been found dead at an indian hotel. at least 62 people have been killed in winter storms sweeping across north america. us officials are calling it the blizzard of the century , with an extra nine inches of snow expected during the day in new york state , where the city of buffalo has borne the brunt of the arctic conditions. the storm has affected a vast area , from canada in the north , down through the us , and reaching mexico. president biden has approved emergency measures , allowing financial support for new york state. this is the scene live you can see it is very great and cold but from people we have spoken to it through the course of the day the weather added little better today allowing some of those rescue efforts to get under way. it stopped snowing and it is bitterly cold. i can show you some pictures from the other side of the country. it is los angeles airport but thousands of flights cancelled at around 11 in the morning. a lot of people in the wrong place
the un tells the taliban to reverse its decision banning afghan women working for humanitarian agencies after five major organisations suspend their work in afghanistan. hello and welcome to bbc news. we start in america where at least 50 people are now known to have died due to the severe arctic freeze, that continues to affect the us and canada. one of the worst hit areas is the city of buffalo, in new york state, where the governor called the storm an epic, once in a lifetime event . the bbc s, emily unia, has the latest. the arctic storm pummelling the us and canada caused christmas chaos for millions. thousands of flights were cancelled, and roads and railways were closed or impassible, preventing people from reaching friends and family. emergency services battled treacherous conditions to carry out rescues. fatalities have been confirmed across the us. one of the worst hit areas was new york state, especially in buffalo and hamburg in erie county. snow blanketed st
horrific and shocking police describe the murder of 87 year old thomas o halloran, stabbed while riding his mobility scooter in west london. officers call it an unprovoked attack . more than 4,000 people given contaminated blood in the 70s and 80s will receive compensation of £100,000 each, but campaigners say many grieving families have been ignored. pollution warnings issued for nearly 50 beaches around england and wales, with untreated sewage being discharged into coastal waters. the two tory party leadership rivals attack the northern ireland protocol as they vie for votes at election hustings in belfast. and nasa rolls out the rocket which it hopes will put humans back on the moon for the first time in half a century. an increase in food and drink prices has pushed inflation to double digits as the cost of living crisis intensifies. the office for national statistics says the rise in the price of goods is now at its highest rate for more than a0 years. inflation hit
ambassador is arrested on the same day the uk announces new sanctions against the military regime. more calls for the government to step in as the cap on energy prices is set to triple, compared to a year ago. and we ll hear from a french politican who says britain is threatening france s coastal waters, by dumping raw sewage into the sea. we start in ukraine, where there are growing fears of a nuclear accident at the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is held by russian forces. in the past few hours the nuclear plant has been temporarily disconnected from ukraine s electricity grid for the first time ever, because of a fire. the zaporizhzhia plant is the biggest in europe. it sits on the south bank of the dnieper river in the country s east, on the front line of the war. russian forces took the site just after the invasion of ukraine began. since then, it s been under moscow s control but run by a team of ukrainian staff. there are reports up to 9,000 ukrainians work