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) Starwood launches second 'W' location
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc has announced the expansion of W Hotels worldwide with a plan to launch its second hotel, the W Bangkok in 2011.Starwood has entered into a management agreement with North Sathorn Hotel Company, a joint venture between Istithmar Hotels FZE and Golden Land Property Development Plc for the new hotel. The property would form a major part of Golden Land's Sathorn Square mixed-use development.
The 400-room W Bangkok would be located on the former Russian Embassy site on Sathon Road, that would also comprise Infinity Condominium and 70,000 square metres of grade A office space with luxury boutiques and shops.
''We are thrilled with the introduction of the W brand into Bangkok. Following the announcement of W Retreat & Residences, Koh Samui, the W Bangkok is a logical extension of W's dynamic growth in Thailand,'' said Miguel Ko, president of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Asia Pacific. More>>
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) Radio Free Asia
BANGKOK—Authorities in Burma have arrested five more opposition activists in connection with nationwide protests in September, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.“It happened early this morning, at 1 a.m.," Nyi Nyi, an anti-government activist now in exile in an undisclosed location, told RFA's Burmese service.
“In Tamwe district, in Rangoon. At Number 4 Tagon Lwin Street, it happened," he said. “My mother, my cousin [Thet Thet Aung], …they all were in hiding…"
Nyi Nyi said authorities had arrested his mother, Daw San San Tin, 56, along with four critics of the military government, three of whom began their activism during the mass uprising of 1988 that ended in a crackdown that killed up to 3,000 people.
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) Thailand nabs hunted Canadian paedophile suspect
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Canadian paedophile suspect Christopher Neil, unmasked by nifty computer work by German police and a unique Interpol Internet appeal, was arrested in rural Thailand on Friday after a week-long manhunt.Thai police said they had picked up the 32-year-old, accused of raping young boys in Vietnam and Cambodia several years ago, in the province of Nakhon Ratchasima, 250 km (150 miles) northeast of Bangkok and well off the normal tourist trail.
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) World Briefs
Thousands of civilians fled renewed fighting between Tutsi-dominated rebels and local militia in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo Saturday.The two sides clashed before dawn near Bunagana, controlled by rebels loyal to Laurent Nkunda, the renegade Tutsi general, since August. Villagers from Bunagana and nearby settlements poured into Rutshuru, the government-held local administrative seat.
"What I saw was horrendous. It was raining. They didn't know where to go. Three women gave birth while they were fleeing," a U.N. spokeswoman said.
New Louisiana governor is youngest in U.S.
BATON ROUGE, La. - U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal won the Louisiana governor's race Saturday, becoming the nation's youngest governor and the first nonwhite to head the state since Reconstruction. More>>