Snowy holiday season in the upper midwest and north-east comes as a cold front is expected to hit the south

A powerful winter storm was sweeping east from the Plains on Sunday, driven by what meteorologists describe as an intense cyclone that is expected to impact much of the US with a mixture of snow, ice, rain and strong winds.

“Part of the storm system is getting heavy snow, other parts of the storm along the cold front are getting higher winds and much colder temperatures as the front passes,” said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service (NWS) office in College Park, Maryland. “They’re all related to each other – different parts of the country will be receiving different effects from this storm.”

Hammonton police responded to a report of a midair crash that engulfed one helicopter in flames on Sunday morning

One person is dead and another has been left critically injured after two helicopters crashed in a southern New Jersey town.

Hammonton police chief Kevin Friel said rescuers responded to a report of an aviation crash at about 11.25am. Video from the scene shows a helicopter spinning rapidly to the ground. Police and fire crews subsequently extinguished flames that engulfed one of the helicopters.

Brigitte Bardot, the French 1960s sex symbol who became one of the greatest screen sirens of the 20th century and later a militant animal rights activist, has died. She was 91.

PM Albin Kurti’s Self-Determination party may struggle to win majority after rival parties refused alliance

Voters in Kosovo are casting ballots in an early parliamentary election in the hope of breaking a political deadlock that has gripped the small Balkan nation for much of this year.

The snap vote was scheduled after the prime minister Albin Kurti’s governing Vetëvendosje, or Self-Determination, party failed to form a government despite winning the most votes in a 9 February election.

• Supermaxi yacht crosses finish line after two days and five hours

• Rough conditions have forced 33 yachts to retire

Master Lock Comanche has won Sydney to Hobart line honours for the fifth time after outpointing its supermaxi rivals in a “dogfight” down Tasmania’s east coast.

It was redemption for skippers Matt Allen and James Mayo after the 100ft yacht was forced to retire early in the 2024 race with mainsail damage.

Drummer Chuck Redd decided to cancel his yearly Jazz Jam after Donald Trump added his name to the venue

The president of the Kennedy Center has demanded $1m in damages and fiercely criticized a musician’s sudden decision to cancel a Christmas Eve performance at the venue days after the White House announced that Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility.

“Your decision to withdraw at the last moment – explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure – is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution,” the venue’s president, Richard Grenell, wrote in a letter to musician Chuck Redd that was shared with the Associated Press.

• Master Lock Comanche holds narrow lead over reigning champion

• Wild Thing 100 forced to retire from 80th running of race

Sydney to Hobart leader Master Lock Comanche is keeping a “close eye” on major rival LawConnect as the two supermaxi yachts fight out a tight tussle for line honours.

Comanche held a narrow advantage of four nautical miles over LawConnect, which is aiming for a third straight first-past-the-post win, in Bass Strait at 5.30pm on Saturday.

Sergei Udaltsov, Putin critic affiliated with the Communist party, convicted of justifying terrorism

A court in Russia on Thursday convicted a pro-war activist and critic of Vladimir Putin of justifying terrorism and sentenced him to six years in prison.

Sergei Udaltsov, the leader of the Left Front movement that opposes Putin and is affiliated with the Communist party, was arrested last year.

It was the second-largest lottery windfall in US history, with a lump-sum cash payment option of $834.9m

A Powerball player in Arkansas won a $1.817bn jackpot in Wednesday’s Christmas Eve drawing, ending the lottery game’s three-month stretch without a top-prize winner.

Final ticket sales pushed the jackpot higher than previously expected, making it the second-largest in US history and the largest Powerball prize of 2025, according to www.powerball.com. The jackpot had a lump sum cash payment option of $834.9m.