51.   The government has freed two opposition leaders from prison for humanitarian reasons, a judicial source said Tuesday.

52.   The government recently freed several prominent political prisoners in response to an appeal from a French human rights group.

53.   The government will free its contingency reserves of grain but that would only suffice for a couple of weeks, Premier Stefan Sofiyanski announced on national television late Friday.

54.   The hostages were allegedly held by an opposition group that offered to release them if the government frees five anti-government fighters held on murder charges.

55.   The Irish government has already freed more than a dozen IRA prisoners early.

56.   The group has repeatedly threatened to kill the hostages if the government does not free other jailed militants, which India has refused to do so far.

57.   The Philippine government has freed political prisoners in the past as a confidence-building step to boost peace talks with Communist rebels, Ramos has said.

58.   The Task Force said the government should at least free six of the prisoners immediately for humanitarian reasons, citing old age and illness.

59.   The talks had broken off last June because of rebel demands that the government free a jailed rebel leader and guarantee immunity for the Communist delegates.

60.   The Tupac Amaru rebels are seeking an eventual role in Peruvian politics, along with their main demand that the government free their jailed comrades.