Tornado, Severe Thunderstorm Cause Damage in Oklahoma City Area

FILE - Local residents walk among the debris from tornado damaged homes, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
FILE - Local residents walk among the debris from tornado damaged homes, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
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Tornado, Severe Thunderstorm Cause Damage in Oklahoma City Area

FILE - Local residents walk among the debris from tornado damaged homes, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
FILE - Local residents walk among the debris from tornado damaged homes, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

A tornado and severe thunderstorm struck the Oklahoma City area early Sunday, causing an unspecified amount of damage, according to weather forecasters and local media.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, The Associated Press reported.
More than 53,000 customers were without power in the state, according to PowerOutage.us. The damage in one neighborhood included scattered parts of trees and a flipped car, KOCO-TV reported.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for the area Sunday morning. A social media post by the agency's office in Norman, Oklahoma, shortly before 1:30 a.m. reported a severe thunderstorm with a tornado moving through eastern Oklahoma City toward Midwest City and Tinker Air Force Base.
The post warned, “If you’re in the path of this storm, take cover immediately!”



Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Released from Iran and Returning Home

This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
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Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Released from Iran and Returning Home

This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)

An Italian journalist detained in Iran since Dec. 19 and whose fate became intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer wanted by the United States was freed Wednesday and is heading home, Italian officials announced.

A plane carrying Cecilia Sala took off from Tehran after “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels,” Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office said, adding that Meloni had informed Sala's parents of the news.

There was no immediate word from the Iranian government on the journalist’s release.

Sala, a 29-year-old reporter for the Il Foglio daily, was detained in Tehran on Dec. 19, three days after she arrived on a journalist visa. She was accused of violating the laws of the country, the official IRNA news agency said.

Italian commentators had speculated that Iran was holding Sala as a bargaining chip to ensure the release of Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport three days before on Dec. 16, on a US warrant.

The US Justice Department accused him and another Iranian of supplying the drone technology to Iran that was used in a January 2024 attack on a US outpost near the Syrian-Jordanian border that killed three American troops.

He remains in detention in Italy.