefs all over the place, and that pisses me off!” Her particular beef is with women’s participation in a sport she loves — off-road motorcycle racing. With men making up 97 percent of competitors, the sport remains stubbornly male. It’s a dominance she is determined to challenge.

Meier, born in Hamburg, Germany, has been raising the profile of women competing in motorcycle endurance events for more than two decades. The 46-year-old has competed in a hundred-plus rallies and collected more than 30 trophies for first-placed woman as well as stage wins, meaning she beat all competitors, both male and female. In 2010, she took on the Dakar Rally, a high-stakes race that has claimed 59 lives (riders and spectators) since it began 40 years ago. The rally is for off-road vehicles — cars, motorbikes and all-terrain vehicles — and that year the course stretched 5,553 miles and 16 days over the roughest terrain that Argentina and Chile have to offer.