celebrate christmas. hello and welcome to bbc news. an icy blast is affecting nearly 250 million people in the united states and canada, as one of the most severe winter storms in living memory takes hold, bringing with it snow blizzards, strong winds, and freezing temperatures. at least 19 people have died, hundreds of thousands of american households and businesses are without electricity and thousands of flights have been cancelled. the us state of montana registered a record breaking low of 45 celsius. from washington, nomia iqbal reports. the bomb cyclone has plunged more than half of the bomb cyclone has plunged more than half of this the bomb cyclone has plunged more than half of this country into sub zero temperatures. from coast to coast it has brought blistering storms, blinding snow, power outages, and can turn boiling hot water into a snow in seconds. the western state of montana is bearing the brunt, temperatures here at the lowest of 50 degrees. residents have
annexes that they never made public. and the international community can do a lot of things to hold the taliban accountable, starting from stopping engaging with them to supporting them financially under the name of humanitarian aid and many other reasons, especially the travel ban and not letting the taliban to use the platforms, international platforms for their own benefits. platforms for their own benefits. , ., benefits. 0k, we must leave it there. yalda benefits. 0k, we must leave it there. yalda royan, benefits. ok, we must leave it there. yalda royan, thank- benefits. 0k, we must leave it there. yalda royan, thank youj there. yalda royan, thank you forjoining us on bbc world news. . ~ forjoining us on bbc world news. . ,, , ., let s get some of the day s other news. at least ten people have been killed in south africa after a fuel tanker exploded. the blast apparently happened after the tanker hit a bridge. 40 people were injured in the incident which occurred in boksburg,