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A life-threatening winter storm brought hazardous conditions to a wide swath of the United States on Sunday, from Texas to New England, prompting warnings to stay off roads, along with mass flight cancellations and power outages.As the storm dumped snow, sleet and freezing rain across the wide expanse, officials cautioned that an Arctic air mass behind the system would see temperatures fall dangerously low for days, prolonging disruptions to daily life.”The snow/sleet impacts will linger well into next week with rounds of re-freezing that keeps surfaces icy and dangerous to both drive and walk on for the foreseeable future,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said.The first storm-related fatalities were also being reported Sunday, with two people in Louisiana confirmed dead of hypothermia, the southern state’s health department said.New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said five people were found dead outside over the weekend in freezing temperatures. While he did not confirm the deaths were weather-related, he told reporters “there is no more powerful reminder of the danger of extreme cold.”The PowerOutage.com tracking site showed over one million customers without electricity as of Sunday afternoon, mostly in the US South where the storm intensified Saturday.In Tennessee, where a band of ice has downed power lines, more than 300,000 residential and commercial customers were without electricity, while Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia — where such storms are less common — each had over 100,000 outages.The outages are particularly dangerous as the South is being walloped by treacherous cold that the NWS warns could set records.Authorities from Texas to North Carolina and New York urged residents to stay home due to the perilous conditions.”Stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary,” Texas’s Emergency Management Division posted on X.The storm was moving Sunday into the northeast, dumping snow and sleet on heavily populated cities including Philadelphia, New York and Boston.At least 20 states and the US capital Washington have declared states of emergency.Residents in the capital Washington awoke to a blanket of several inches of snow on sidewalks and roads, followed by heavy sleet.Federal offices have been preemptively closed for Monday.Several major airports in Washington, Philadelphia, and New York had nearly all flights canceled for the day.Tracking site Flightaware.com showed more than 11,000 Sunday flights canceled in the United States, adding to over 4,000 the day before. Nearly 2,500 Monday flights have already been scrapped.President Donald Trump, who was riding out the storm at the White House, said on his Truth Social platform Saturday: “We will continue to monitor, and stay in touch with all States in the path of this storm. Stay Safe, and Stay Warm!”- Polar vortex -The brutal storm system is the result of a stretched polar vortex, an Arctic region of cold, low-pressure air that normally forms a relatively compact, circular system but sometimes morphs into a more oval shape, sending cold air spilling across North America.Scientists say the increasing frequency of such disruptions may be linked to climate change, though the debate is not settled and natural variability plays a role.But Trump — who scoffs at climate change science and has rolled back green energy policies — questioned how the cold front fit into broader climatic shifts.”WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???” the Republican leader posted.The NWS warned that heavy ice could cause “long-duration power outages, extensive tree damage, and extremely dangerous or impassable travel conditions,” including in many states less accustomed to intense winter weather.Authorities warned of life-threatening cold that could last a week post-storm, especially in the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest, where wind chill lows were forecast to dip to extremes under -50F (-45C).Such temperatures can cause frostbite within minutes. 

The Trump administration faced intensifying pressure Sunday over its mass immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, after federal agents shot dead a second US citizen and graphic cell phone footage again contradicted officials’ immediate description of the incident.Federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, early Saturday while scuffling with him on an icy roadway in the Midwestern city, less than three weeks after an immigration officer fired on Renee Good, also 37, killing her in her car.President Donald Trump’s administration quickly claimed that Pretti had intended to harm the federal agents — as it did after Good’s death — pointing to a pistol it said was discovered on him.However, video shared widely on social media and verified by US media showed Pretti never drawing a weapon, with agents firing around 10 shots at him seconds after he was sprayed in the face with chemical irritant and thrown to the ground.The video further inflamed ongoing protests in Minneapolis against the presence of federal agents, with around 1,000 people participating in a demonstration Sunday.After top officials described Pretti as an “assassin” who had assaulted the agents, Pretti’s parents issued a statement Saturday condemning the administration’s “sickening lies” about their son.Asked Sunday what she would say to Pretti’s parents, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said: “Just that I’m grieved for them.””I truly am. I can’t even imagine losing a child,” she told Fox News show “The Sunday Briefing.”She said more clarity would come as an investigation progresses.US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaking to NBC’s “Meet the Press,” also said an investigation was necessary to get a full understanding of the killing.Asked if agents had already removed the pistol from Pretti when they fired on him, Blanche said: “I do not know. And nobody else knows, either. That’s why we’re doing an investigation.”- ‘Joint’ probe -Their comments came after multiple senators from Trump’s Republican Party called for a thorough probe into the killing, and for cooperation with local authorities.”There must be a full joint federal and state investigation,” Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said.The Trump administration controversially excluded local investigators from a probe into Good’s killing.Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Tim Walz posed a question directly to the president during a press briefing Sunday, asking: “What’s the plan, Donald Trump?” “What do we need to do to get these federal agents out of our state?”Thousands of federal immigration agents have been deployed to heavily Democratic Minneapolis for weeks, after conservative media reported on alleged fraud by Somali immigrants.Trump has repeatedly amplified the racially tinged accusations, including on Sunday when he posted on his Truth Social platform: “Minnesota is a Criminal COVER UP of the massive Financial Fraud that has gone on!”The city, known for its bitterly cold winters, has one of the country’s highest concentrations of Somali immigrants.Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison pushed back against Trump’s claim, telling reporters “it’s not about fraud, because if he sent people who understand forensic accounting, we’d be having a different conversation. But he’s sending armed masked men.”- Court order -Since “Operation Metro Surge” began, many residents have carried whistles to notify others of the presence of immigration agents, while sometimes violent skirmishes have broken out between the officers and protesters.Local authorities have sued the federal government seeking a court order to suspend the operation, with a first hearing set for Monday.Recent polling has shown voters increasingly upset with Trump’s domestic immigration operations, as videos of masked agents seizing people off sidewalks — including children — and dramatic stories of US citizens being detained proliferate.Barack and Michelle Obama on Sunday forcefully condemned Pretti’s killing, saying in a statement it should be a “wake-up call” that core US values “are increasingly under assault.”The former president and first lady blasted Trump and his government as seeming “eager to escalate the situation.”

Sci-fi thriller “Mercy” starring Chris Pratt debuted atop the North American box office with $11 million in ticket sales, ending the five-week reign of “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” industry estimates showed Sunday.Pratt plays a man on trial for murdering his wife in the Amazon MGM Studios film, with his fate in the hands of an artificial intelligence judge.The brutal winter storm hitting a large swath of the United States cut into the weekend totals, according to David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.”Considering the extreme weather that’s closing theaters across two-thirds of the US and keeping people home, it’s a very good opening,” Gross said of “Mercy.””The final numbers may be lower on Monday after we see the effects of the cold and snow.””Avatar: Fire and Ash,” the third installment in James Cameron’s blockbuster fantasy series, came in second in the United States and Canada with another $7 million, Exhibitor Relations said.That puts its domestic box office haul at $378.5 million, with an additional $1 billion overseas, according to Box Office Mojo.Disney’s Oscar-nominated animated film “Zootopia 2” churned along, remaining in third place at $5.7 million and crossing the $400 million mark in the US and Canada.In fourth place at $4.2 million was Lionsgate’s “The Housemaid,” an adaptation of Freida McFadden’s best-selling novel about a young woman who is hired by a wealthy couple with dark secrets.In fifth place was “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” the fourth installment in the zombie horror series, at $3.6 million.Rounding out the top 10 are:”Marty Supreme” ($3.5 million)”Return to Silent Hill” ($3.3 million)”Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” ($2 million in re-release) “Hamnet” ($2 million)”Primate” ($1.6 million)

A major winter storm brought hazardous conditions to a wide swath of the United States on Sunday, from Texas to New England, prompting warnings to stay off roads, along with mass flight cancellations and power outages.As the storm dumped snow, sleet and freezing rain across the wide expanse, officials warned that an arctic air mass behind the system would see temperatures fall dangerously low for days, prolonging disruptions to daily life.”The snow/sleet impacts will linger well into next week with rounds of re-freezing that keeps surfaces icy and dangerous to both drive and walk on for the foreseeable future,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said.The PowerOutage.com tracking site showed over 700,000 customers without electricity as of Sunday morning, mostly in the southern US where the storm began on Saturday.Nearly 250,000 residential and commercial customers were without power in Tennessee, while Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana — where such storms are uncommon — each had over 100,000 outages.Authorities from Texas to North Carolina and New York urged residents to stay home due to the perilous conditions.”Stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary,” Texas’s Emergency Management Division posted on X.The storm was moving Sunday from the south to the northeast, dumping snow on heavily populated cities across the US east coast.At least 20 states and the US capital Washington have declared states of emergency.Residents in Washington awoke to a blanket of several inches of snow on sidewalks and roads, with forecasters predicting a transition into sleet later in the day.Federal offices have been preemptively closed for Monday.Several major airports in Washington, Philadelphia, and New York had nearly all of flights canceled for the day.Tracking site Flightaware.com showed over 10,000 flights canceled in the United States on Sunday adding to over 4,000 the day before.President Donald Trump, who was riding out the storm at the White House, said on his Truth Social platform Saturday: “We will continue to monitor, and stay in touch with all States in the path of this storm. Stay Safe, and Stay Warm!”- Polar vortex -The brutal storm system is the result of a stretched polar vortex, an Arctic region of cold, low-pressure air that normally forms a relatively compact, circular system but sometimes morphs into a more oval shape, sending cold air spilling across North America.Scientists say the increasing frequency of such disruptions of the polar vortex may be linked to climate change, though the debate is not settled and natural variability plays a role.But Trump — who scoffs at climate change science and has rolled back green energy policies — questioned how the cold front fit into broader climatic shifts.”WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???” the Republican leader posted on Truth Social.The NWS warned that heavy ice could cause “long-duration power outages, extensive tree damage, and extremely dangerous or impassable travel conditions,” including in many states less accustomed to intense winter weather.Authorities warned of life-threatening cold that could last a week post-storm, especially in the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest, where wind chill lows were forecast to dip to extremes under -50F (-45C).Such temperatures can cause frostbite within minutes. 

The killing of a US citizen by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on Saturday triggered a wave of criticism, from family members and local leaders to Hollywood stars.Federal agents shot Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, less than three weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and killed Renee Good, also 37, in her car.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Pretti was found to be carrying a pistol and ammunition, but cell phone footage of the incident has raised serious questions about the federal government’s description of the incident.- Local leaders -Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called the shooting “horrific” and demanded state authorities lead the investigation.”The federal government cannot be trusted to lead this investigation. The state will handle it, period,” Walz told a news conference.Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, wrote on X: “The events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing. The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake.””There must be a full joint federal and state investigation. We can trust the American people with the truth.”Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey urged President Donald Trump to end the immigration operation, which has sparked sometimes violent demonstrations.”This is a moment to act like a leader. Put Minneapolis, put America first in this moment — let’s achieve peace. Let’s end this operation,” Frey told a news conference.- Family and colleagues -Pretti’s parents said in a statement he was “a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends.” “The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,” they said.”Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs.”Dimitri Drekonja, chief of the Infectious Diseases Section at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital and a colleague of Pretti, called him “a good kind person who lived to help.”Pretti was a nurse working “to support critically ill Veterans,” he said in a post on the Bluesky social media platform.- Hollywood -Hollywood stars used red carpet appearances at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah on Saturday to denounce the killing.Olivia Wilde said the shooting was “unfathomable.””I can’t believe that we’re watching people get murdered in the street,” she told AFP at “The Invite” premiere.”These brave Americans who have stepped out to protest the injustice of these ICE quote/unquote ‘officers,’ and watching them be murdered — it’s unfathomable. We cannot normalize it.”Natalie Portman, who was promoting “The Gallerist,” became emotional as she described her feelings about a “horrible day.””What is happening in our country is just obscene,” she told AFP.”What (President Donald) Trump and (Homeland Security Secretary) Kristi Noem and ICE are doing to our citizens and to undocumented people is outrageous and needs to end.”- Gun rights groups -Some gun rights advocates — often staunch supporters of the Republican president — raised concerns about the Trump administration quickly linking Pretti’s legal gun possession to an intent to do harm.The Gun Owners of America (GOA) condemned a statement by Bill Essayli, a federal prosecutor in California, who had said on X: “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.””The Second Amendment protects Americans’ right to bear arms while protesting — a right the federal government must not infringe upon,” GOA said in a statement.The National Rifle Association said the sentiment of Essayli’s statement was “dangerous and wrong.””Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens,” it said on X.

The US citizen shot dead by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on Saturday was an intensive care nurse at a local veterans’ hospital who “wanted to make a difference in this world,” family members said.Alex Pretti, 37, was shot and killed while scuffling with immigration officials on an icy roadway in the Midwestern city, less than three weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and killed Renee Good, also 37, in her car.The latest killing sparked fresh protests and rebukes from local officials, who disputed the Trump administration’s quick claims that Pretti intended to harm federal agents as he participated in demonstrations against a sweeping immigration crackdown.Pretti was “a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends” and those he cared for at a Minneapolis Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital, his parents said in a statement on Saturday. “Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact,” his parents said. Dimitri Drekonja, chief of the Infectious Diseases Section at the Minneapolis VA hospital and a colleague of Pretti’s, called him “a good kind person who lived to help.””He had such a great attitude. We’d chat between patients about trying to get in a mountain bike ride together. Will never happen now,” Drekonja wrote on the social media platform Bluesky.He said Pretti was a nurse working “to support critically ill Veterans.”Pretti graduated from high school in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 2006, according to local media reports. He went to nursing school before joining the VA.Trump administration officials have sought to brand Pretti as a violent aggressor but their accounts are contradicted by video, which AFP has not verified, aired widely by US media.Pretti’s parents said their son had stepped in front of a federal agent who shoved a woman protester shortly before his death.They denounced what they called “sickening lies” from the Trump administration and said the gun found on Pretti, which local officials said he was licensed to carry, was not in his hand when he was shot.”Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs,” his parents said in the statement.”He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed.”The family asked the public to “get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.””We are heartbroken but also very angry,” they said.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel defended his country’s military preparedness exercises on Saturday as a deterrent against potential aggression from the United States.US President Donald Trump this month warned that Cuba “is ready to fall” and told Havana to “make a deal” or pay a price similar to Venezuela, whose ousted leader Nicolas Maduro was taken to America by US forces in a January 3 bombing raid that killed dozens of people.Venezuela was a key ally of Cuba and a critical supplier of oil and money, which Trump has vowed to cut off.Diaz-Canel on Saturday supervised military exercises that included a tank unit from Cuba’s armed forces. He was accompanied by Cuban General Alvaro Lopez Miera, who is the minister of the armed forces, and other high-ranking military officials.”The best way to prevent aggression is for imperialism to have to calculate the price of attacking our country,” Diaz-Canel said in remarks broadcast on Cuban television.”And that has a lot to do with our preparation for this type of military action… This takes on significant importance in the current circumstances,” he added.Cuba’s National Defense Council, which is led by Diaz-Canel, recently met “with the objective of increasing and improving the level of preparedness and cohesion” among the country’s leadership, according to an official government statement.The council met to “analyze and approve the plans and measures for transitioning to a State of War,” the statement added, without providing further details.These military exercises are part of the country’s preparation “under the strategic concept of the War of the Entire People,” a term used by authorities for the mobilization of civilians in the event of armed conflict.

Hollywood stars used red carpet appearances at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday to denounce the killing of an American protester who was shot dead on the streets of Minneapolis by federal immigration agents.Actress Olivia Wilde, who was in Park City, Utah, for the premiere of “The Invite,” said the death of a second protester in just three weeks at the hands of federal agents was “unfathomable.””I can’t believe that we’re watching people get murdered in the street,” she told AFP.”These brave Americans who have stepped out to protest the injustice of these ICE quote/unquote ‘officers,’ and watching them be murdered — it’s unfathomable. We cannot normalize it.”Wilde’s comments come after the killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, who died after being pinned to the ground and shot multiple times by federal agents.Pretti’s death came weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and killed Renee Good, also 37, in her car in the city.Wilde, who wore an “ICE OUT” badge, said the US government violence against people exercising their right to free expression was “un-American.””We may have a government that is somehow trying to make excuses for it and legitimize it, but we (Americans) don’t.”Fellow actress Natalie Portman, who was promoting “The Gallerist,” got emotional as she described her feelings over a “horrible day.””What is happening in our country is just obscene,” she told AFP in Park City.”What (President Donald) Trump and (Homeland Security Secretary) Kristi Noem and ICE are doing to our citizens and to undocumented people is outrageous and needs to end.”

A massive winter storm headed towards the northeast United States on Sunday after sweeping across much of the country, threatening tens of millions of Americans with blackouts, transportation chaos and bone-chilling cold.After battering the country’s southwest and central areas, the storm system began to hit the heavily populated mid-Atlantic and northeastern states with snow and freezing rain as a frigid air mass settled in across the nation.”The snow/sleet impacts will linger well into next week with rounds of re-freezing that keeps surfaces icy and dangerous to both drive and walk on for the foreseeable future,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said.Snowfall was reported across the central United States, including Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, where some spots already recorded eight inches (20 centimeters) on the ground by Saturday night, the NWS said.Shoppers stripped supermarket shelves as the weather service forecast huge snowfall in some areas and possibly “catastrophic” ice accumulations.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that up to 240 million Americans could be affected by the storm.At least 20 states and the US capital Washington have declared states of emergency.”Take this storm seriously, folks,” the NWS said on X, predicting an “astonishingly long swath” of snowfall from Colorado to Maine.About 14,000 flights in and out of the United States had been canceled over the weekend, with thousands more delayed, according to tracker FlightAware.In Dallas, which has typically mild temperatures in January, freezing rain pelted the Texas city and the mercury plummeted to 21F (-6C).State officials vowed that the Texas power grid was in better shape than five years ago, when it failed during a deadly winter storm and left millions without power.More than 180,000 US customers were without power as of early Sunday morning, according to tracking site poweroutage.us, with about 45,000 reported in Texas and about 67,000 in neighboring Louisiana.Speaking at the Washington headquarters of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem urged Americans impacted by the weather to “be smart, stay home if possible, take care of your family members, check on your neighbors and continue to work with your local officials.”US President Donald Trump, who was riding out the storm at the White House, said on his Truth Social platform: “We will continue to monitor, and stay in touch with all States in the path of this storm. Stay Safe, and Stay Warm!”- Polar vortex -The brutal storm system is the result of a stretched polar vortex, an Arctic region of cold, low-pressure air that normally forms a relatively compact, circular system but sometimes morphs into a more oval shape, sending cold air spilling across North America.Scientists say the increasing frequency of such disruptions of the polar vortex may be linked to climate change, though the debate is not settled and natural variability plays a role.But Trump — who scoffs at climate change science and has rolled back green energy policies — questioned how the cold front fit into broader climate shifts.”WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???” the Republican leader posted on Truth Social.The NWS warned that heavy ice could cause “long-duration power outages, extensive tree damage, and extremely dangerous or impassable travel conditions,” including in many states less accustomed to intense winter weather.- ‘Five or six minutes’ -New York Governor Kathy Hochul warned residents to stay inside amid frigid conditions: “Five or six minutes outside could literally be dangerous for your health.”She stressed precautions like protecting pipes, using heaters safely, and checking on vulnerable neighbors.Authorities warned of life-threatening cold that could last a week post-storm, especially in the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest, where wind chill lows were forecast to dip to extremes under -50F (-45C).Such temperatures can cause frostbite within minutes. 

In a coffee shop in Greenland’s capital Nuuk, Lykke Lynge looked fondly at her four kids as they sipped their hot chocolate, seemingly oblivious to the world’s convulsions.Since Donald Trump returned to the White House last year with a renewed ambition to seize Greenland, international politics has intruded into the Arctic island’s households. Dictated by the more or less threatening pronouncements of the US president, it has been an unsettling experience for some people here — but everyone is trying to reassure their children.Lynge, a 42-year-old lawyer, relied on her Christian faith. “There’s a lot of turmoil in the world,” she said. “But even if we love our country, we have even higher values that allow us to sleep soundly and not be afraid,” she said.As early as January 27, 2025, one week after Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Greenlandic authorities published a guide entitled “How to talk to children in times of uncertainty?””When somebody says they will come to take our country or they will bomb us or something, then of course children will get very scared because they cannot navigate for themselves in all this news,” said Tina Dam, chief programme officer for Unicef in the Danish territory.- Unanswerable questions -This guide — to which the UN agency for children contributed — recommends parents remain calm and open, listen to their children and be sensitive to their feelings, and limit their own news consumption. As in many parts of the world, social media, particularly TikTok, has become the primary source of information for young people.Today, children have access to a lot of information not meant for them, said Dam — “and definitely not appropriate for their age”, she added.”So that’s why we need to be aware of that as adults and be protective about our children and be able to talk with our children about the things they hear — because the rhetoric is quite aggressive.”But reassuring children is difficult when you do not have the answers to many of the questions yourself.Arnakkuluk Jo Kleist, a 41-year-old consultant, said she talked a lot with her 13-year-old daughter, Manumina. The teenager is also immersed in TikTok videos but “doesn’t seem very nervous, luckily, as much as maybe we are”, she added.”Sometimes there are questions she’s asking — about what if this happens — that I don’t have any answers to” — because no one actually has the answer to such questions, she said.- ‘Dear Donald Trump’ -The Arctic territory’s Inuit culture also helped, said Kleist.”We have a history and we have conditions in our country where sometimes things happen and we are used to being in situations that are out of our control,” said Kleist.”We try to adapt to it and say, well, what can I do in this situation?”Some Greenlandic children and teenagers are also using social media to get their message out to the world.Seven-year-old Marley and his 14-year-old sister Mila were behind a viral video viewed more than two million times on Instagram — the equivalent of 35 times the population of Greenland.Serious in subject but lighthearted in tone, the boy addresses the American president.”Dear Donald Trump, I have a message for you: you are making Greenlandic kids scared.”Accompanied by hard stares, some serious finger-wagging and mostly straight faces, he and his sister go on to tell Trump: “Greenland is not for sale.””It’s a way to cope,” his mother, Paninnguaq Heilmann-Sigurdsen, told AFP of the video. “It’s kid-friendly, but also serious.”I think it’s a balance between this is very serious, but also, this is with kids.”