ITALY: A journalist detained in Iran for three weeks was freed today and is heading home, Italian officials announced.

A plane carrying Cecilia Sala took off from Tehran after “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office said.

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

IRELAND: Thousands of people remain without power during a bitter cold spell.

The country was under weather warnings this morning, with temperatures as low as -6°C recorded in parts at 9am.

Temperatures were expected to plummet even further to around — 8°C overnight into Thursday, before conditions begin to improve on Friday and into the weekend.

The Republic is on at least a Status Yellow low temperature and ice warning until midday on Friday, but more severe alerts will also apply to the vast majority of the country.

POLAND: The head of parliament said today that presidential elections will be held on May 18, with a run-off on June 1.

The election will decide whether the pro-European Union Prime Minister Donald Tusk will gain an ally in the presidential palace.

The incumbent right-wing President Andrzej Duda is at odds with the government, blocking legislation and making strongly critical comments. He is to leave office in August, ending his second five-year term. He cannot seek another term, according to Poland’s constitution.

PAKISTAN: Aid trucks carrying medicines, food and other relief supplies for hundreds of thousands of besieged residents reached a remote region in the restive north-west today.

A key highway leading to the Kurram district was closed by authorities over three months ago following violent clashes between rival Shi’ite and Sunni tribes in which at least 130 people have died.

The convoy had been waiting for a security clearance since Saturday, when gunmen opened fire on government vehicles and wounded some officials who were on their way to supervise the supply of aid to Kurram.