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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,...

"WASHINGTON – Former Governor Mitt Romney resigned today from the board of directors of Marriott International, potentially another sign of his preparations for another presidential run. Romney, who served on Marriott’s board for 10 years before resigning to run for governor in 2002, rejoined the board in January 2009.

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...

An employee at the Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine, Florida was asked to leave the premises for refusing to remove an American flag pin from his jacket on Wednesday. Sean May, who has worked for more than two years at the company, now faces the harsh reality of losing his job as the front desk supervisor. May, in an exclusive interview with Townhall.com, explained that following his weekly staff meeting on Wednesday -- he was unexpectedly asked by the HR Director to remove the insignia from his uniform. When he protested the policy, he was given two options: Remove...

An Oregon developer plans to build a 22-story hotel near the L.A. Live entertainment center to serve a growing number of visitors to downtown Los Angeles. Marriott International Inc. would operate the proposed 377-room hotel on Olympic Boulevard under two of the company's brands: Residence Inn by Marriott and Courtyard by Marriott. Construction on the nearly $120-million project is set to begin next March and be completed by 2014. "Financing would be through the federal EB-5 program, which provides green cards to immigrant investors who put up a minimum investment of $500,000 for development in targeted areas. The immigrants would...

Due to the growing list of brands disclosing that they have been compromised as a result of this breach, I’m going to go ahead and tag this as a massive breach. And I only expect it to get bigger as more announcements come out from Epsilon customers. Last night we reported on a breach at marketing services provider, Epsilon, the world’s largest permission-based email marketing provider. Initially we wrote that the breach had affected Kroger, the nation's largest traditional grocery retailer. There is a list of companies at the link (but I don't know if that is going to be...

Mitt Romney, the AP reports, has stepped down from the board of the Marriott hotel chain, another methodical step toward his 2012 run. His aides have told other Republicans that he expects to launch his campaign in April.

By Joy Tiz | Published: July 13, 2010 The anti-terror wing of the Marriott Hotel in Oak Brook, Illinois bounced a conference to be held by Muslim activist group, Hizb ut-Tahrir. The organizers, predictably, insist that they advocate “peaceful government reform”. Reporter Manya Barchear’s excruciatingly nuanced account claims the conference was “dedicated to reviving the prevailing system of rule that immediately followed the death of the Prophet Muhammad”. Chicago PC code for Sharia Law. "But a Washington-based interest group called Responsible for Equality and Liberty, or REAL, said that although Hizb ut-Tahrir explicitly condemns violence, its ideology suggests otherwise. Speakers...

Late Monday afternoon an ostensibly apologetic and congenial Keith Thomas, assistant to CEO J.W. Marriott, Jr., told a Grass Roots North Carolina board member that Marriott had “stepped on a hornet’s nest” and promised to remove signs prohibiting lawful firearms in hotels nationwide. Of the Charlotte Marriott City Center, where signs posted during the NRA convention made inadvertent criminals of conventioneers, Thomas promised signs had already been removed. But on Tuesday, signs at Marriott properties – including the Charlotte hotel – remained in place while Marriott executives became “unavailable” for, according to office receptionists, a litany of conflicting reasons. Meanwhile,...

Marrriott says it is removing posting signs like the one at the Charlotte Marriott City Center. Stay tuned for confirmation. Photo: S. Triana Marriott appears to comply with gun boycott. Stay tuned for further information. Grass Roots North Carolina began a “Don’t Buy” campaign against Marriott International after its Charlotte hotel took money from and then made inadvertent criminals of hundreds of gun owners by posting “no firearms” signs during the weekend of the NRA convention and GRNC’s “Gala for Gun Rights.” Marriott confessed to a prohibition on firearms in all of its properties, many of which were posted. After...

Less than a day after gun rights organization Grass Roots North Carolina (GRNC) put the Marriott hotel chain on its “Don’t Buy” list, input to Marriott is coming in from around the country. After National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea, Seattle Gun Rights Examiner (and Senior Editor of “Gun Week”) Dave Workman, and Knoxville GRE Liston Matthews followed up on this writer’s original piece, anti-Marriott postings began appearing on gun forums such as The High Road nationwide. (Also see David's interview on "Trigger Sports Live"). As you recall in yesterday’s article, the Charlotte Marriott City Center first took the money...

Marriott lies to callers about corporate policy. Contact information for corporate executives is now available. Less than a day after gun rights organization Grass Roots North Carolina (GRNC) put the Marriott hotel chain on its “Don’t Buy” list, input to Marriott is coming in from around the country. After National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea, Seattle Gun Rights Examiner (and Senior Editor of “Gun Week”) Dave Workman, and Knoxville GRE Liston Matthews followed up on this writer’s original piece, anti-Marriott postings began appearing on gun forums such as The High Road nationwide. (Also see David's interview on "Trigger Sports Live")....

Compassionate hypotheticals aside, take a look and get back to me. MassResistance — March 12, 2010 — Transgender madness in Massachusetts: The Peabody Marriott Hotel hosted the annual "First Event" transgender conference on January 15-17, 2009. These photos and videos illustrate the insanity that will descend on all of America . . . unless this sexual radical movement is stopped: Seven-foot men in dresses using the women's restroom. Hundreds of cross-dressers swarming the hotel, upsetting other guests (who were not forewarned). A transgender rock concert. This is what protecting "gender identity and expression" really means. For all of you liberals...

SNIPPET: "SANTIAGO – One person was injured and several windows were destroyed when a small bomb exploded at a bank branch in the Chilean capital, police said. The blast occurred at 2 p.m. at a branch of Banco de Credito e Inversiones inside a Marriott hotel in Santiago’s affluent Las Condes neighborhood."

The locally based AIDS Healthcare and Pink Cross foundations have organized a boycott of Marriott hotels over porn. The protest is not about the Mormon-founded chain's in-room, X-rated offerings. No, that's just fine. The problem, according to the groups, is the hotel company's palette of on-demand smut that features actors who do not use condoms. "Marriott is certainly not alone among major hotel chains that promote and profit off the sale of unsafe, condom-less adult films to their hotel guests," AIDS Healthcare Foundation president Michael Weinstein states. "However, we want to highlight the brazen hypocrisy--the Mormon Marriott's moral masquerade--of such...

26 August 2009 INDONESIAN BOMBING SUSPECT A JIHAD MAGAZINE PUBLISHER AND WEBMASTER As of today he's in the custody of Detachment 88. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. First the news reports: • Preacher's son arrested: Mohammad Jibril runs his father's company, Ar-rahmah Media, which publishes religious books and JihadMagz, a glossy 148-page magazine devoted to Islamic fighters and wars across the world. He also set up the militant website, arrahmah.com, which posts news in Bahasa Indonesia and English on the Islamic struggle to preserve and spread their religion.

SNIPPET: "Indonesian police confirmed that DNA tests proved that wanted terrorist Noordin Mohammed Top was not killed during last week's raid on a farmhouse in Java in Indonesia." SNIPPET: "DNA tests confirmed that the body of the person killed was that of another wanted terrorist named Amir Ibrohim. Ibrohim, who is also known as Amir Abdullah, worked as a contractor for the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels and is said to have aided in the July 17 attacks. He was reportedly seen on tape escorting one of the suicide bombers during the July 17 attacks. Ibrohim is also believed...

Jakarta bombers may have been guests at Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, police say Michel Maas in Jakarta and Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor Suicide bombers posing as hotel guests are believed to have been responsible for the explosions in two hotels that killed at least eight people in Jakarta yesterday and wounded more than 50, in the first such attack in Indonesia for almost four years. Bleeding victims, some of them foreign businessmen who, moments earlier, had been engaged in breakfast meetings, limped or crawled out of the JW Marriott hotel and the neighbouring Ritz-Carlton in Jakarta’s Mega Kuningan business...

Here is video of the head of security for the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta talking to CNN about the deadly hotel blasts that have killed either eight or nine people, depending on the report you hear. The Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton were both hit by what appears to be terrorist suicide bombers. Indonesian President Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the attacks . . . . Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world. Jemaah Islamiyah is a radical Islamic network that has been tied to Al-Qaeda. They were behind the Bali bombings - two blasts - that killed 202 people...

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Bombs have exploded at the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels in the Indonesian capital on Friday, ripping the facade off the Ritz. Police say at least four people are injured. Debris and shattered glass littered the street outside the neighboring hotels in an upscale Jakarta neighborhood. Ambulances were being shuttled into the area. A man jogging by the hotels said he first heard a loud explosion at the Marriott. Five minutes later, a bomb followed at the Ritz. Alex Asmasubrata said he saw four bodies inside the Marriott. One had its stomach blown out. An Associated Press reporter...

At least four people have been killed in two separate explosions at luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, say reports. The country's Metro TV reported that one blast hit the Ritz-Carlton and the other, the Marriott Hotel. Television footage showed the facade of one of the hotels had been torn off by the blast. The BBC's Karishma Vaswani, outside the Marriott, said ambulances are present and security is extremely tight. South Jakarta police Col Firman Bundi said the four who died were foreigners, reported AP. "There were explosions heard from two separate places, one the JW Marriott, the other...

Explosions have hit two luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, say police reports. The country's Metro TV reported that one blast was heard and felt at the Ritz-Carlton and another hit the Marriott Hotel. At least three people were injured in the Marriott blast, the Associated Press quoted police as saying. One witness told Reuters some windows on the lowers floors of the Ritz-Carlton hotel had been shattered.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The historic Greenbrier resort, which has gone from hosting presidents and royalty to posting losses, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday and unveiled a plan to sell itself to hotel giant Marriott International Inc. for up to $130 million.

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: Al Qaeda’s operations chief in Pakistan and a top aide have been killed, Pakistani officials confirmed on Friday. Operations chief Osama Al-Kini was thought responsible for attacks including the bombing of Marriott hotel in Islamabad and an unsuccessful attempt to kill former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Al-Kini and his lieutenant Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, both Kenyans, were killed in a missile strike in South Waziristan on January 1. Security officials in Islamabad said Al-Kini’s killing would relieve the security apparatus of a ‘big worry’. agencies

WASHINGTON -- Former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been reappointed to Marriott International's board of directors, the Bethesda, Md., hotel company announced Wednesday. Romney, the former chief executive of Bain Capital, served on Marriott's board for 10 years before resigning to run for governor in 2002. He was also chief executive of the Salt Lake Winter Olympics Organizing Committee. At Marriott, he will chair a newly formed finance committee, overseeing the company's financial performance and how it spends money. ... The Marriott and Romney families, both devout Mormons, have been close friends for decades, and they have...

While acknowledging that he is a Mormon, Bill Marriott said this week that neither he nor his company, Marriott International, contributed to the campaign to pass Proposition 8, a California ballot measure that would define marriage as solely between a man and a woman. Gay-rights activists urged their supporters to boycott Marriott hotels around the world because of Marriott's membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which raised about $22 million for the initiative that passed Nov. 4. For the past 20 years, Marriott International has had domestic-partner benefits and has earned a perfect score on the...

The heightened security for the Republican convention resulted in four Pakistani students from St. John's University being detained in Times Square last night. The four, who were in a burgundy van, were taken into custody shortly after 5 p.m. outside the Marriott Marquis hotel on Broadway and West 45th Street after cops thought they were acting suspiciously. They were questioned for at least seven hours at the Midtown North precinct on West 54th Street while anxious relatives waited outside. Police sources said two of the students were on an FBI watch list.

Excerpt - Karachi, 24 Sept. (AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - The alleged mastermind of last Saturday's deadly truck bombing of the Marriott hotel in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, has emerged. The suspect, Qari Zafar (photo), has become part of Al-Qaeda's hardline Takfiri inner circle. He enjoys the protection of Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud and is believed to be hiding out in the lawless South Waziristan tribal area of North West Frontier Province. Zafar is not only the suspected mastermind of the Marriot bomb blast, but has created a network which will shortly target strategic installations belonging to...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's president, prime minister and other leaders had planned to dine at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday night, when it was struck by a massive truck bombing, a government official said Monday. The Saturday night suicide truck attack killed 57 people and wounded more than 250, and sparked a fire that left the hotel in ruins. Al-Arabiya TV reported Monday that it received a claim of responsibility for the attack by a previously unknown group called "The Fedayeen of Islam," but noted that it could not authenticate the audio recording or the name of...

via translation - ALERT - Pakistan: the Czech ambassador was killed PRAGUE - The Czech Republic's ambassador to Pakistan, which had called for help from the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad shortly after the attack Saturday, died Sunday announced in Prague public television CT 24.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A huge explosion ripped through part of the heavily guarded Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital Saturday, damaging buildings in a wide radius, killing at least two people and wounding at least 25.

Many people were trapped in rooms of the burning five-star Marriott Hotel in the Pakistan capital after a suicide bomber detonated a large truck loaded with a ton of explosives at the hotel gate, killing at least 60 people and injuring some 200 more. The Marriott, frequented by foreigner and local VIPs and the hotel of choice for American officials, is danger of collapse. The ceiling of the banqueting hall crashed down on 500 guests at the Ramadan evening meal.

Several senior officers of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who are reported to be currently visiting Islamabad were the target of the blast at the Marriott Hotel which took place here tonight. Well placed sources said that Marriott Hotel is usual hotel choice of the US officials and it seems that militants tipped off that certain high level US intelligence officers were currently staying at the hotel.

Dozens dead in Pakistan hotel blast At least 40 people were killed and 100 wounded in the explosion at the Marriott [AFP] At least 40 people have been killed and 100 others wounded after a truck-bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital Islamabad. Reports said a suicide bomber drove a truck packed with explosives into the entrance of the hotel. Many foreigners stay in the hotel while visiting Pakistan and it is heavily guarded. The blast resounded through Islamabad. Reuters news agency reported that at least 40 people had been killed. Police sources also said the death toll stood at 40. But there were fears the death toll could rise as many...

Fairmont Hotels and a New York investment firm pulled out of a $46 million deal to buy the Peaks Resort, leaving Telluride’s largest hotel in long-term limbo as it prepares to reopen for the ski season. Two people with direct knowledge of the negotiations — one from each side of the table — said the hotel’s expensive infrastructure problems had torpedoed the deal. After examining the Peaks, buyers Fairmont and Manhattan-based Thor Equities concluded that the hotel needed $6-7 million in repairs, on top of a planned $60 million renovation... The impasse didn’t break, and on Friday, Fairmont and Thor...

Hotel chains are removing Bibles from guest rooms, replacing them with "intimacy kits" and adding "One Night Stand" packages as well as "romance concierge" personnel to their offerings, according to a new report in Newsweek. Tens of thousands of Americans are protesting the trend, through an action e-mail alert sponsored by American Family Association. The Newsweek report by Roya Wolverson suggested a new marketing campaign could be based on the apparent values-less programs that are appearing. "Marriott spokesman John Wolf says the Bible question [whether to include them in guest rooms] is premature for the new [boutique hotel] venture, which...

In the rooms of Manhattan's trendy Soho Grand Hotel guests can enjoy an eclectic selection of underground music, iPod docking stations, flat-screen TVs and even the living company of a complimentary goldfish. But, alas, the word of God is nowhere to be found. Unlike traditional hotels, the 10-year-old boutique has never put Bibles in its guest rooms, because "society evolves," says hotel spokeswoman Lori DeBlois. Providing Bibles would mean the hotel "would have to take care of every guest's belief." What might be surprising to many Americans is that the Bible-free room isn't a development just in hip New York...

Marriott still employs security firm with Black Muslim Bakery ties. Over the past decade, more than a hundred thousand visitors have strolled into the Oakland Marriott Hotel and convention center, where among the first faces they encountered were those of well-dressed young men sporting bow ties. These men are the hotel's private security officers, who also happen to be members of the Black Muslim clan believed responsible for the assassination of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey.

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, an outspoken critic of pornography, is called to task for his ties to Marriott hotels, a chain that makes money by providing porn to guests. Full audio of news report broadcast on over 1,000 Christian radio stations: http://www.oneplace.com/Ministries/Family_News_in_Focus Family News in Focus is a service of Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, Colorado, founded by Dr. James Dobson.

First Read: The Day in Politics --- ROMNEY: CBN's Brody reports on an issue that could get traction in evangelical circles in the South: "Some anti-pornography groups are demanding answers as to how much presidential candidate Mitt Romney knew about the Marriott hotel chain's profits of pornography sales during his nearly ten years on the Board of Directors in the 1990s. The hotel chain is one of many that offer pay-per-view sex videos for sale through in-room entertainment." Brody story at: http://www.cbn.com:80/CBNnews/188311.aspx

LodgeNet, the top vendor of hardcore pornographic movie channels for hotel rooms, is the target of a campaign aimed at cleaning up summer lodging for traveling families. You’ll find no mention of porn movie options on LodgeNet’s website, but Phil Burress with Citizens for Community Values has uncovered that more than 60% of LodgeNet’s profits come from illegal, pornographic movies it sells through pay-per-view channels. “Our question is why is LodgeNet permitted to deal in hard core sexually explicit, clearly prosecutable material according to Miller vs. California when the US Supreme Court set down the guidelines for what is prosecutable?”...

Some anti-pornography groups are demanding answers as to how much presidential candidate Mitt Romney knew about the Marriott hotel chain's profits of pornography sales during his nearly ten years on the Board of Directors in the 1990's. The hotel chain is one of many that offer pay per view sex videos for sale through in-room entertainment. Though Marriott doesn't release their revenues when it comes to X-rated videos, industry analysts estimate it is in the tens of millions of dollars. During his run for President, Romney has campaigned on a platform of "family values" recently telling a graduation class, "Pornography...

I want to keep talking about the environment because it's very much on the minds of people here at Marriott and around the world. Global warming has been getting so much attention recently, especially with former Vice President Al Gore's documentary - An Inconvenient Truth - winning an Oscar. I'm a movie buff and I saw the film and thought it was very sobering.

That stale cigarette smell. You’ve probably experienced it in hotel rooms, even some that were supposed to be non-smoking. It’s a top complaint of hotel guests - the stinky room. The good news for those of us who hate the smell of used smoke is that officially, as of today, all Marriott properties in the United States and Canada ban smoking inside. That includes all guestrooms; they are now all smoke-free. The 10 percent of the inventory that had been reserved for smokers (the number has declined over the years) has gone bye-bye. And to prove its ban is not...

Concerned Women for America (CWA) says that if the Marriott hotels care so much about their customers, as indicated in their recent decision to ban smoking from hotel rooms, they should stop offering hard-core porn in their hotel rooms. “Creating a smoke-free environment demonstrates a new level of service and care for our guests and associates,” said J.W. Marriott Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Marriott International. “Our family of brands is united on this important health issue and we anticipate very positive customer feedback. … Demand for nonsmoking rooms continues to rise with new information from the...

Marriott to make all US, Canada hotels non-smoking Wednesday July 19, 6:34 am ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Marriott International Inc. (NYSE:MAR - News) on Wednesday said it will make all of its hotels in the United States and Canada entirely non-smoking, beginning in September. The company said the policy change, which it called the largest in its industry, covers more than 2,300 hotels and corporate apartments with nearly 400,000 rooms. Marriott, based in Bethesda, Maryland, said more than 90 percent of its guest rooms are already non-smoking. It said more customers have been demanding non-smoking rooms. The change covers...

Marriott refuses counter-terror group, but hosts Muslims Students Association Eastern Zone Conference The Marriott Hotel chain refused to host the upcoming counter terror symposium that is being organized by Jeffrey Epstein and the America’s Truth Forum. According to Epstein, Peter Cantone, General Manager for Marriott Georgetown, turned down the group in November, saying: Your event is too controversial to be held on the property. This decision is based upon business considerations, as the event would call for heightened security since protestors might be attracted from both the student body and off campus. I'm concerned that these protestors might block the...

A mother described yesterday hearing her son shot dead after he refused to convert to Islam. Ruth Marriott told an inquest into her son's death that she heard gunshots on the day Adrian was shot five times in the head a few weeks before his 21st birthday. Mr Marriott, an accountancy student and gang member, was killed in a park near his home in Brixton, south London, in June 2004.

The Georgetown Marriott Conference Center rejected a "terrorism" symposium on the grounds that the sponsoring organization was too controversial and the venue inappropriate for this type of forum. Concurrently, another Marriott Hotel in the Washington area is hosting the Council on American- Islamic Relations' annual conference – and participating as a panelist at the gala will be an alleged coconspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. According to the Georgetown Marriott executives, the decision to reject the event, being hosted by the People's Truth Forum, or PTF, was based upon business considerations: "The event would call for heightened security...

Dear Pro-Life Friends:   Assemblyman Neil Cohen, sponsor of A2840/S1909, the NJ Clone and Kill law, is sponsoring a stem cell summit on Saturday, April 24 from 12 to 3 at the Marriott Hotel at Newark Liberty International Airport from 12 to 3 to promote human cloning and embryonic stem cell research in NJ.  The summit is supposed to serve as the formal introduction of the New Jersey Stem Cell Endowment Fund (NJSCREF). According to a letter from Assemblyman Neil Cohen dated April 9, "presentations will highlight how a collaborative effort between the public and private sectors will result in the State of NJ becoming a pioneer in stem...