Viva Zapata

There's good news and bad news for Mexican singer Thalia: One of her two sisters who were kidnapped Sept. 22 in Mexico City is free, but there's no word on the fate of the other sister. Bernardo Batiz, the city's attorney general, held a press conference Friday in which he announced that Laura Zapata was free after 18 days of captivity. '' The chief of police has told me that [Zapata] showed up'' on Thursday, the Associated Press quotes Batiz as saying.

Zapata, who, like her sister Thalia, is a popular soap opera star, was reportedly abducted on Sept. 22 by carjackers who ambushed her and her sister, Ernestina Sodi, as the two were leaving a Mexico City theater where Zapata was starring in a play. Police found Zapata's car abandoned days later. Thalia, who lives in New York with her husband, Sony Music chief Tommy Mottola, did not seek the help of Mexican police, as the family reportedly feared that corrupt cops may have been involved in the kidnapping. Shanik Berman, a journalist and friend of the family, had said the kidnappers had demanded a $1 million ransom for the two sisters, but it was unclear if any ransom was ever paid.

Mexican newspaper El Universal reported that Zapata was safe at the home of some relatives, had not been injured during her ordeal, and had said she did not know the whereabouts of her still-missing sister. Meanwhile, Thalia will be seen Saturday night performing on NBC's broadcast of the Hispanic Heritage Awards, taped Sept. 20 at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.