Nine people have died in the US as the country grapples with a winter storm that has seen temperatures plunge as low as -45C (-49F).
More than 200 million people – around 60% of the US population – are under some form of weather warning or advisory, with the brutal cold expected to continue through the Christmas weekend.
Image: A person wrapped in a blanket crosses a snow-covered street in St Louis amid the bomb cyclone. Pic: AP
The nine weather-related deaths so far:
• Two deaths as a result of car crashes in Kentucky • A homeless person died in the city of Louisville • Three crashes in Oklahoma killed three people – two of the crashes happened as winds blew the drifting snow, while details of the third crash were not yet available • The driver of a car in Missouri died after losing control on an icy road, going down an embankment, over a cement wall and landing upside down in a creek • One person died in Wisconsin after a pick-up truck drove into the back of another vehicle before leaving the road and hitting a tractor-trailer unit parked on the hard shoulder • A man was found dead on Friday morning in Memphis and, although there are no details, authorities have said it appears the death is weather-related
The Kansas Highway Patrol also said three people were killed in separate vehicle collisions on Wednesday, as the storm began, with drivers losing control of their vehicles on icy roads.
Temperatures across inland states have plunged: -45.6C (-50F) in Montana, and Des Moines in Iowa feeling like -38C (-37F), making it possible to suffer frostbite in less than five minutes, according to the National Weather Service.
Heavy snow and blizzard conditions are continuing around parts of the Great Lakes area – which covers lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario – with as much as 4ft of snow expected on the eastern side of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.
Gusty winds have snapped trees and taken down power lines, with at least 1.4 million homes and businesses without electricity on Friday morning.
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‘Look at my thermometer’: Reporter in US
Biden: ‘This is serious stuff’
According to the website poweroutage.us, Maine, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina were the worst-affected, followed by Tennessee, New York, Maryland, and Connecticut.
More than 5,000 flights into, within and out of the US were cancelled on Friday, and there is a rush to open enough emergency shelters for those who are homeless or have no power at home.
There are also urgent efforts being made to get firewood to some Native American tribes who live remotely, such as members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.
Tribal president Frank Star Comes Out described the efforts as “one heck of a fight so far”.
US President Joe Biden said: “This is not like a snow day when you were a kid – this is serious stuff.”
Image: Near London, Ontario, Canada. Pic: OPP West Region.
Canada is also experiencing a bad storm, which has seen hundreds of flights delayed or cancelled and hundreds of thousands of properties without power.
Ontario Provincial Police Sergeant Kerry Schmidt said police had received reports of up to 100 vehicles involved in multiple collisions that have closed off a major highway near London, Ontario.
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
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Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
Image: US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indianand Israelirepresentatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Image: Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Image: The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.