Trump Says Plans to Rename Gulf of Mexico as 'Gulf of America'

 President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
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Trump Says Plans to Rename Gulf of Mexico as 'Gulf of America'

 President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)

Incoming US president Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America" in his latest eye-catching plan as he prepares to take office later this month.

"We're going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring," he told reporters.

"It's appropriate. And Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country."



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.