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Suspected Iranian Blew Off His Own Leg In A Botched Terror Attack In Bangkok Robert JohnsonFeburary 14, 2012 One day after bombs targeting Israeli embassy staff went off in India and Georgia, another botched attack played out this morning in Bangkok. Through several reports, the incident appears to have played out something like this: Saeib Morabi, a suspected Iranian, was fleeing an explosion that rocked through his rented home in central Bangkok. While he was on the road looking for transportation, another explosion went off "on a nearby road." When Morabi finally managed to flag down a cab, the driver...

Hotel rates zoom for Democratic National ConventionBy Celeste Smith Posted: Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011 Room rates are going up in a big way at some area hotels during the Democratic National Convention. The markups - quadruple or more in some cases - don't affect the convention's official attendees. DNC organizers already reserved rooms and locked in rates for 6,000-plus delegates, VIPs and others during the Sept. 3-6 convention. **SNIP** Among the most expensive spaces: Holiday Inn Express Suites East Matthews, charging $849.15 to $1,014 per night during the stretch of Aug. 31 to Sept. 7 and Aug. 24 to Aug....

Clinton Foundation facilitates $45 million Haiti hotel dealNovember 28, 2011 | By the CNN Wire Staff Two years after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake leveled Haiti's capital, a deal brokered by former President Bill Clinton's charitable foundation will add new lodging for aid workers and other travelers to Port-au-Prince -- in the form of a $45 million hotel. With only about 500 operable hotel rooms, the city has limited space to house aid workers, potential investors and other visitors, according to a news release Monday by the future hotel's owner and its operator. Caribbean cell phone provider Digicel will own the hotel,...

SNIPPET: "ZAMBOANGA CITY (2nd update, 1:56 p.m.) -- A powerful blast killed at least 3 people and wounded 27 others in a budget hotel packed with wedding guests in the southern Philippines, officials said Monday. The explosion, suspected to have been caused by a bomb, ignited a fire that gutted the two-story Atilano Pension House in downtown Zamboanga city late Sunday." SNIPPET: "Zamboanga city, a predominantly Christian trading hub 540 miles (860 kilometers) south of Manila, is located in a volatile region long troubled by a decades-long Muslim insurgency, extortion gangs and kidnap for ransom syndicates."

Why isn't someone tracking down Sharon's claim that Herman Cain upgraded her room at the Hilton 14 years ago???? Seems to me that if they can de-bunk that claim by her, he is home free as her story will completely crumble. The double standard our people face is unbelievable and highly depressing.

Falls Church, Virginia (CNN) -- Garrulous and active, 79-year-old Joy Bricker presides over her hotel suite in a manner befitting a grander home. She offers tea to the staff and media with the ease of a person schooled in proper etiquette. Like many hotel guests, Bricker has learned to make herself feel comfortable, making her room a home away from home. Only, Bricker has called the Towne Place Suites by Marriott, in Falls Church, Virginia, home for more than 10 years. A former pilot, the 5-foot tour de force is finally turning in her key card, as movers wait to...

A Lincoln Park man was ordered held in lieu of $1 million bail after being charged with killing a LaCrosse, Wis., woman found stabbed to death in a boutique hotel this week, police said. Christopher Love, 23, has been charged with first-degree murder and soliciting for a prostitute in connection with the slaying of Sarai Michaels, 31, police said. A judge this afternoon set bond for Love at $1 million.

SNIPPET: "Dan Folk (21), an Israeli who was invited to the event in which over 100 students took part, ended up getting a business card and memento from Ahmadinejad. "It was at his hotel in Manhattan, we got there and had to wait in the security check line for nearly an hour," said the student, adding, "we gave them our cell phones and any kind of camera we were carrying. During the security check I showed them my Israeli driver's license and the Iranian security officer smiled at me." Folk said he had mixed feelings over the question of whether...

Afghanistan's National Intelligence Directorate (NDS) recently disclosed that it intercepted communications on June 28 between fighters who were assaulting the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul and their Haqqani Network handlers based in Pakistan. In an intercepted phone call, Badruddin Haqqani, a top leader of the terror network, is heard directing one of the fighters and laughing during the attack that killed 11 civilians and two Afghan policemen as well as nine members of the attack team. On Aug. 31, NDS officials briefed reporters in Kabul on the phone intercepts between Badruddin, another Haqqani Network commander known as Qari Younis, and two...

A Muslim hotel valet in the United States has sued, saying he was barred from working on floors in which a delegation from Israel was staying, according to the Washington Post. Mohamed Arafi, a U.S. citizen from Morocco, says he was unable to work on two floors of the hotel in December of last year. All Arabs and Muslims were kept of the floor due to the Israelis' security concerns, Arafi claims. He is alleging unlawful discrimination.

Prosecutors are reportedly set to ask a judge to abandon the case against Dominique Strauss Kahn. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance is preparing to ask that all charges against the former head of the IMF accused of attempting to rape hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo are dropped Tuesday. Such requests from the DA 'are never denied', an expert told the New York Post meaning Strauss-Kahn could finally return to his home country after being forced to remian in the U.S for months.

Yesterday Google launched Google Hotel Finder, a "search tool specifically designed to help you find that perfect hotel," explains Google software engineer Andrew McCarthy on Google's blog. This isn't exactly innovative on Google's part, plenty of hotel search sites exist--Expedia, Priceline, Orbitz, to name a few. And it's not like they're even the first search engine to integrate travel plans into their site. Bing has a travel section, where users can search for ideal lodging. What makes Google's new site different or better than what you're already using? We're here to help you figure that out, parsing the differences between...

The hotel maid who has accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of trying to sexually assault her in a New York City hotel room has broken her public silence in an exclusive broadcast interview with ABC News. "I want justice. I want him to go to jail," Nafissatou Diallo told ABC's Robin Roberts in an interview to air Monday on "Good Morning America" and "World News with Diane Sawyer" and Tuesday on "Nightline." "I want him to know that there is some places you cannot use your money, you cannot use your power when you do something like...

Last week, after a decade of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, President Obama announced a plan to begin withdrawing thousands of U.S. troops from the country this year. The war has been expensive -- a Brown University research project released Wednesday estimates the total cost of the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq at nearly $4 trillion (a figure that includes the ongoing cost of veterans' care). The human cost is more difficult to quantify, as more than 2,500 coalition troops (1,644 of them American) have now been killed, and civilian casualties are estimated at well over 100,000. Canadian combat...

The atmosphere around the Downtown DoubleTree Hotel was in stark contrast this morning to the chaos that swirled at Third and Union after a Memphis police officer and a civilian were killed at the hotel Sunday night. Officer Timothy Warren, 39, and a still unidentified man were shot to death at the DoubleTree about 7 p.m. Sunday in what authorities say started as a "shots fired" call . A domestic dispute appears to have contributed to the incident.

The hotel maid who claims former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn raped her has been accused of working as a prostitute. Allegations have emerged that the 32-year-old cleaner was was taking extra money from male guests at the hotel for sex. 'There is information... of her getting extraordinary tips, if you know what I mean. And it's not for bringing extra f**king towels,' a source close to the defence investigation told the New York Post. The woman also had 'a lot of her expenses – hair braiding, salon expenses – paid for by men not related to her,' the source added....

Nature and extent of the blaze at Hilton on Park Lane is unclear Fire broke out Friday in a Hilton hotel in London, sending plumes of smoke billowing from the 28-story building. Photographs posted on social media sites showed people fleeing the London Hilton on Park Lane as smoke billowed high into the sky and at ground level. Sam Cunningham, a sports reporter for the Independent newspaper, said he was working in the hotel when the fire alarm went off and the building was evacuated swiftly. Cunningham told NBC News that a police officer said he had not heard of...

The sexual assault case against ex IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Khan is close to collapse, it was tonight revealed. The New York hotel maid who accused Strauss-Khan of raping her in his $3,000-a-night suite, lied to investigators, law enforcement sources told the New York Times. Despite a wealth of forensic evidence against the 62-year-old, prosecutors have dismissed a lot of what the maid said about the alleged encounter, according to the newspaper.

Just a headline for now. AP: The Taliban claim responsibility for the attack at the Intercontinental Hotel in telephone call to the AP. Gunshots heard from inside hotel.

Atlanta, Ga. - Saturday morning, two woman plunged 10 stories out of a window at the W Hotel in midtown Atlanta after a round of 'play fighting,' according to police. LaShawna Threatt, an aspiring model was celebrating her 30th birthday at the posh hotel when the incident occurred. She was killed as a result of the fall. Ciara Williams, the other woman involved in the 'play fighting,' also fell, but rolled off a ledge and then fell the remaining 20 feet onto the patio below. She remains in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta Police Department spokesperson Carlos Campos...