GREEN MAG

The Northeast is reeling from extreme snowfall and powerful winds that slammed the region overnight Sunday and throughout the day Monday, prompting blizzard conditions as more than two feet of snow blanketed several states.

The storm hit bomb cyclone status in the early hours of Monday as it strengthened extremely quickly, ramping winds tohurricane-force gustsand intensifying snow bands. Local officials echoedstate of emergencydeclarations and issuedtravel banswhile the tens of millions of people underblizzard warningshunkered down.

The historic storm yielded a myriad of impacts as schoolsacross the regionclosed, both the US House and Senatepostponedthis week's first vote series, major train routes wereadjusted,public transitwas paused and even the popular food delivery serviceDoorDash suspended its operationsin the country's biggest city.

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The storm dwindled by the evening hours, leaving behind a widespread, snow-blasted path – but a forecast for more looms. Here's what you need to know:

• Stunning snow totals: From the Mid-Atlantic to New England, 1 to 3 feet of snow buried communities during the historic blizzard. As of 7 p.m. ET Monday, Providence, Rhode Island, saw the most snowfall with 37.9 inches. The highest totals in other states include Whitman, Massachusetts, with 33.7 inches; Central Islip, New York, with 31 inches; North Stonington, Connecticut, with 30.8 inches; and Lyndhurst, New Jersey, with 30.7 inches. Follow more snow totals across the Northeast here.

• Records broken across the region: The bomb cyclone delivered historic impacts to cities across the Northeast, becoming the biggest snowstorm on record for Providence, Rhode Island. When just over 27 inches had fallen on Newark, New Jersey, around 1 p.m., the snowstorm officially ranked as the city's second-heaviest based on records dating back to 1931. The storm also marked the Big Apple's snowiest winter since the 2020-2021 season. In Philadelphia, snowfall totals marked the most from a single storm since January 2016.

• Potential for more snow: Another chance for snow will materialize for the Northeast not long after this brutal storm. Fortunately, it looks to be quick-hitting without massive snow potential. The new storm will bring some snow to the Great Lakes on Tuesday and reach the Northeast overnight into Wednesday. Most places in the region will see less than two inches, though higher elevations in Pennsylvania, New York and New England might get a few more.

• Dizzying flight cancellations: The monstrous bomb cyclone also wreaked havoc on air travel, with more than 10,000 US flights canceled from Sunday to Tuesday. That includes more than 2,000 cancellations for Tuesday, with the majority concentrated at Boston Logan International Airport, with high levels of disruption also spread across the New York City–area airports, according to FlightAware.

• Widespread power outages persist: Power outages soared through Monday, caused by extreme winds and heavy snow, with close to 400,000 customers out of power at 6:30 a.m. ET. That number hit 650,000 five hours later. Outages across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions appeared to stabilize by 1 p.m. Monday. But some power restoration efforts were delayed because of the very weather that caused them. By early Tuesday, about 375,000 customers were still impacted.

CNN's Chris Boyette, Aaron Cooper, Holly Yan, Alaa Elassar, Zoe Sottile, Hanna Park and meteorologists Mary Gilbert, Briana Waxman and Chris Dolce contributed to this reporting.

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Feb 24 (Reuters) - A little over 540 prisoners ‌have been freed ‌in Venezuela since January 8, ​Alfredo Romero, the director of legal rights NGO Foro Penal, said on ‌Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO: Relatives of detainees and activist speak to the media in Caracas

• Of ⁠the 545 political prisoners released since ⁠January, 91 were freed since an amnesty law ​passed on ​February ​20, Romero ‌said on X.

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• The government claims nearly 2,200 people have been released from Venezuelan jails or ‌had other legal ​restrictions withdrawn ​since ​the start of ‌the new amnesty law.

• ​International ​observers have remained skeptical, citing lack of ​transparency ‌and due process in ​the release process.

(Reporting by ​Reuters staff;)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A group of 11 South African men allegedlylured tofight alongside Russian soldiers in the war against Ukraine are expected to return home soon, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday.

It will bring to 15 the number of South African nationals to have returned after four men arrived in Johannesburg last week following months fighting on the front lines in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

They were allegedly deceived into traveling to Russia under the pretense that they would receive security training.

Two other South Africans remain in Russia, with one in hospital and the other being processed before planned travel home, according to Ramaphosa, who said the repatriations have been facilitated through diplomatic channels following a commitment by Russia's President Vladimir Putin earlier this month.

"The South African government working closely with the Russian government has secured a safe return of the men. The investigation into the circumstances that led to the recruitment of these young men into mercenary activities is ongoing," Ramaphosa said in a statement.

At least three people are being investigated in connection with the men's recruitment to Russia, including Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, the daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma.

She has denied any wrongdoing butresigned as a lawmakerin South Africa's parliament following the claims.

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South Africa's government said in December that it had received distress calls from the men who said they were trapped in Ukraine's war-torn eastern Donbas region.

The men, all aged between 20 and 39, had joined mercenary forces under the pretext of lucrative employment contracts, the government said.

Their travel to Russia appears consistent with otherreports of African menwho have been recruited to fight in the war against Ukraine, including over 1,000 from Kenya, according to an intelligence report presented to the Kenyan parliament last week.

Dozens of Kenyan families have in recent weeks urged the government to bring back loved ones stranded in Russia, with some allegedly forced to fight on the front lines and others held as prisoners of war in Ukraine.

Thulani Mahlangu, a spokesperson and relative of one of the four South Africans who arrived from Russia last week, told The Associated Press that the men had now been released to their homes after questioning by police.

South African citizens are prohibited to fight in foreign armed conflicts without official authorization from the government.

"They were questioned for quite sometime when they arrived here in South Africa because there is still an investigation about how the ended up in Russia. But they were released after talking to the police," said Mahlangu.

Matthew Stockman/Getty

NEED TO KNOW

• Alysa Liu explained the backstory behind her "smiley" lip piercing that was on full display at the 2026 Winter Olympics

• The Team USA figure skater's lip jewelry is only visible when she grins wide enough to reveal her gums

• Liu won a gold medal in the women's single and team event at the 2026 Winter Olympics

Alysa Liuhas a golden smile!

The 20-year-old Team USA figure skater showed off some medal even before winning her medals (two gold medals, to be clear) at the2026 Winter Olympics, where fans got a close-up look at her lip piercing. The athlete also shared the unexpected origin of her look.

During an interview, Liu — who's become synonymous for her incomparable athletic abilities, her perky personality and unique fashion flair — toldtold NBC affiliate TMJ4 Newsabout her lip bling, which is technically known as a frenulum piercing.

Jamie Squire/Getty

"I pierced it a little over two years ago now," she told the outlet ahead of the Winter Games, where she placed first in women's singles and team programs. "I had my sister hold up my lip, and I was looking in the mirror, and I had my piercing needle and then — yeah, I just put it through."

A frenulum piercing passes through a small, thin fold of tissue — aka, the frenulum — connecting two parts of the body, in this case the upper lip to the gums. The jewelry is only seen when the wearer grins wide enough to reveal the gum line, hence the "smiley" nickname.

The piercing isn't the only fashion-forward move Liu rocked at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Her hair also caught the attention of many due to thebold, bleached rings— or as she calls them, "halos" — that wrap around her dark brown locks.

Liu explained the significance behind her unique hairstyle when speaking with media at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships prior to the Winter Games. When asked about whether she plans to keep the look for the Olympics, she confirmed "it'll be the same."

Xue Yuge/Xinhua via Getty

Then Liu shared why she chooses to bleach her dark brown locks in "ring" formation.

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"I do this every year. I add a stripe, so it's going to be like this for a year. Then next year wintertime, like end of December, I do another ring," she said when speaking withNBC New York, who asked about her 'do.

The decorated athlete said her current hairstyle has been three years in the making, which explains why she has three bleached rings in her hair.

"So this one I did at the end of 2023, then did another one in 2024 and 2025," she shared, pointing to each ring as she proudly broke it down.

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Antonin THUILLIER / AFP via Getty

Before winning gold at the 2026 Winter Games, Liu — who retired from figure skating in 2022 before finding joy in the sport again in 2024 — has become a fan favorite of Team USA, beloved for her bold personality and transparency with her fans.

Some may consider her a role model, though Liu said she's not totally convinced, telling PEOPLE, "I don't know if I really want to be a role model, I would say, but I guess I am."

Still, she's fully on board with those who find her alt style iconic: "That's really awesome."

"I'm just doing me," Liu continued, "so, it's cool if I'm inspiring any other people. I just have a certain fashion sense and I'm kind of stubborn with it, so it'll always come through."

Read the original article onPeople

The NFL may be getting closer to allowing replay officials to throw penalty flags during games.

The league's competition committee is discussing this week in Indianapolis the possibility of allowing replay officials to throw flags for non-football acts during games,according to ESPN.

"You don't just want to be expanding the Pandora's box, but we believe that things like the non-football act, you can really, really restrict what that is," NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said. "That's something that we believe that potentially there's a little bit of tweaking in the language, that may be the first step."

Though the chance would be extremely limited, and wouldn't be able to change anything football-related, Vincent noted a pair of incidents from last season in which the rules official would have been able to throw a flag if this were in place.

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The most notable incident came during Super Bowl LX, when New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Josh Jobe got into it on the sideline.Jobe threw a punch that drilled Diggs in the facemaskin the fourth quarter of that game.

The contest continued once the two were separated, and no flag was thrown.

Had the on-site replay official been allowed, they could have thrown a penalty or even ejected Jobe for the punch in the moment. Instead, as nothing was assessed in real time, neither Jobe nor Diggs were penalized.

Vincent was admittedly hesitant about the possible change and knows how frustrating it could be for a player to be hit with a delayed penalty like that during a game.

"That may be the first step in getting to putting flags on the field," he said. "I just think in the era of legalized sports betting, just as a former player, I would've found it very difficult to be at Lincoln Financial [Field], a big play occurred, nothing happened real-time in the stadium and then all of a sudden, 10, 12 or 25 seconds later before the ball snapped again, I see [a flag] on the field before the next snap. I don't know."