Brutal cold snap stuns US East Coast after blizzard

A resident cleans her car in Boston, Massachusetts, the United States, on Saturday. A shroud* of bone-chilling* arctic* air covered the U.S. East Coast and Midwest on Saturday, creating dangerous conditions as tens of millions of people struggled to clean up from a blizzard* that dumped* deep, drifting snow in many areas earlier last week.

SD-Agencies

Mahathir, 92, named PM candidate

Malaysia’s opposition coalition on Sunday named 92-year-old former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as its prime ministerial candidate for a general election that must be called by August.

With the country’s most popular opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in jail, Mahathir is seen as the biggest threat for Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is engulfed in a corruption scandal.

Mahathir stands to become the world’s oldest leader if the opposition wins.

Pyongyang reopens inter-Korean hotline

North Korea has reopened a hotline with the South to discuss attending the Winter Olympics, forging ahead with peace overtures* despite taunts* from U.S. President Donald Trump who said he has a “much bigger” nuclear button than Kim Jong Un.

The hotline, which was cut by the North in 2016, was restored after Seoul proposed high-level talks in response to an olive branch from the North’s leader ahead of next month’s PyeongChang Games. The historical high-level talks took place yesterday.

China welcomed and expressed support for efforts by the two sides to improve relations.

Peru bus accident kills at least 48: police

A bus plunged over a seaside cliff* in Peru on January 2, killing at least 48 people after a collision with a truck on a precarious* stretch known as the “devil’s curve,” officials said.

The bus was travelling from Huacho, 130 kilometers north of the capital, to Lima with 55 passengers and two crew on board when it went off the road about midday.

Sydney swelters through its hottest day in decades

Dangerous heat is roasting parts of Australia with temperatures that haven’t been seen in decades.

The temperature in Sydney hit an almost 80-year high of 47.3 degrees Celsius on Sunday — a sharp contrast to the bitter cold that has gripped much of the United States.

The temperature was just shy of the city’s all-time high of 47.8 degrees Celsius, set in 1939.

11 Saudi princes detained following protest

Saudi Arabian authorities have detained 11 princes after they gathered at a royal palace in Riyadh in a rare protest against the government suspending payment of their utility bills*, it was said on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, has introduced reforms that include reducing energy subsidies, introducing value-added tax and cutting some perks* to royal family members to try to cope with a drop in crude prices.(SD-Agencies)