Fire Kills 23 at Hotel, Site of Muslim Fete

Twenty-three people died and 20 were injured when a fire raged through a six-story hotel in the southern Philippines, forcing guests to jump for their lives out of windows. Foreign diplomats had been booked to stay at the popular Imperial Hotel in Cotabato for a Muslim celebration beginning Sunday. The fire, which gutted three floors of the building, broke out in a prayer room used by both Muslims and Christians. It was unclear what caused the inferno, fire investigators said. Local officials said the hotel had been getting ready for the arrival of foreign diplomats and Philippine dignitaries attending a state-of-the-region address by former Muslim rebel chief Nur Misuari, who now runs a four-province Muslim autonomous region on the southern island of Mindanao.