US hostage in Syria freed after two years in captivity

WASHINGTON, D.C.: An American held hostage for 22 months by an Islamic rebel group in Syria was freed on Sunday (Monday in Manila), just days after a video showed the slaying of a fellow US journalist at the hands of jihadists.

“Finally he is returning home,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said, confirming the release of Peter Theo Curtis, a 45-year-old author and freelance journalist whose disappearance had not been previously reported.