Word: standoff
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...Musmos Daycare Center, in Manila's Tondo slum, were supposed to be headed on an excursion to the nearby resort town of Tagaytay. Instead they spent the day parked in their school bus near Manila's city hall - hostages in a nationally televised, eight-and-a-half-hour standoff between their daycare center's owner and Manila police...
...Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered police to resolve the standoff peacefully, and officers throughout the day communicated with Ducat by holding up cardboard signs. Though he said he had enough food for two days, Ducat reached an agreement that afternoon to surrender...
...after an eight-and-a-half-hour standoff - the doors of the bus opened to cheers from the crowds and children began to pour out. In the door of the bus, Jun Ducat - with what looked like a submachine gun slung under his arm - and an accomplice could be seen delicately handling what appeared to be hand grenades and passing them out to police. The two men were rushed into a police van and immediately whisked away to headquarters. This time, officers say, charges will be filed against them...
...outcome of the standoff may well depend on the strategic calculations of the Iranian leadership. Seizing the British troops a day before the U.N. Security Council voted on sanctions against Iran over the nuclear standoff was widely interpreted as Iran sending a none-too-subtle reminder of its capacity for disruption at the epicenter for the global oil economy. Oil markets certainly took the hint, with prices scooting up to their highest this year on Friday following news of the Iranian action...
...Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the national security council on whose counsel he relies on such issues, face an important judgment call. The outcome of the standoff over the British marines may be largely determined by whether the voices of pragmatic accommodation prevail over those of confrontation in Iran's chambers of power. And that, in turn, may well determine whether the nuclear standoff is to be resolved without confrontation...