Manila Rebels Surrender After Troops Storm Hotel

Rebel soldiers who had held 200 workers, guests, and journalists hostage in a Manila luxury hotel surrendered today after Philippine troops launched an assault on the building, the BBC reports. The rebels, who were calling for the overthrow of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, were led handcuffed out of the Peninsula Hotel after police fired tear gas into the lobby and rammed an armored personnel carrier into its ornate entrance.

The rebels, whose calls for others in the opposition to join them failed to draw support,  said they surrendered in order to prevent harm to the hostages. Half of the renegade soldiers were already on trial for a failed 2003 mutiny. They walked out of a court hearing today straight to the hotel. (More Gloria Macapagal Arroyo stories.)