A blizzard with hurricane-force winds brought much of the US East Coast to a standstill today, dumping as much as three feet of snow, stranding tens of thousands of travellers and shutting down Washington and New York City.

An immense, powerful cyclone that lashed the Indian coast, forcing 500,000 people to evacuate and causing widespread damage.

The strongest cyclone to threaten India in more than a decade is approaching its east coast as authorities drove tens of thousands of villagers from their coastal homes to government shelters inland.