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Canada’s federal government on Monday gave Marineland conditional approval to sell its 30 imperilled beluga whales to parks in the United States, after rejecting an export request to China.Marineland, a once lucrative tourist attraction near Niagara Falls, has said it is in deep financial trouble, cannot afford to care for the whales, and will be forced to euthanize them if it can’t find them a new home.The park has been mired in controversy for years. Twenty animals, including 19 belugas, have died there since 2019, according to a tally by The Canadian Press.Marineland, which is closed to visitors, thought it had a solution last year when it forged a plan to sell the whales to the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, a lavish theme park in China.Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson rejected that plan, saying it would perpetuate the whales’ exploitation.Marineland presented Ottawa with a new plan last week to sell the 30 whales to a series of parks in the United States.”Today, I met with Marineland regarding their proposal to export the remaining whales to US facilities,” Thompson said in a statement.”I provided conditional approval,” Thompson said, adding that final permits would be granted once Marineland provides additional information.Marineland has said all the beluga deaths at the park resulted from natural causes, but animal welfare officials from the province of Ontario have been investigating the park for several years.

“This is slaughter in the streets,” Stephen McLaughlin says softly, his words hanging in the bitter Minnesota air as he pays his respects to Alex Pretti, the intensive care nurse shot dead by federal border agents on Saturday. Around him, candles burn in the frigid breeze and flowers glaciate at their stems. Pretti, mourners and US media said, died as he had lived — caring for others. Now he is being remembered by strangers who came to honor a life cut violently short.Anger has been simmering in Minneapolis for weeks, sparked after federal agents shot and killed Renee Good on January 7, and deepened when Pretti became the second US citizen killed during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.What had already seemed intolerable now feels, to many in Minnesota’s largest city, unrecognizable.A couple of miles south of downtown Minneapolis, the place where Pretti was killed has been transformed into a makeshift memorial — just a few blocks from a similar shrine marking the spot where Good was shot. Sidewalk snow has been ground hard by mourners’ boots and the street corner has become a space for community: a place to grieve, to gather and to fret about a head-on collision with the Trump administration that has left residents feeling scared and unsafe.Police officers stood nearby Monday as a steady stream of well-wishers — a few dozen at a time — stopped to leave flowers, photographs, candles and handwritten notes. Some paused only briefly, heads bowed in silent reflection or prayer. Others lingered, fighting back tears in the brutal cold for a man they had never met.With the wind chill, it felt like minus eight degrees Fahrenheit — about minus 22 Celsius — but people kept coming. Hands gloved and faces wrapped in scarves, they braved the cold to stand before messages praising the bravery shown by Pretti, who was trying to help a woman who had been shoved to the ground when federal agents dragged him to his knees and shot him dead.”Thank you for your compassion and love towards everyone you cared for,” read one placard, balanced among bouquets, wreaths and other tributes.- ‘This is not America’ -McLaughlin, 68, a retired Minnesotan, said the killing — and the government’s baseless statements smearing Pretti as a terrorist out for blood — had left him shaken.”Corruption is now the rule — you cannot trust the government. It’s frighteningly despicable when you can execute someone in cold blood in the street and then defame them and lie about what happened,” he told AFP.”The world needs to know that. This needs to stop and we need to stop it now. This is slaughter in the streets. This is not America.”The memorial has become more than a marker of grief — it provides a gathering point for a community struggling to reckon with fear, loss and a deepening sense that something fundamental is slipping away.People embraced before moving on, leaving behind flowers, notes and quiet anger. Taylor Stoddart, a 25-year-old business owner, shook her head as she spoke, her voice breaking with emotion.”It’s a lie. I mean it’s terrifying, because we all have eyes, we all saw what happened. We all saw what happened on Saturday and we saw what happened with Renee Good,” she said.”They are trying to tell us not to believe our own eyes. Are you kidding me? It’s really sad and it’s really, really scary.”For Tricia Dolley, a nurse like Pretti, the killing struck especially close to home.”This is not an America that we can live in. That is not what any of us wants, it can’t be,” she said.Others spoke more quietly, struggling to articulate what the moment meant. A Minneapolis resident who asked to be identified only by her first name, Jessica, held back tears as she described why she felt compelled to be there.”What’s happening is an assault on the constitution and the rights of American citizens,” she told AFP. “The freedoms that are being abridged currently are the freedoms that we fought for and are the reason for the American Revolution in the first place.”

A Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota withdrew from the race Monday in protest at the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis that has resulted in two civilian deaths at the hands of federal agents.The rare move highlighted deep political and legal tensions over immigration enforcement that have thrust the Midwestern state and its largest city into the international spotlight.Chris Madel, a Minneapolis attorney known for defending law-enforcement officers, had been seeking the Republican nomination in a crowded field, but criticized his party’s response in the resignation video posted to social media.”I cannot support the national Republicans’ stated retribution on the citizens of our state,” he said, signaling a profound break with the party establishment.”Nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so.”Madel drew widespread attention recently for providing legal counsel to Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman, on January 7.Madel ended his campaign after the killing of nurse Alex Pretti, also 37, who was documenting federal activity in Minneapolis when he was set upon by Border Patrol agents, wrestled to the ground and shot dead.- ‘Nearly impossible’ -Like Good, Pretti was a US citizen and his death intensified criticism of the deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents under “Operation Metro Surge,” prompting legal challenges and political backlash.Madel had presented himself as a defender of public safety and the rule of law, often emphasizing his work representing officers in high-profile cases. Yet he argued that the federal immigration operation ordered by President Donald Trump had broadened far beyond its original focus on serious criminal threats, creating fear among US citizens, especially people of color, and eroding civil liberties.”National Republicans have made it nearly impossible for a Republican to win a statewide election in Minnesota,” Madel said.Following Good’s death, Vice President JD Vance asserted that the ICE officer had “absolute immunity.”Madel’s withdrawal underscores rising internal divisions within the party over immigration policy and federal intervention. Some Republican lawmakers have begun calling for investigations or for a pause in the surge of agents into Minnesota, reflecting discomfort even among the party’s ranks over recent tactics.Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced he would not seek reelection earlier in January, leaving the field open. 

Rapper Kanye West on Monday denied being a Nazi and expressed regret over his antisemitic rants, blaming such behavior — which included recording a song that celebrates Hitler — on his bipolar disorder.The disgraced 48-year-old music star, who has lost fans and business deals in recent years because of his racist or antisemitic outbursts, released his song “Heil Hitler” last May to mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.The song has been banned on major music streaming platforms but is easy to find on the internet. Among other punishment it cost West his visa to travel to Australia.West, who changed his name to Ye and struggled with bipolar disorder for years, said in an open letter published Monday in The Wall Street Journal that when bipolar people are in a manic phase they do not feel sick.”You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely,” said West, whose achievements include winning 24 Grammy awards.In his letter entitled “To Those I’ve Hurt,” he said he sometimes has “disconnected moments” that lead to poor judgment and reckless behavior, describing such instances as feeling like an out-of-body experience.”I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change,” West said.”It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.”In late 2023 West apologized to Jews for having said “I love Nazis.”In 2022 he caused outrage by wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “White Lives Matter,” seen as a racist insult to the Black Lives Matter movement, and by attending a dinner with Donald Trump that included the white supremacist and antisemite Nick Fuentes.

Millions of Americans were facing dangerously cold temperatures Monday in the wake of a massive winter storm that whipped snow and ice across the country, knocking out power and paralyzing transportation.A frigid, potentially life-threatening Arctic air mass threatened to delay clean-up as municipalities from New Mexico to Maine tried to dig out following the storm, which dropped a vicious cocktail of heavy snow and wind along with freezing rain and sleet.Over 780,000 customers remained without electricity, the Poweroutage.com tracking site showed.Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana — southern states unaccustomed to intense winter weather and the bone-chilling cold that’s forecast to continue for much of the next week — were especially impacted.Approximately 190 million people in the United States were under some form of extreme cold alert, the National Weather Service (NWS) told AFP.Areas across 20 states received at least a foot of snow (30.5 cm), and in many cases far more. The NWS said New Mexico’s Bonito Lake accumulated the highest US total over the weekend with 31 inches (78.7 cm).New York’s Central Park received 11.4 inches (29 cm) — breaking a same-day snowfall record from 1905.A compilation of local media reports tallied at least 21 storm-related deaths.NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli told AFP the agency was seeing widespread reports of significant ice accumulation, including in places unaccustomed to severe winter weather.She said this storm recovery was particularly challenging because so many states were impacted — meaning northern states with more resources were unable to share their equipment and resources with less-prepared southern areas.”A lot of those locations don’t have the means or the resources to clean up after these events,” she said. “We’re particularly concerned about the folks in those areas that are without power right now.”Dave Radell, an NWS meteorologist based in New York, told AFP that the character of this storm’s snow was “very dry” and “fluffy,” meaning the wind could lash it around with ease, impeding roadway-clearing efforts and visibility.”That makes it even more challenging,” he said.- Excruciating cold -The snowfall and biting icy pellets that pummeled cities saw impassable roads, canceled buses and trains along with grounded flights — thousands of departures and arrivals were scrapped over the weekend — as concern turned to the hazardous temperatures set to linger for the better part of a week.The brutal storm system was 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 pouring 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.People in the Great Lakes region woke up to extreme temperatures that could cause frostbite on exposed skin within minutes — in parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin, the NWS reported early morning temperatures as low as an excruciating -23F (-30.6C).Forecasted windchills in those areas that make the apparent temperature even more frigid could hit as low as -50F (-45.6C), the weather authority said.As far south as the Gulf Coast was expected to see freezing temperatures each night into the end of the week.At least 20 states and the US capital Washington were under states of emergency in order to deploy emergency personnel and resources.Many cities had opened warming centers for those without shelter or without power to take refuge, and authorities across the country were continuing to encourage residents who could to stay home.

Donald Trump is likely facing the second government shutdown of his presidency after a fatal shooting by US immigration agents detonated a fragile budget truce in Congress and unified Democrats against funding his hardline immigration crackdown.Until the weekend, the president and Republican leaders appeared close to averting a lapse in funding at the end of the week. The House of Representatives had passed the remaining funding bills for fiscal year 2026, and Senate Republicans were quietly confident they could secure enough Democratic votes to push the package through before Friday night’s deadline.That calculation collapsed after Saturday’s killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, during a confrontation with federal agents in Minneapolis — the second fatal shooting by immigration officers in the city this month.His death has become a political flashpoint in Trump’s immigration crackdown, triggering an unusually broad backlash that now threatens to shut down large parts of the federal government.Numerous departments would be affected, including defense, health, labor, transportation, housing and, crucially, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as Customs and Border Protection (CBP).Democrats say they will no longer provide the votes needed to advance the six-bill funding package if it includes DHS money without new guardrails on immigration enforcement.”This brutal crackdown has to end. I cannot and will not vote to fund DHS while this administration continues these violent federal takeovers of our cities,” Democratic Virginia Senator Mark Warner said on X.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer formalized the Democratic position Saturday, saying his party would block the funding package if it includes the DHS bill, which he described as “woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of (ICE).”- ‘Uncharted territory’ -The White House and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have portrayed Pretti’s killing as an act of self-defense, initially claiming — against all evidence — that he approached agents brandishing a handgun, intent on a “massacre.” Multiple witness videos contradict that account, appearing to show Pretti holding a phone while recording, rushing to help a civilian who was shoved to the ground, and being sprayed with chemical irritant before being dragged to his knees, beaten, disarmed and then shot dead.Pretti was licensed to carry a concealed weapon, local law enforcement and his family said.For Trump, the standoff risks reviving memories of last year’s record-length shutdown — which disrupted travel, delayed paychecks and bruised the administration politically — and underscores how his aggressive immigration push is colliding with the basic mechanics of keeping the government open.The Republican leader struck a conflicted tone when asked about the incident, saying, “I don’t like any shooting,” while also criticizing armed protesters. He said Monday he was sending his point man for border security to Minneapolis, which is around 300 miles (480 kilometers) from the US-Canada frontier and 1,400 miles from Mexico.But state and city leaders have demanded the immediate withdrawal of federal officers and an independent investigation, saying Minnesota authorities have been excluded from the probe. “We’re in uncharted territory here,” Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said.The fallout has rattled Republicans as well. The party’s House lawmakers have asked for testimony from immigration agency heads, and for a federal withdrawal from Minneapolis, while several senators — including longtime Trump allies — have called for investigations, in an unusual break with the administration. Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy called Pretti’s shooting “incredibly disturbing,” warning that “the credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake,” while Pete Ricketts of Nebraska urged a “prioritized, transparent investigation.”Despite the growing unease, Republican leaders are pressing ahead with the funding package as written. Separating the DHS bill — Democrats’ preferred off-ramp — would require new votes in the House, which is out of Washington this week, making a temporary shutdown look highly likely.

US President Donald Trump dispatched his top border official Monday to Minnesota in a bid to regain control over an escalating crisis sparked by the second killing of a protester against his administration’s militarized immigration raids.Trump said that Tom Homan, his point man for border security, would arrive in the state later and “will report directly to me.”Minneapolis has become ground zero in the clash between Trump and growing numbers of Americans over his nationwide immigration crackdown.Trump’s deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, described the city on Fox News as a “powder keg.”Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has been transformed under Trump into the United States’ most heavily funded law enforcement body. But polls show growing anger over its frequently brutal tactics.A huge rally took place despite bitter cold in Minneapolis on Friday to protest the raids and the point blank shooting by an ICE agent of protester Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three on January 7.Then on Saturday, immigration agents gunned down Alex Jeffrey Pretti, also 37, after having already tackled him to the ground. Like Good, the intensive care unit nurse was a US citizen.More rallies erupted after his death in Minneapolis, New York and other major cities.Opening a new front in the crisis, a federal judge in Minneapolis was hearing arguments Monday on whether the deployment of federal officers — often masked, heavily armed and unidentified — violates the state of Minnesota’s sovereignty.And in Congress, Democrats are threatening to hold up funding for the US government unless immigration enforcement agencies are reformed.- Trump defends tactics -Trump has so far dismissed concerns.The 79-year-old Republican’s first reaction to Pretti’s killing was to suggest that the nurse had come intending to shoot at the police.Pretti was carrying a pistol with him at the time but never removed it and had apparently already been disarmed when he was shot multiple times at point-blank range. He was licensed to carry a weapon.Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Sunday accused Trump of pushing a “flat-out insane” narrative.Trump repeated the insinuation that Pretti was to blame when he told The Wall Street Journal on Sunday: “I don’t like any shooting… but I don’t like it when somebody goes into a protest and he’s got a very powerful, fully loaded gun.”White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt indicated Homan would not focus on Pretti’s killing and instead lead efforts to arrest “criminal illegal aliens” and tackle alleged fraud by Somali immigrants — racially charged claims fueling the crackdown.Blanche told Fox News “it is extraordinarily important that we do not jump to conclusions,” while describing the incident as “a very violent altercation.”- Republican criticism -In Monday’s court action the judge was hearing arguments from state and city lawyers that the federal deployments amount to an occupying force. Also under consideration was a bid to force federal officials to preserve evidence related to Pretti’s killing.The lawsuits highlight the deep rift between local and federal law enforcement over the deployment, dubbed “Operation Metro Surge.”Trump’s immigration raids have focused deliberately on Democratic-run cities, pitting mayors and governors against the president.Local police have repeatedly confronted federal agents and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has even suggested he could call out the state’s National Guard to push back against Trump’s forces.Trump will also be watching signs of growing disenchantment from his Republican Party in Congress. The party is usually in lockstep with Trump but it has only a slender majority.One of the most prominent cautions came from House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer, who signaled Sunday that federal agents should withdraw from Minneapolis — an intervention that would normally be unheard of from a figure considered one of Trump’s staunchest loyalists.Trump told the Journal that the immigration agents would leave Minneapolis “at some point.”

The horrific knife attack that almost killed Salman Rushdie was an example of violence unleashed by unscrupulous political leaders, the author said Sunday, warning that “everybody’s in danger now” in the increasingly febrile United States. Speaking at the premiere of the documentary “Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie,” the writer pointed to events unfolding across the country, where a second protester was shot dead by federal agents 24 hours earlier.”The idea of danger and violence is close to everyone now in this country,” he told AFP at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.”I think everybody’s in danger now.” The film, directed by documentarian Alex Gibney, is the companion piece to Rushdie’s “Knife,” a memoir recounting the harrowing 2022 attack and its aftermath.The British-American author was at an event in Chautauqua, New York when 24-year-old Hadi Matar leapt onto the stage and stabbed him 15 times.The brutal assault left Rushdie with life-changing injuries, including the loss of his right eye.The comments on political violence come as President Donald Trump has surged militarized immigration raids into American cities, notably Minneapolis where federal agents have shot dead two US citizens this month. A man was arrested at Sundance on Saturday after allegedly punching Congressman Maxwell Frost in the face and screaming that Trump was going to deport him, the Florida lawmaker said on X.- Fatwa -Gibney’s film uses graphic video of the assault on Rushdie, shot by event organizers and attendees, as well as intimate footage filmed by his wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, over six weeks as the author lay in hospital grievously wounded.It also mixes in archival news reports and interviews with Rushdie detailing the furor in the Islamic world that greeted the publication of his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses.”The following year, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, telling Muslims worldwide it was their religious duty to kill Rushdie.For over a decade the author lived in hiding, protected by the British government, until a deal was reached in which the fatwa was officially rescinded in exchange for Britain’s granting diplomatic recognition to Tehran.As the immediate risk appeared to recede, Rushdie re-emerged, becoming something of a celebrity and continuing to create successful literary fiction.But the threat against him never vanished, and the animosity some bore him remained. – ‘Authoritarian’ -Hadi, who was sentenced last year to 25 years for attempted murder and assault, told a reporter before his trial that he believed Rushdie had “attacked Islam.” He admitted he had only read two pages of “The Satanic Verses.”Rushdie said the brutal attack on him was an example of a “larger thing.””Violence is that thing, violence unleashed by the unscrupulous using the ignorant to attack… culture.”For the authoritarian, culture is the enemy. Whether that’s journalism or universities or music or writing… the uncultured and ignorant, and the radical don’t like it, and they take steps against it, which we see every day.”Rushdie’s comments come in the wake of a crackdown Trump has launched on higher education, in an effort to stamp out what he claims is a “liberal bias” in university teaching.Trump also routinely derides journalism and journalists, blasting any report he disagrees with as “fake news,” while conservative US states increasingly ban books from school libraries.The Booker-Prize winning author said the film as conceived was not intended as a commentary on the here and now.”When you’re making the film, you’re making the film, and then the world does what it does, and sometimes the two things run into each other,” he said.”I’m now beginning to think that maybe the film is here at a kind of apposite moment, that maybe all of us now are feeling the risk of violence.”The Sundance Film Festival runs until February 1.

Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday downplayed US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat against Canada, saying the comments should be viewed with an eye toward an upcoming trade deal review.Asked about Trump’s threat to impose 100-percent tariffs on Canadian imports should Ottawa finalize a new trade deal with China, Carney told reporters that the North American free trade deal is up for review this year and “the president is a strong negotiator.””I think some of these comments and positioning should be viewed in the broader context of that,” Carney said. Trump has so far adhered to most of the existing United States-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA), which the president negotiated and praised during his first term.Canada has been hit hard by Trump’s sectoral tariffs — especially in the auto, steel and aluminum sectors — but more than 85 percent of bilateral US-Canada trade has remained tariff free through the ongoing trade war.Substantial changes to the USMCA could upend the Canadian economy.  The USMCA review set for the first half of this year comes as Trump has escalated his rhetorical attacks on Carney.The Canadian prime minister delivered a blistering denunciation of US global leadership at last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, earning a rare standing ovation and capturing global headlines. Trump shot back in his own Davos address, telling Carney to watch his words, as “Canada lives because of the United States.” Carney slapped down that claim but has broadly sought caution when replying to Trump’s inflammatory remarks.Trump called Carney “governor” in a social media post over the weekend, reviving an insult he directed at former prime minister Justin Trudeau — who Trump said was leading the 51st US state, rather than an independent country.Carney was asked Monday if he was offended by being called governor.”In this role, you get called a lot of things,” Carney said. “I’m not going to comment on every tweet…I can handle it.” 

A monster storm barreling across the United States had killed at least 11 people on Monday, prompting warnings to stay off the roads, mass flight cancelations and power outages after a weekend of misery.The storm dumped snow, sleet and freezing rain across swathes of the country from Texas to New England, with temperatures set to fall dangerously low this week.New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said five people were found dead outside over the weekend, telling reporters “there is no more powerful reminder of the danger of extreme cold.”In Texas, authorities confirmed three deaths, including a 16-year-old girl killed in a sledding accident.Two people died in Louisiana from hypothermia, the southern state’s health department said.Meanwhile, one person was killed and two others injured Saturday during a winter weather related collision in southeast Iowa, according to local State Patrol.The PowerOutage.com tracking site showed more than 820,000 customers without electricity as of Monday, mostly in the US South where the storm intensified on Saturday.In Tennessee, where a band of ice has downed power lines, more than 250,000 residential and commercial customers were without electricity, while Louisiana and Mississippi — where such storms are less common — each had over 100,000 outages as of Monday.The outages are particularly dangerous as the South is being walloped by treacherous cold that the National Weather Service 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 Monday through the US northeast and southeast Canada, with some areas in Toronto seeing record-breaking snowfall.At least 20 states and the US capital Washington have declared states of emergency.Federal offices have been preemptively closed for Monday and several major airports in Washington, Philadelphia and New York had nearly all flights canceled for the day.Tracking site Flightaware.com showed more than 19,000 flights into and out of the country had been scrapped since Saturday.In Maine, a small aircraft carrying eight passengers crashed on takeoff Sunday evening at Bangor International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported.It was not immediately clear if the crash was weather-related or the conditions of the passengers.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.