A massive winter storm, dubbed a bomb cyclone, swept from the US East Coast on Thursday, dumping snow along the coast and bringing strong winds that will usher in possibly record-breaking cold.

Hollywood star Colin Farrell is preparing for his next big role - best man at his brother's gay wedding.

Stanley Kunitz, a former US poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner whose expressive verse, social commitment and generosity to young writers spanned three-quarters of a century, has died. He was 100.