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Tags: Tragedies / Marriott Hotels / Hotels / → All Tags

Terrorists Checked In as Guests at Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott in Jakarta

Two Marriott hotels were attacked yesterday in Jakarta, Indonesia by suicide bombings that killed eight people and left more than 50 injured. It is now believed that the suicide bombers actually checked into the JW Marriott Jakarta and the Ritz-Carlton Jakarta. A third bomb was later found on the 18th floor of the JW Marriott in one of the guestrooms.

Times Online has details from the blast sites:

Bleeding victims, including foreign businessmen who had been in breakfast meetings, crawled and staggered out of the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta’s Mega Kuningan business district after the explosions struck two minutes apart shortly before 8am.

Footage from a security camera at the Ritz-Carlton showed a suited man wearing a baseball cap, and carrying a backpack and a wheeled suitcase, entering the hotel’s first floor restaurant just before the explosion, which killed two people.

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Tags: Airport WiFi / Airport-WiFi-Map / → All Tags

It's A Small WiFi World After All

In this brave new era of in-flight WiFi, does it still matter whether airports have a wireless network? Absolutely! For one, Internet in the air isn't so widespread as to be ubiquitous; for another, layovers and flight delays can catch up to the best of us. When Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport recently increased its taxes on domestic and international flights, one of the amenities brought up as most in need of improvement was its spotty, slow WiFi -- Changi Airport in nearby Singapore charges just a little more but includes free WiFi.

So which international airports that are better than Jakarta Know about some WiFi we've yet to list, either in the US or elsewhere? Let us know.

Related Stories:
· Bad Marks for WiFi at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport [AtLarge.com]
· Airport WiFi Map [Jaunted]

Tags: Live Music Travel / Rihanna / Celeb Travel / Chris Brown / → All Tags

Rihanna Stopped The Music In Jakarta

What, Chris Brown can't watch her back? Mere days after running off the stage during a concert in Sydney, Rihanna is canceling a show in Indonesia over "security concerns."

After delivering an underwhelming set in Singapore last night, plagued by sound problems and marked by truncated versions of her hits instead of bonus concert cuts, the R&B princess is now backing away from tonight's sold-out show because, according to her reps, of recently updated Australian security warnings. Apparently Indonesia's neighbor to the south is concerned that the execution of three Islamic militants this week could cause reprisals, and Rihanna just didn't want to take her chances on the 6,000-strong crowd.

The prevailing theory is that Rihanna is pulling an M.I.A. and hiding a baby bump, potentially related to the aforementioned Brown. Gossip blog Bossip has already named the baby Chrianna, which gave us a little chuckle.

Related Stories:
· Rihanna @ Singapore Indoor Stadium -- Major Letdown [Emerican Life]
· Rihanna Drops Indonesia Show over Security [Reuters via Yahoo!]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Ultimate Rihanna]

Tags: Train Travel / Asia Travel / → All Tags

Train Travel: Ride Safe or Get Sprayed

The commuter train's packed and you're late for work. Next move? Hop on top of the car and cling for dear life until your stop, right? Probably not, unless you're in Jakarta.

So many people are risking life and limb to get to work in the Indonesian capital that authorities are taking new and bizarre measures to prevent it. The latest? They're spraying people with food coloring.

Local train station guards told the BBC that warning signs and regular security checks haven't worked. Last year 23 people in the city were killed from electrocution or falling off the trains. The idea now is that these desperate commuters will stop if they think they might show up to work looking ridiculous--and the guards aren't holding back:

In the back office at Manggarai station, the team preparing the mixture told me it made victims' eyes water and their skin itch. I asked them if they aimed for any specific part of their targets. "No," was the answer, "we spray them all over."

Hey, whatever works. Maybe they could start using this stuff on unruly passengers in Manhattan.

Related Stories:
· Indonesia spray paints commuters [BBC]
· Train Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: diankarl]