We just can’t stop eating McDonalds, we will not do without Paris Hilton and Brad and Angelina and as American’s we'll be damned without the Spice Girls. Overindulgence is every American’s God given right! Some of these guilty pleasures are sinful while others are just playful. However when we even consider someone like Sarah Palin as commander-in-chief our guilty sinful pleasures could very well lead to this nation’s continuous decline. This country… this WORLD can NOT handle another four years of Bush economic policies. That is true regardless if you’re a democrat or republican. Now add the meandering babble of Sarah Palin. I watched her Charles Gibson interview and read the transcript of her Couric interview. Are we really considering this simple minded moron as our possible leader? This is the best the republican’s have to offer… Really? We as a nation are really considering this woman as our leader because she may appeal to the female voters. How dare John McCain risk the actual and tangible security of our beautiful great nation so that he may win an election. Before you hammer Bill Maher, pummel Obama or reply to this post YouTube the Gibson/Palin interview and watch your nomination for VP/could-be commander-in-chief. Watch her squirm and mishandle question after question. Watch her lack of intelligence rival her lack of eloquence. Now ask yourself why the McCain camp will not make Sarah Palin available for press interviews. Why? Because her lack of character and intelligence frightens people more so than Bush ever did. She’s un-presidential to say the very least but moronic to be fair. David Letterman was kind to John McCain and Sarah Palin after the McCain/Palin camp lied and ditched his live show.  Paris Hilton’s reply to McCain’s unauthorized use of her image was more presidential and better thought-out than anything I’ve seen from McCain or Palin… maybe Paris should run for president – this way as American’s we get our guilty pleasure but it wouldn’t be dressed up as a Bush-like war hero and a meandering, over-her-head, cheap swap meet wannabe Hillary Clinton simpleton sidekick. Here’s an idea for John McCain/Hilton 08.Editorial by Andre Jetmir of iNPLACENEWSiNPLACENEWS (continue reading &aquo;)

Sen. Ted Stevens is blaming an overzealous contractor for the legal mess that has him on trial for corruption.Stevens is accused of lying on Senate forms about more than $250,000 in home renovations and gifts he received from oil contractor Bill Allen. During opening statements Thursday, attorneys offered the first public defense for the Alaska Republican.Attorney Brendan Sullivan says Stevens paid $160,000 for the renovations and had no idea Allen wasn't sending every bill.He described Allen as regularly going overboard. He says Stevens never asked for gifts such as a gas grill, a tool box, furniture or a complicated rope lighting system.Prosecutors say Stevens was a crafty politician who took gifts without reporting them.Article by Matt Apuzzo and Tom HaysiNPLACENEWS© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy. (continue reading &aquo;)

"Late Show" host David Letterman treated John McCain's decision to cancel an appearance on his talk show more like a stupid human trick than the act of a statesman.The Republican presidential candidate said he was halting his campaign activities Wednesday, citing the need to deal with the nation's financial crisis, and called Letterman to drop out of the show's late-night lineup. On the air Wednesday night, Letterman assailed McCain's rationale and, with prickly humor, questioned whether the nominee - now trailing in some polls - was in trouble."This doesn't smell right," Letterman said. "This is not the way a tested hero behaves. Somebody's putting something in his Metamucil."McCain spokeswoman Nicole Wallace said Thursday that the campaign "felt this wasn't a night for comedy.""We deeply regret offending Mr. Letterman, but our candidate's priority at this moment is to focus on this crisis," Wallace said on NBC's "Today" show.Letterman called McCain "a true American hero" but told his viewers: "This is not the John McCain I know, by God. It makes me believe something is going haywire with the campaign."Instead of suspending a campaign, Letterman said, a presidential candidate should go to Washington to deal with a crisis and let his running mate shoulder the burdens of politicking."That's what you do. You don't quit. ... Or is that really a good thing to do?" Letterman said, a reference to McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. "What's the problem? Where is she? Why isn't she doing that?" he asked.Letterman later asked: "Are we suspending it because there's an economic crisis or because the poll numbers are sliding?"Making matters worse for McCain, his replacement was MSNBC's "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann, a constant critic of the Arizona senator.McCain told the CBS show that he was immediately flying back to Washington, Letterman told his audience. Then Letterman showed a TV feed of McCain being made-up for an appearance on news anchor Katie Couric's "CBS Evening News.""Doesn't seem to be racing to the airport, does he?" Letterman said. "This just gets uglier and uglier."As McCain spoke to Couric, Letterman shouted at the feed: "Hey, John, I've got a question. Do you need a ride to the airport?"Letterman later said: "We're told now that the senator has concluded his interview with Katie Couric and he's now on Rachael Ray's show making veal piccata. ... What are you going to do?"Article by Associated Press StaffiNPLACENEWS© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy. (continue reading &aquo;)

The FBI is investigating four major U.S. financial institutions whose collapse helped trigger a $700 billion bailout plan by the Bush administration, The Associated Press has learned.Two law enforcement officials said Tuesday the FBI is looking at potential fraud by mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and insurer American International Group Inc. Additionally, a senior law enforcement official said Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. also is under investigation.The inquiries will focus on the financial institutions and the individuals that ran them, the senior law enforcement official said.The law enforcement officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigations are ongoing and are in the very early stages.Officials said the new inquiries bring to 26 the number of corporate lenders under investigation over the past year.Spokesmen for AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did not immediately return calls for comment Tuesday evening. A Lehman spokesman did not have an immediate comment.Just last week, FBI Director Robert Mueller put the number of large financial firms under investigation at 24. He did not name any of the companies under investigation but said the FBI also was looking at whether any of them have misrepresented their assets.Over the past year as the housing market cratered, the FBI has opened a wide-ranging probe of companies across the financial services industry, from mortgage lenders to investment banks that bundle home loans into securities sold to investors. Mueller has previously said the FBI's hunt for culprits in the nation's subprime mortgage crisis focused on accounting fraud, insider trading, and failure to disclose the value of mortgage-related securities and other investments.The investigations revealed Tuesday come as lawmakers began considering whether to approve emergency legislation that would give the government broad power to buy up devalued assets from troubled financial firms.The bailout proposed by the Bush administration is aimed at helping unlock credit and stabilize badly shaken markets in the United States and around the globe.In the past two weeks, the government has taken over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the country's two biggest mortgage companies, with a bailout plan that could require the Treasury Department to put up as much as $100 billion for each of them over time if needed to keep them afloat as mortgage losses mount.Last week, the Federal Reserve provided an emergency $85 billion loan to AIG, which teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. Lehman Brothers was forced to file for bankruptcy after attempts to engineer a private rescue fell apart. All the companies were laid low from bad bets on complex mortgage-related securities.Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made the joint decision last week that the only way to stop the carnage was to deal with the root cause of all the troubles, billions of dollars of bad mortgage debt sitting on the books of major financial companies. This debt has triggered the worst credit crisis in decades, causing credit markets to essentially freeze up despite the fact that the Fed joined with major central banks around the world to pump billions of dollars of reserves into the financial system.Additionally, the FBI is investigating failed bank IndyMac Bancorp Inc. for possible fraud. Countrywide Financial Corp., formerly the nation's largest mortgage lender and now owned by Bank of America Corp., is also under scrutiny.Article by Lara Jakes JordaniNPLACENEWS© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy. (continue reading &aquo;)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said Wednesday it raised $5 billion in a common stock offering as part of a capital-raising plan that also includes an investment of at least $5 billion by famed investor Warren Buffett.Goldman priced 40.65 million common shares of stock at $123 apiece, a slight discount to the stock's $125.05 closing price Tuesday. An additional 6.1 million shares may be sold to cover overallotments, potentially boosting proceeds by $750.3 million.The offering, which doubles what the company said Tuesday night it would sell, is part of a broader plan that includes Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. buying $5 billion in preferred stock. Those shares will pay a dividend of 10 percent annually and can be repurchased by Goldman at anytime for a 10 percent premium.Berkshire will also receive warrants to purchase an additional $5 billion in common shares at a price of $115 per share. Those warrants are exercisable at any time over the next five years.The capital raising efforts come just two days after Goldman received approval to convert to a bank holding company - similar to commercial banks - from an stand-alone investment banking model, and less than two weeks after the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. set off fresh concerns about the fragile credit markets.After Lehman's collapse, Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed to sell itself to Bank of America Corp. and American International Group Inc. was rescued by a government loan of $85 billion that included the government receiving a 79.9 percent ownership stake in the insurer.Those deals left only Goldman and Morgan Stanley as the remaining major investment banks. Morgan Stanley, like Goldman, also is converting to the commercial bank model.By becoming commercial banks, the two companies avoided the fate of Bear Stearns Cos. and Lehman Brothers - the first taken over in a fire sale and the second now bankrupt - by giving them broader and permanent access to borrow federal money and the ability to build a stable base of deposits.That change, along with new capital raising measures, are likely aimed at reassuring investors the banks will not face the liquidity squeeze that was a prime culprit in the downfall of Bear Stearns and Lehman.Morgan Stanley announced plans Monday to raise capital of its own, reaching a nonbinding agreement to sell a 20 percent stake in itself to Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan's largest bank. That deal could provide Morgan Stanley with about $8 billion in fresh capital.After Lehman's bankruptcy filing, shares of Goldman tumbled as investors worried that investment banks no longer had the capital resources to handle the liquidity strains of the ongoing credit crisis. Shares then rallied in recent days as the government hammers out a $700 billion bailout plan of the financial markets.Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, a former co-CEO of Goldman Sachs, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Tuesday that quick action on a the bailout measure for financial services firms was needed to prevent economic havoc.Shares of Goldman Sachs rose $3.09, or 2.4 percent, to $128.14 in early morning trading.Article by Stephen Bernard with contributions from AP Writer Anna Jo Bratton in Omaha, Neb. and AP Business Writer Marcy Gordon in WashingtoniNPLACENEWS© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy. (continue reading &aquo;)

A masked gunman whose violent YouTube postings prompted police to question him a day ago opened fire Tuesday at his trade school in western Finland, killing ten people before shooting himself in the head.Witnesses said panic broke out as the gunman, dressed in black and carrying a large bag, entered the school in Kauhajoki and started firing in a classroom where students were taking an exam. The shootings began just before 11 a.m. local time (0800GMT), as about 150 students were at the Kauhajoki School of Hospitality, 180 miles (300 kilometers) northwest of Helsinki."I heard several dozen rounds of shots, in other words it was an automatic pistol," school janitor Jukka Forsberg told Finnish broadcaster YLE. "I saw some female students who were wailing and moaning and one managed to escape out the back door."The gunman had been questioned only Monday by police about YouTube postings in which he is seen firing a handgun, but he was released because there was no legal reason to hold him, Interior Minister Anne Holmlund said.Police spokesman Jari Neulaniemi said the attacker walked into the school armed with a .22-caliber pistol and some kind of explosive devices that were used to start a fire. He killed 10 people, some of whom were burned beyond recognition, Neulaniemi said. The big bag apparently contained the explosives.It was Finland's second school massacre in less than a year and the two attacks had eerie similarities. Both gunmen posted violent clips on YouTube prior to the massacres, both were fascinated by the 1999 Columbine school shootings in Colorado, both attacked their own schools and both died after shooting themselves in the head.The gunman was taken to a hospital in Tampere, about two hours away, along with a female victim he had shot in the head, hospital officials said. The gunman later died, according to hospital's medical director.The female victim's condition was not immediately clear. Police said two people were wounded, in addition to the 10 victims and dead shooter.Finnish broadcaster YLE said police identified the gunman as Matti Juhani Saari, a 22-year-old student at the school, which offers courses in catering, tourism, nursing and home economics."We have experienced a tragic day," Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said as he expressed condolences to the families of the victims and declared Wednesday a day of mourning.Finnish authorities did not confirm exactly what YouTube clips were linked to the shooter.But in one YouTube clip, a young man wearing a leather jacket fires several shots in rapid succession with a handgun at what appears to be a shooting range.The posting was made five days before the shooting and the location was given as Kauhajoki (pronounced COW-ha-yer-key) - the same town as Tuesday's shooting. The posting included a message saying: "Whole life is war and whole life is pain. And you will fight alone in your personal war."The person who posted the clip identified himself as a 22-year-old named "Mr. Saari." He also posted three other clips of himself firing a handgun in the past three weeks.Clips from the 1999 Columbine school shootings in Colorado were listed among his favorite videos.Another clip shown by Scandinavian media showed the alleged gunman pointing his gun to the camera and saying "You will die next" before firing four rounds.Last November, another gunman killed eight people and himself at a school in southern Finland, an attack that triggered a fierce debate about gun laws in this Nordic nation with deep-rooted hunting traditions in the sub-Arctic wilderness.Pekka-Eric Auvinen, described by police as a bullied 18-year-old outcast, opened fire at his high school in southern Finland on Nov. 7, killing six students, a school nurse and the principal before ending his own life.Finnish investigators have said Auvinen left a suicide note for his family and foreshadowed his attack in YouTube postings.With 1.6 million firearms in private hands, Finland is an anomaly in Europe, lagging behind only the United States and Yemen in civilian gun ownership, studies show.After Auvinen's rampage, the government said it would raise the minimum age for buying guns from 15 to 18, but insisted there was no need for sweeping changes to Finland's gun laws. The age limit was never raised.Article by Jussi Mustikkammaa with contributions from Associated Press writers Matti Huuhtanen and Jari Tanner in Helsinki and Karl Ritter in StockhomiNPLACNEWS© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy. (continue reading &aquo;)

A Russian navy squadron set off for Venezuela Monday, an official said, in a deployment of Russian military power to the Western Hemisphere unprecedented since the Cold War.The Kremlin recently has moved to intensify contacts with Venezuela, Cuba and other Latin American nations amid increasingly strained relations with Washington after last month's war between Russia and Georgia. During the Cold War, Latin America became an ideological battleground between the Soviet Union and the United States.Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said the nuclear-powered Peter the Great cruiser accompanied by three other ships sailed from the Northern Fleet's base of Severomorsk on Monday. The ships will cover about 15,000 nautical miles to conduct joint maneuvers with the Venezuelan navy, he told The Associated Press.The deployment follows a weeklong visit to Venezuela by a pair of Russian strategic bombers and comes as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez - an unbridled critic of U.S. foreign policy who has close ties with Moscow - plans to visit Moscow this week. It will be Chavez's second trip to Russia in about two months.The intensifying contacts with Venezuela appear to be a response to the U.S. dispatch of warships to deliver aid to Georgia which angered the Kremlin.Chavez said in an interview with Russian television broadcast Sunday that Latin America needs a strong friendship with Russia to help reduce U.S. influence and keep peace in the region. In separate comments on his Sunday TV and radio program, he joked that he will be making his international tour to Russia and other countries this week aboard the "super-bombers that Medvedev loaned me," a reference to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. "Gentlemen of the CIA, to be clear, I'm joking," Chavez said with a laugh.Chavez has repeatedly warned that the U.S. Navy poses a threat to Venezuela.Russia has signed weapons contracts worth more than $4 billion with Venezuela since 2005 to supply fighter jets, helicopters, and 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles. Chavez's government is in talks to buy Russian submarines, air defense systems and armored vehicles and more Sukhoi fighter jets.Russian and Venezuelan leaders also have talked about boosting cooperation in the energy sphere to create what Chavez has called "a new strategic energy alliance."Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who visited Venezuela last week, announced that five of Russia's biggest oil companies are looking to form a consortium to increase Latin American operations and to build a $6.5 billion refinery to process Venezuela's tar-like heavy crude. Such an investment could help Venezuela, the world's ninth-biggest oil producer, wean itself from the U.S. refineries on which it depends to process much of its crude.Sechin warned the United States that it should not view Latin America as its own backyard. "It would be wrong to talk about one nation having exclusive rights to this zone," he said in an interview broadcast Sunday.Article by Vladimir Isachenkov with contributions from Associated Press Writer Ian James in CaracasiNPLACENEWS© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy. (continue reading &aquo;)

Election Day will be something of an afterthought for tens of millions of Americans - they'll be voting well ahead of time.In fact, six weeks out from Election Day, some voters in Kentucky, South Carolina and Virginia already are done.Nationwide, about a third of the electorate is expected to vote early this year, thanks to expanded early voting provisions and fewer restrictions on absentee voting, researchers project. In all, more than 30 states allow any registered voter to cast an early ballot, some in person and others by mail.Greg Dearing, of Louisville, Ky., locked in his ballot for Barack Obama on Thursday."I'm usually a straight party voter," said Dearing, who will be vacationing in California on Nov. 4. "It would take something very far-fetched to make me regret my vote."Early voting has been on the increase in recent years: In 2004, 22 percent of voters cast an early presidential ballot; in 2000, 16 percent voted early.It's a trend that is fundamentally changing the home stretch of American political campaigns. October surprises? They'd better come in September if campaigns want to influence every vote. Get out the vote operations? They're already under way in some states."You can't hold your big guns right to the end," said Paul Gronke, director of the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College in Oregon. "When up to 25 or 30 percent of the electorate has already cast a ballot, it might not be wise to wait until the last minute" to make a game-changing play for votes.Even the presidential debate series, which begins Friday and runs through Oct. 15, will come after many have voted. However, experts say the earliest voters tend to be party loyalists who wouldn't be swayed by debate performances anyway.Across the nation, election officials are reporting high demand for absentee ballots. Ballots already are available in a few states, and they will be ready in about 20 more this week. By the first week of October, absentee voting will have started in all but a handful of states. In most states, all registered voters will be eligible to vote absentee, and a growing number will take advantage.By the middle of last week, South Carolina had collected 84 ballots from voters living overseas or in the military, said Chris Whitmire, spokesman for the state Election Commission. In Louisville, polling stations opened Thursday, with voting restricted to those who will be unable to show up on Election Day. In Virginia, Fairfax County started accepting absentee ballots Friday.None of the early votes will be counted until Election Day, and in some states it could take days or weeks to count all absentee ballots. But in most states, the campaigns will be able to determine well ahead of Nov. 4 who's voted early. Want the campaigns to stop bombarding you with fliers and phone calls? Vote early."That's one less person we need to put a get-out-the-vote call to and one less person we need to send a mailer to," said Nathan Treloar, communications director for the Iowa Republican Party.Both presidential campaigns are pressing their supporters to vote early, trying to gain an advantage in a tight race. In past elections, the GOP has had a formidable "72-hour" program for getting voters to the polls in the final run-up to Election Day."What we have now is the 720-hour program," said Rich Beeson, political director for the Republican National Committee, which is coordinating get-out-the-vote efforts for John McCain's campaign. "It's a two-week program, and in some cases, it's a month."Obama's campaign is targeting potential early voters state by state."We do everything we can to make sure our supporters know all the options available to them," said Jon Carson, Obama's national field director. "We've been building a massive ground game for all of this."Absentee voting used to be reserved mainly for people who were unable to make it to the polls on Election Day, whether they were too sick to travel, away on business or serving in the military. State laws still vary, but most are relaxing such restrictions.Oregon is 100 percent vote by mail, and Washington state is getting close. Early voting in Colorado, Nevada, Tennessee and Arizona could top 40 percent or even 50 percent of total votes cast.Absentee voting starts in early October in Minnesota, and thousands already have requested ballots, including a few snowbirds who stopped by the Edina city clerk's office on their way out of town."People are parked out there in their RV's," said Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.Proponents say early voting is easy and convenient for people with increasingly busy lives."There is no line at your mailbox," said Karen Osborne, elections director in Maricopa County, Ariz., which includes Phoenix. "It gives you extra time to look at the issues, and if you have an issue that you're not real familiar with, you can talk to others and make that decision in the comfort of your own home."Others aren't so enamored."We understand some people really truly need absentee ballots but some folks are just plain lazy," said Kristine Schmidt, city clerk in Brookfield, Wis., a suburb of Milwaukee. "They don't want to be bothered by having to stand in line."John Fortier, an early voting expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said early voting is not a panacea for increasing turnout."People like this. They like to vote by mail, they like the convenience," Fortier said. "But it tends to be the same people who voted at polling places."He also cautioned that it could increase the potential for fraud."Once a ballot goes outside a polling place it loses some of the safeguards," Fortier said. "You don't have representatives from both parties watching over the process."Early voting is relatively new in hotly contested Ohio, and it is already sparking controversy there. A small group of GOP-backed voters has filed a lawsuit against the Democratic secretary of state, Jennifer Brunner, over her interpretation of Ohio's absentee voting law.Ohio changed its election law in 2005 to allow any registered voter to cast an absentee ballot, beginning Sept. 30. The deadline for registering isn't until Oct. 6, so Brunner ruled there is a six-day window in which voters can register and vote at the same time. The GOP maintains that a person must be registered for 30 days to get an absentee ballot.Democrats are practically salivating at the thought of thousands of college students registering and voting for Obama - all in the same day."Voting is a two-step process in this country," said Gronke, the early voting expert. "The difficulty with young voters has always been getting them to do both steps."Republicans, however, don't intend to cede the state's universities to the Democrats. "We've got a very aggressive plan that is going to be in place for that window," said the RNC's Beeson.Article by Stephen Ohlemacher and Julie Pace with contributions from Associated Press writers Roger Alford in Louisville, Ky., Ryan J. Foley in Madison, Wis., Arthur H. Rotstein in Tucson, Ariz., Stephen Majors in Columbus, Ohio, and Jim Davenport in Columbia, S.C.iNPLACENEWS© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy. (continue reading &aquo;)

A massive truck bomb devastated the heavily guarded Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital Saturday, killing at least 40 people and wounding at least 100. Officials feared there were dozens more dead inside the burning building.The Marriott has been a favorite place for foreigners as well as Pakistani politicians and business people to stay and socialize in Islamabad despite repeated militant attacks.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but Pakistan has faced a wave of militant violence in recent weeks following army-led offensives against insurgents in its border regions.The capital has not been spared, though Saturday's blast appeared to be one of the largest ever terrorist attacks in the country.The bomb left a vast crater, some 30 feet deep in front of the main building, where flames poured from the windows and rescuers ferried bloodied bodies from the gutted building.Witnesses and officials said a large truck had rammed the high metal gate of the hotel at about 8 p.m., when the restaurants would have been packed with dinners, including Muslims breaking the Ramadan fast.Senior Police official Asghar Raza Gardaizi said rescuers had counted at least 40 bodies at the scene and that he feared that there "dozens more dead inside."Associated Press reporters saw at least nine bodies scattered at the scene. Scores of people, including foreigners, were running out - some of them stained with blood.Witnesses spoke of a smaller blast followed by a much larger one.A U.S. State Department official using a section of white pipe as a walking stick led three colleagues through the rubble from the charred building, one of them bleeding heavily from a wound on the side of his head.One of the four, who identified himself only as Tony, said they had begun moving toward the rear of the Chinese restaurant after the first blast when the second one threw them against the back wall."Then we saw a big truck coming through the gates," he said. "After that it was just smoke and darkness."Ambulances rushed to the area, picking their way through the charred carcasses of vehicles that had been in the street outside. Windows in buildings hundreds of yards away were shattered.Mohammad Sultan, a hotel employee, said he was in the lobby when something exploded, he fell down and everything temporarily went dark."I didn't understand what it was, but it was like the world is finished," he said.In January 2007, a security guard blocked a suicide bomber who triggered a blast just outside the Marriott, killing the guard and wounding seven other people.In July, a suicide bombing killed at least 18 people, most of them security forces, and wounded dozens in Islamabad as supporters of the Red Mosque gathered nearby to mark the anniversary of the military siege on the militant stronghold.In June, a suicide car bomber killed at least six people near the Danish Embassy in Islamabad. A statement attributed to al-Qaida took responsibility for that blast, believed to have targeted Denmark over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.In mid-March, a bomb explosion at an Italian restaurant killed a Turkish woman in the capital, and wounded 12 others, including four FBI officials.Article by Azif Shahzad with contributions from Associated Press writers Zarar Khan, Stephen Graham and Munir Ahmad in IslamabadiNPLACENEWS© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy. (continue reading &aquo;)