A winter storm sent mercury plunging across the Southern Plains, prompting a power emergency in Texas a day after flights were cancelled and traffic affected across large parts of the US.
Rotating power cuts were initiated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or Ercot, early on Monday morning.
Thousands went without electricity for short periods as the temperature fell below 0°C near Dallas and Houston.
“We urge Texans to put safety first,” Ercot, which manages the flow of electricity in the state, said on Twitter as it urged residents to use less energy.
“Traffic lights and other infrastructure may be temporarily without power,” it said.
The council described the rotating cuts as a “last resort to preserve the reliability of the electric system as a whole”.
It said utility companies would determine how to reduce demand on the system.
“Every grid operator and every electric company is fighting to restore power right now,” said Ercot president and chief executive Bill Magness.
The rotating cuts were expected to last throughout Monday morning.
More than 1.6 million customers were in the dark as of 5am local time, said poweroutage.us, a utility tracking site.
About 5,000 Oklahoma Gas and Electric customers were without power overnight, and Entergy Arkansas logged about 3,000 cuts. Both states have much smaller populations than Texas.
Officials in Houston warned people to prepare for cuts and dangerous roads in conditions similar to what residents might experience after a Category-5 hurricane.
“There have been numerous reports of accidents from icing recently,” National Weather Service lead forecaster Bob Oravec said on Monday.
“I think there’s going to be a big threat today as the system pushes north-eastward.”
Up to 30 centimetres of snow was expected across parts of the Southern Plains into Monday, said Marc Chenard, a forecaster with the weather bureau.
The region was preparing for the winter weather for most of the weekend.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for all 254 of the state’s counties.
Mr Abbott, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson activated National Guard units to assist state agencies with tasks including rescuing stranded drivers.
US President Joe Biden also declared an emergency in Texas in a statement on Sunday night.
The declaration is intended to add federal aid to state and local responses.
More than 760 flights were cancelled at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and at Dallas Love Field most of the nearly 200 flights for Southwest Airlines, the airport’s main carrier, were cancelled on Sunday.
American Airlines said about 345 of its flights through DFW Airport, its base, were cancelled by early Sunday afternoon.
The airline said the storm was also affecting its flights across the region, with operations reduced and cancelled at airports in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Company%20Profile
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Honeymoonish
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Griselda
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UK%20record%20temperature
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Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
THE%C2%A0SPECS
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SPECS
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar