Sultan Kudarat, Philippines - An Italian priest held for 10 weeks by Muslim gunmen in southern Philippine jungles was freed yesterday after Islamic rebels threatened to storm their hideout.
Flown immediately to Manila, the 54-year-old missionary called his mother in Treviso, Italy. "I told her to wait for me and prepare a dish of spaghetti," Father Luciano Benedetti said. The kidnappers released him to MILF guerrillas who are holding peace talks with Manila and had offered to help.