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
crucially temperatures continuing to drop. a 2a, 20 5 degrees, a degree or two higher than we would expect forjuly. 2a, 20 5 degrees. the odd heavy, thundery showers towards the south on friday, temperatures build once again over the weekend, close to 30 across the south and south east. and that s bbc news at six on wednesday the 20th ofjuly, you can keep up with all the latest developments on bbc website. from the hello i m 0lly foster, here s what s coming up on sportsday this evening. can the england lionesses keep their winning run going, they face spain for a place in the semi finals of the women s european championship? i mjane i m jane dougal in i mjane dougal in brighton ahead of england quarterfinal match in spain where they ve been given a boost with their manager back in the dugout. we ll head live to oregon after an historic night for british athletics at the world championships. jake wightman storming to victory in the 1500 metres i kept expecting somebody to
Politics. The Us Government could runs out of money at midnight saturday, House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy unable to contain the most fervent trump republicans in his caucus. Is donald trump pulling the strings, intent on Sewing Dysfunction . The former president is in South Carolina this hour, emboldened by new polling which shows him getting stronger. We will put that to our panel the guardians Whitehall Editor Rowena Mason and ian bremmer, the president and founder of the eurasia group. Theyll give us a view on the crisis facing armed policing on both sides of the pond. And Industrial Action in the midwest, more train strikes here britain. Is it purely a cost of living crisis or is the system rigged against the ordinary worker . Good evening. There is no disputing that, despite all his legal problems, President Trump is the front runner in the republican president ial primary and running joe biden close in National Polling 14 months out. This poll has them neck and neck, both at 46 . Th