Ten people kidnapped in Iraq were freed last night in separate incidents. The 10 - two Italian women aid workers, two Iraqi engineers who worked with them, and six Egyptian telecom workers - emerged from captivity in unexplained circumstances.
The two Italian women arrived home late last night, as the entire nation celebrated their safe release.
The two, Ms Simona Pari and Ms Simona Torretta, arrived on a Falcon 20 plane at Ciampino military airport in Rome shortly after 11 p.m.
Meanwhile, a French negotiator said last night that he met two French journalists being held hostage in Iraq and that an agreement had been reached to free them soon.
"Finally a moment of joy," the Italian Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, said to loud cheers in the Italian parliament.
A Kuwaiti newspaper suggested that a ransom of $1 million was paid for the release the two women.
Footage of the handover was shot on an Iraqi road at dusk. The women stripped away the head coverings they were wearing and smiled broadly. Both appeared to be in good health. Ms Torretta said in Arabic: "Thank you very much. Goodbye. Thank you." Ms Pari remained silent.
The Italian government publicly refused to negotiate with the kidnappers, although the plight of the two women dominated news in Italy since they were kidnapped from their office in central Baghdad on September 7th.
Large posters of the women were hung throughout Rome as part of a high-profile campaign to secure their freedom.
The two women were working for the aid agency Un Ponte Per . . . (A Bridge To . . .), and were involved in school and water projects when they were abducted.
Yesterday a Muslim leader from Italy arrived in Baghdad and met a local Muslim association which was in contact with the kidnappers.
A similar Muslim delegation from Britain made no headway over the weekend in freeing the kidnapped British engineer, Mr Kenneth Bigley (62), but said yesterday they were confident he was still alive.
Dr Daud Abdullah of the Muslim Council of Britain said on his return yesterday to England: "I have no proof that he is dead, as long as there is no proof I believe that he is alive. People [in Iraq] share the view that he is alive."
Mr Bigley's captors threatened to behead him a week ago but there has been no word of him since then.
Iraq and the fate of Mr Bigley dogged the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, yesterday. Two British soldiers were killed when a rocket-propelled grenade hit their vehicle near Basra and Mr Blair felt obliged to devote much of his speech at the annual conference of the Labour Party to defending his policy on Iraq.
He began his address with an offer of prayers and thoughts for Mr Bigley and his family.
Heckled twice (by, in turn, anti-war and pro-hunt protesters), Mr Blair mentioned the word "apology" while stopping short of actually offering one to delegates of his divided party.
He said: "The evidence about Saddam \ having actual biological and chemical weapons, as opposed to the capability to develop them, has turned out to be wrong . . . I can apologise for the information that turned out to be wrong, but I can't, sincerely at least, apologise for removing Saddam. The world is a better place with Saddam in prison, not in power."
"Do I know I'm right?" Mr Blair continued. "Judgments aren't the same as facts. Instinct is not science. I'm like any other human being, as fallible and as capable of being wrong. I only know what I believe."
In the US, meanwhile, fresh questions have been raised about whether the Bush administration lied in the run up to the war.
It emerged yesterday that reports from the National Intelligence Council for President Bush in January 2003 - two months before the invasion of Iraq - predicted that it would result in a deeply divided Iraqi society prone to violent internal conflict.