As he holds his Christmas Eve mass in the vatican. And looking ahead to the inevitably stressful cooking of christmas dinners well be getting tips from a chef from inside his restaurant kitchen. Hello and welcome to bbc news. An icy blast is affecting nearly 250 Million People in the us and canada, as one of the most severe Winter Storms in living memory takes hold with 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 minus 45 celsius. Nomia iqbal reports. For much of america, this is the coldest Christmas Eve. Millions of them had plans to get away for the holidays. But the powerful bomb cyclone has thrown everything into chaos, causing Car Accidents, destroying power lines, leaving millions without electricity. The warning is, dont travel unless you need to. Do
refusal to testify before the january 6th select committee and his failure to turn over documents. let s begin this morning outside the u.s. district court in washington, d.c. cnn political correspondent sara murray is there. how is all of this expected to play out today? reporter: well, you know, look, steve bannon is here in court, we expect this could take a couple of hours. what we know is that steve bannon is trying to get out of any kind of jail time. he was convicted on two counts for refusing to show up for a subpoena to testify before congress and refusing to hand over documents. the government has asked that he spend six months behind bars and they said he should pay a $200,000 fine. now, bannon s team has said, look, at the most he should get probation, he listened to his attorneys advice and if you are going to put him behind bars it should be house arrest only. they are also saying bannon plans to appeal his conviction and they re saying that any punishment he
election day. right now, average polls at half a dozen senate races are within the margin of error. so what moves the needle now? three huge debates are scheduled tonight alone. we go to our reporters live in the field in just a minute. plus, what the biden administration is calling a sham appeal hearing that was over before it started. brittney griner denied her bid to get out of a russian prison. it will no doubt ramp up international pressure on vladimir putin. that may be nothing from the pressure he s getting against his own people. plus, the flu, covid and now rsv. how worried should you be? the answer coming up. but we start with the mid-terms. and let s get specific. new polling shows both ohio and wisconsin senate races are a statistical dead heat. and a tracking poll out of pennsylvania shows john fetterman and dr. oz points apart. tonight s huge debate in pennsylvania provides a critical timed opportunity for both candidates to gain some late momentum. and that
hello and welcome to bbc news. an icy blast is affecting nearly 250 million people in the us and canada, as one of the most severe winter storms in living memory takes hold with 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 minus 45 celsius. nomia iqbal reports. 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 cloud in seconds. the western state of montana is bearing the brunt. temperatures here are the lowest at 50 degrees. residents have been warned to stay indoors, but some are trying to tackle the snow. you need to clear your sidewalks within 2a hours after the storm, so i m out