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Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

UN Security Council demands Houthis halt Red Sea attacks A report says the Kremlin is using African gold to help fund its war on Ukraine. And the coming year will test democratic rule as an estimated 4 billion people in more than 50 nations - almost half the world’s population - are set to vote.

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday launched impeachment proceedings against a top immigration official in the Biden administration. The unusual move comes as a bipartisan group of senators negotiates a deal that would rework immigration laws in exchange for votes authorizing more aid to Ukraine and Israel. VOA's congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

WINDHAM, New Hampshire — Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said Wednesday that he was ending his Republican presidential bid just days before Iowa's leadoff caucuses.  "My goal has never been to be just a voice against the hate and division and the selfishness of what our party has become under Donald Trump," Christie said at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire.  "I've always said that if there came a point in time in this race where I couldn't see a path to accomplishing that goal, that I would get out," he said. "And it's clear to me tonight that there isn't a path for me to win the nomination, which is why I'm suspending my campaign tonight for president of the United States."  It wasn't clear whether Christie would be immediately endorsing one of his rivals, but he was overheard criticizing former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley on a livestream set up by his campaign ahead of the event.  "She's going to get smoked," he said. "She's not up to this."   He said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called him, petrified he would endorse Haley, but the hot mic was cut before Christie finished speaking.  Counting on New Hampshire The dropout came as a surprise, given that Christie had staked the success of his campaign on New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary, which is less than two weeks away. He had insisted as recently as Tuesday night that he had no plans to leave the race, continuing to cast himself as the only candidate willing to directly take on the former president.  "I would be happy to get out of the way for someone who is actually running against Donald Trump," he said at a town hall session in Rochester, New Hampshire, while arguing that none of his rivals had taken on the former president. But Christie faced a stark reality: While recent polls showed him reaching the double digits in New Hampshire, Haley shows signs of momentum. A CNN/University of New Hampshire poll conducted in the state this week found Trump's lead down to the single digits, with four in 10 likely Republican primary voters choosing Trump and about one-third choosing Haley.  Allies of Haley, including New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and other anti-Trump Republicans, had been urging Christie to exit, hoping a large portion of his supporters would flock to Haley, giving her a chance to turn the race into a two-candidate contest with Trump, the overwhelming favorite for the nomination.  The New Hampshire poll — which showed Christie at 12% — found about two-thirds of his supporters would select Haley as their second choice.  Christie had run as the race's fiercest critic of the former president. He warned voters against nominating a candidate who has been criminally indicted four times and could very well be a convicted felon by the November general election. And he argued Trump would lose in a rematch with President Joe Biden, the likely Democratic nominee.  While his anti-Trump message attracted much media attention and helped bring in waves of small-dollar donations that kept him in the race — and on the debate stage — far longer than many expected, Christie was plagued by high unfavorability ratings in a party that remains deeply loyal to Trump.  He also remained mired in the single digits in national polling.  Frugal campaign Nonetheless, Christie managed to outlast far better-known and better-funded candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, in part because he ran a frugal campaign. Instead of flying by private jet and hiring a litany of expensive consultants, he relied on a tight-knit staff of just over a dozen people and spent far lower per day than rivals like DeSantis.  And just as he did when he ran in 2016, Christie banked his campaign on New Hampshire, believing his brash "tell it like it is" style would resonate with the state's more independent-leaning voters, including those who are unaffiliated with a party and can vote in the Republican primary.  He also campaigned in South Carolina and hoped to emerge as the last man standing against Trump after the early state contests.  Christie had long insisted that he had no plans to leave the race before New Hampshire's primary on January 23 and appeared on track to perform better than he had in 2016, when he finished in sixth place with just 7% of the vote.  At the town hall Tuesday, he delivered a sharply worded rebuttal to those calling on him to drop out to clear the path for Haley, arguing that she wasn't even trying to beat the front-runner.  "I have no interest in being a spoiler for someone who wants to beat Donald Trump," he said. "But if you'd be willing to be his vice president? If you'd pardon him if you became president? If you'd vote for him even if he's a convicted felon ... I mean, geez, really?"  Christie asked the crowd to imagine what would happen if he dropped out to support Haley and then she agreed to serve as Trump's running mate.  "What will I look like? What will all the people who supported her at my behest look like?" he asked. "You know, I made that mistake once eight years ago. I made an endorsement decision based on politics eight years ago when I supported Trump. I'm not going to make the same mistake again. Can't do it."  Once a Trump asset The campaign in many ways felt like a mission of redemption for the former governor, who arguably did more than any other Republican to help Trump win the presidency when they faced each other in 2016.  During that contest, Christie delivered a fatal blow to rival candidate Marco Rubio during a debate that came just as the Republican establishment appeared to be coalescing around the senator from Florida as a Trump alternative. No other candidate ever emerged in his place.  Then, after Christie dropped out, he became the first major Republican figure to endorse Trump during a surprise press conference. He went on to lead Trump's White House transition operation — before he was unceremoniously fired — and to serve as an on-again-off-again adviser, including preparing Trump for the debates against Biden.  It was during one of their 2020 debate prep sessions that Christie believes Trump gave him COVID-19, putting Christie in the hospital in intensive care.  But it wasn't until the night of the 2020 election that Christie, who had been friends with Trump and his wife for 20 years, broke with the then-president after Trump falsely claimed victory long before all the votes had been counted. Christie later penned a book that was deeply critical of the former president.  Beyond his focus on Trump, Christie had argued that abortion restrictions should be left to the states until there is broader consensus on the issue, and he had advocated for continued U.S. support for Ukraine in its efforts to stave off Russia's invasion. He visited both Ukraine and Israel, where he toured a kibbutz that was ravaged in the October 7 rampage by Hamas militants and said the U.S. must stand "shoulder to shoulder" with Israel. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

washington — An ancient species of great ape was likely driven to extinction when climate change put their favorite fruits out of reach during dry seasons, scientists reported Wednesday.  The species Gigantopithecus blacki, which once lived in southern China, represents the largest great ape known to scientists — standing 10 feet tall and weighing up to 650 pounds.  But its size may also have been a weakness.  "It's just a massive animal – just really, really big," said Renaud Joannes-Boyau, a researcher at Australia's Southern Cross University and co-author of the study published in the journal Nature. "When food starts to be scarce, it's so big it can't climb trees to explore new food sources."  The giant apes, which likely resembled modern orangutans, survived for around 2 million years on the forested plains of China's Guangxi region. They ate vegetarian diets, munching on fruits and flowers in tropical forests, until the environment began to change.  The researchers analyzed pollen and sediment samples preserved in Guangxi's caves, as well as fossil teeth, to unravel how forests produced fewer fruits starting around 600,000 years ago, as the region experienced more dry seasons.  The giant apes didn't vanish quickly, but likely went extinct sometime between 215,000 and 295,000 years ago, the researchers found.  While smaller apes may have been able to climb trees to search for different food, the researchers' analysis shows the giant apes ate more tree bark, reeds and other non-nutritious food.  "When the forest changed, there was not enough food preferred by the species," said co-author Zhang Yingqi of China's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.  Most of what scientists know about the extinct great apes comes from studying fossil teeth and four large lower jaw bones, all found in southern China. No complete skeletons have been found.  Between around 2 and 22 million years ago, several dozen species of great apes inhabited Africa, Europe and Asia, fossil records show. Today, only gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans and humans remain.  While the first humans emerged in Africa, scientists don't know on which continent the great ape family first arose, said Rick Potts, who directs the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and was not involved in the study. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

NATO's common budget is governed by its member countries’ collective decisions and serves the interests of the alliance as a whole.

TALLINN, Estonia — Belarus state television reported Wednesday that authorities sent a recently arrived group of Ukrainian children from occupied Ukraine to train with the Belarusian military to learn how to evacuate in the event of a fire. Ukraine and the Belarusian opposition allege that Russian ally Belarus is engaging in the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children to Belarus on a mass scale, which critics say is a campaign to indoctrinate the children as pro-Russian. Wednesday's report referred to 35 children from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Antratsyt in eastern Ukraine that Belarusian authorities said were sent to the eastern Belarusian city of Mogilev. The Belarus1 state television channel said the children are being housed in a sanatorium and are being cared for by employees from the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The military is "teaching the children how to behave in extreme situations," the state television channel said. Children wear Russian flag More than 2,400 Ukrainian children aged 6 to 17 have been brought to Belarus from four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Russian troops, a recent Yale University study found. The Belarusian opposition has called on the International Criminal Court to bring Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and officials in his government to justice for their involvement in the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children to Belarus. State television footage released Wednesday showed the Ukrainian children wearing the Russian flag sewn onto their sleeves. The state television program said the Belarusian military is conducting "emergency survival training" for the children. During the report, screams were heard in a smoke-filled room while the program showed the children learning to leave during a fire while holding onto the wall. "This is not just dry theory, but our classes are conducted in a playful format and are aimed at children," said Evgeniy Sokolov, inspector of the Mogilev military training center for the Ministry of Emergency Situations. 'Children are being indoctrinated,' says activist Ukrainian authorities said they are investigating the deportation of the children as possible genocide. The Prosecutor General of Ukraine has said Belarus is also being investigated over the alleged forced deportation of more than 19,000 children from occupied Ukrainian territories. Pavel Latushka, the former Belarusian culture minister turned opposition activist who presented the ICC with evidence of Lukashenko's alleged involvement in the illegal deportation of children, said that "Belarusian authorities are not hiding the fact that children are being indoctrinated." Ukrainian children are being "subjected to re-education and indoctrination" to make them pro-Russian, Latushka told The Associated Press. According to Latushka, there are instances of Ukrainian children being taken to Belarus and then to Russia where they were put up for adoption. In March, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children's rights ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of war crimes over the illegal deportation and transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia. Moscow has rejected the accusations. Belarus has been Moscow's closest ally since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, when Lukashenko allowed the Kremlin to use Belarus to invade Ukraine. Russia has also stationed some of its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

United Nations — Russia’s military cooperation with North Korea to further its war in Ukraine is drawing international condemnation, including at the U.N. Security Council, where Russia is a permanent member. U.N. Security Council members Britain, France, Japan, Malta, South Korea, Slovenia, and the United States, plus Ukraine, on Wednesday condemned three waves of deadly airstrikes by Russia on December 30, January 2 and 6. “These heinous attacks were conducted, in part, using ballistic missiles and ballistic missile launchers procured from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [DPRK],” the group said in a statement. Last week, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters the attacks were a “significant and concerning escalation." Citing newly declassified intelligence, Kirby said Russian forces launched at least one of the North Korean-supplied missiles on December 30, which landed in an open field in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine. Both Moscow and Pyongyang have previously denied the weapons allegations.    At a Security Council meeting about the situation in Ukraine on Wednesday, Russia’s envoy cited an unnamed Ukrainian air force official as saying Kyiv had no evidence the Kremlin is using North Korean missiles in Ukraine.    “The U.S. seems to be spreading information that is wrong, without going to the trouble of checking this beforehand,” Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said of Kirby. Washington’s alternate representative for Special Political Affairs noted that the United Nation’s confirmed death toll in the nearly two-year-old war has reached 10,000 Ukrainian civilians, including more than 560 children.    “This number continues to grow as Russia’s air attacks have intensified,” Ambassador Robert Wood said, adding that it is “abhorrent” that a permanent council member is “flagrantly violating” council resolutions to attack another U.N. member state. Several council resolutions prohibit North Korea from developing a ballistic missile program, as well as banning it from exporting arms or related material to other states. “By exporting missiles to Russia, the DPRK used Ukraine as a test site of its nuclear-capable missiles, in wanton disregard of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and safety of the Ukrainian people,” South Korean Ambassador Hwang Joonkook said. He said some weapons experts assess that the missiles used in Ukraine are KN-23, which North Korea claims can deliver nuclear warheads. He told the council that one such missile flew 460 kilometers – the same distance as between the North Korean city of Wonsan, a typical launch site, and South Korea’s largest port city, Busan. “From the ROK [Republic of Korea] standpoint, it amounts to a simulated attack,” Hwang said. “And as these launches provide valuable technical and military insights to the DPRK, it can be further encouraged to export ballistic missiles to other countries and rake in new revenue to further finance its illegal nuclear and ballistic missile programs.” He urged the council to respond. Japan’s envoy said not only did North Korea and Russia’s actions violate council resolutions, but they also risk destabilizing the region. “It is a totally outrageous situation that the international community is demanding the observance of Security Council resolutions by a permanent member of the Security Council,” said Ambassador Yamazaki Kazuyuki. Ukraine’s envoy said an investigation is underway to verify the origins of the remnants of a missile that fell in the Kharkiv region on January 6. On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, along with 48 other foreign ministers and the EU High Representative, condemned the DPRK’s export and Russia’s procurement of DPRK ballistic missiles, as well as Russia’s recent use of these missiles against Ukraine. 

NEW YORK — Senator Bob Menendez on Wednesday sought dismissal of charges, including bribery, as his lawyers told a judge that New York federal prosecutors are making claims that are "outrageously false" and "distort reality." The New Jersey Democrat and his wife pleaded not guilty after they were charged last fall with accepting bribes of gold bars, cash and a luxury car in return for help from the senator that would benefit three New Jersey businessmen, who were also arrested and pleaded not guilty. The indictment has since been updated with charges alleging that Menendez used his political influence to secretly advance Egypt's interests and that he acted favorably to Qatar's government to aid a businessman. "The Senator stands behind all of his official actions and decisions, and will be proud to defend them at trial," the lawyers wrote. A trial is scheduled for May 5. Menendez is free on $100,000 bail. Menendez's lawyers said in court papers that their client's conduct was "constitutionally immune," and none of it could serve as the basis for criminal charges. "The government's accusations in this case — that he sold his office and even sold out his nation — are outrageously false, and indeed distort reality," the lawyers wrote. They said the government is free to prosecute members of Congress for agreeing to exchange legislative action for personal benefits, as long as it doesn't attack the integrity of the legislative acts themselves. "But here, the Indictment does not try to walk that line; it flouts it entirely," the lawyers said. They said prosecutors were wrong to charge Menendez in connection with his decision to contact local state prosecutors to advocate on behalf of New Jersey constituents or to use his decision to invite constituents to meetings with foreign dignitaries as evidence against him. "And the government goes so far as to impugn the Senator for introducing constituents to investors abroad. None of this is illegal, or even improper," the lawyers wrote. The indictment claims Menendez directly interfered in criminal investigations, including by pushing to install a federal prosecutor in New Jersey he believed could be influenced in a criminal case against a businessman and associate of the senator. Prosecutors also alleged that Menendez tried to use his position of power to meddle in a separate criminal investigation by the New Jersey Attorney General's office. Menendez's lawyers said the novel charge that Menendez conspired with his wife and a businessman to act as an agent of the Egyptian government "fundamentally disrupts the separation of powers." Menendez, 70, was forced to step down from his powerful post leading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after he was charged in September. Prosecutors said the senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, accepted bribes over the past five years from the New Jersey businessmen in exchange for a variety of corrupt acts. In October, he was charged with conspiring to act as an agent of the Egyptian government. As a member of Congress, Menendez is prohibited from acting as an agent for a foreign government. His lawyers said in their Manhattan federal court filing Wednesday that the charge empowers the executive and judicial branches of government to second-guess the way the senator chooses to engage with foreign representatives as he carries out his duties. As an example, the lawyers said that a future president might decide to prosecute legislative enemies as agents of Ukraine for supporting aid during its war with Russia or as agents of China for resisting a proposed ban of TikTok, or as agents of Israel for supporting military aid to fight Hamas. "The Court should not permit this novel and dangerous encroachment on legislative independence," the lawyers said. They said there was "overwhelming, indisputable evidence" that Menendez was independent from any foreign official. "As the government knows from its own investigation, far from doing Egypt's bidding during the life of the alleged conspiracy, the Senator repeatedly held up military aid and took Egypt to task, challenging its government's record for imprisoning political dissidents, running roughshod over the press, and other human rights abuses," they said. The lawyers said that their arguments Wednesday were just the start of legal challenges to be filed in the next week, including claims that the indictment was filed in the wrong courthouse and unjustly groups separate schemes into single conspiracy counts. A spokesperson for prosecutors declined to comment.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Blantyre, Malawi — Despite ongoing food shortages, the government of Malawi last month banned the import of unmilled maize from Kenya and Tanzania, citing concerns about the spread of maize lethal necrosis disease, or MLN. To help keep Malawians fed, the World Food Program has started milling 30,000 metric tons of relief maize. Authorities say the first consignment of the milled grain is expected next week. Ironically, the maize the WFP purchased for milling is from Tanzania. The grain was held up last week, awaiting the arrival of experts to test it for MLN.   However, the WFP country director in Malawi, Paul Turnbul, told local media that in the interests of time, it was agreed that no tests would be done and instead, the WFP would just mill the maize and import flour to Malawi    Charles Kalemba, the commissioner for Malawi’s Department of Disaster Management Affairs, told the state broadcaster Tuesday importing flour is safe.   “We are getting maize flour from Tanzania because the agriculture ministry did not say we cannot get maize, but what we call full grain maize, which can be planted, [that’s] where the problem is,” he said. “But getting food in the form of maize flour, that’s okay.” In December, Malawi’s government banned the import of unmilled maize grain from Kenya and Tanzania because of concerns that the spread of MLN could wipe out the country’s staple crop. The ministry of agriculture said the disease has no treatment and can cause up to 100% yield loss. Ronald Chilumpha, an expert in crop protection in Malawi, told VOA he did not expect Malawi to ban maize grain from Tanzania. “Maize necrosis has been there in East Africa since 2012,” he said. “Malawi has been on alert for potential presence of the disease in the country. I do believe that these are scientific issues that can be discussed from a scientific point of view and come to a consensus.” Authorities in Malawi estimated that 4.4 million people, about a quarter of Malawi’s population, will face food shortages over the next three months. The food shortages are largely because of the impact of Cyclone Freddy, which washed away thousands of hectares of crops nearly a year ago. Government statistics show that maize stocks in the national strategic reserves have dropped to 68,000 metric tons, 100,000 less than required to adequately address hunger in the Southern African nation.   WFP Regional Director for Southern Africa Menghestab Haile met with Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera Tuesday. He told reporters that several other African countries are also facing a hunger situation.    “The problem of food insecurity is not only in Malawi,” he said. “The whole region is looking at a crisis; we don't know what El Nino will do. So, what we as WFP do is supporting the government in every way possible to make sure that we have necessary resources mobilized and distribute to people who deserve those resources.” In the meantime, Malawi’s government has announced that it will import unmilled maize grain from South Africa.

CONCORD, New Hampshire — A major storm drenched the Northeast and slammed it with fierce winds, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands following a bout of violent weather that struck most of the U.S.  The storm, which started Tuesday night and was moving out Wednesday, washed out roads and took down trees and power lines. Wind gusts reached 72 kph to 88 kph and more windy weather was expected throughout Wednesday.  It followed a day of tornadoes and deadly accidents in the South and blizzards in the Midwest and Northwest. In some parts of the Pacific Northwest and the Rockies, more than about 75 centimeters of snow fell.  Here's how various areas are being affected by the storms:  New Jersey New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm. Many streets and roads were flooded, and rivers were rising after some areas got up to 7.6 centimeters of rain since Tuesday night. The rain fell on ground saturated by another storm a few weeks ago. Another storm is forecast for the weekend.  Lou DeFazio, 65, of Manville, New Jersey, lives steps away from the Millstone River that flooded disastrously in 2021 after the remnants of Ida slammed into the state and swerved riverbanks.  "It's getting worse and worse," he said, as the river swelled Wednesday.  Murphy said 56,000 homes were without power and several hundred accidents and highway assists were reported, but no storm deaths. He said people often ignore flood warnings, to their peril.  "And we saw in the storm Ida, people pay with their lives by driving their cars into a street they shouldn't have, or staying in their home when they shouldn't have," Murphy said in an interview with CBS New York.  New York In Nassau County, video showed cars sloshing through water that had collected on the streets of Freeport. Further east, near the Hamptons, the National Weather Service reported major flooding out of Shinnecock Bay. Several schools across Long Island were either canceling or delaying classes as a result of the storm.  New York City officials evacuated nearly 2,000 migrants housed at a sprawling tent complex before the storm hit amid fears that the facility could collapse in heavy winds.  Photos showed the migrant families sleeping on the floor of a Brooklyn high school, whose students were forced to go remote on Wednesday as a result of the brief relocation. The migrants returned to the tent facility at about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday after the winds had subsided, officials said.  Pennsylvania  A couple of Pennsylvania communities got more than 10 centimeters of rain and others received nearly that amount. Emergency responders rescued some drivers from stranded vehicles as roads flooded in low-lying areas, and downed trees and wires cut power to thousands of customers.  Forecasters said several rivers in eastern Pennsylvania saw at least moderate flooding. Another storm bringing as much as 3.8 centimeters of rain Friday night through Saturday would exacerbate flooding and bring very strong winds, officials said.  New England A dam breach in Bozrah, Connecticut, prompted mandatory evacuation orders Wednesday for several areas along the Yantic River, Norwich officials said. A power company shut down a substation along the river leaving about 5,000 homes and businesses without power.  The storm canceled events and government functions in Maine, where some areas were still recovering from a snowstorm over the weekend and flooding the previous month.  Winds gusted to 153 kph at Maine's Isle au Haut, an island in Penobscot Bay, said Jon Palmer from the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine. At the state's largest airport, high winds pushed an empty passenger aircraft into a jet bridge, Portland Jetport officials said Wednesday. No one was hurt.  At parking lot near Widgery Wharf on the Portland's waterfront, lobster fishermen attempted to turn back some of the flooding using pumps.  Maine Gov. Janet Mills encouraged residents to stay off the roads amid flash flood warnings.  "Please be sure to give plow trucks, utility crews, and emergency first responders plenty of space as they work to keep us safe," she said.  In Vermont, the storm brought wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour and heaving wet snow, followed by rain, leaving nearly 30,000 homes without power Wednesday morning. Many schools were closed or had delayed openings.  Midwest  Slushy highways led to fatal collisions in Wisconsin and another in Michigan.  The storm, which began Monday, buried cities across the Midwest in snow, stranding people on highways. Some areas saw up to 30 centimeters of snow on Monday, including Kansas, eastern Nebraska and South Dakota, western Iowa, and southwestern Minnesota.  Madison, Wisconsin, was under a winter storm warning until early Wednesday, with as much as 23 centimeters of snow and 64 kph winds on tap.  The weather has already affected campaigning for Iowa's January 15 precinct caucuses, where the snow is expected to be followed by frigid temperatures that could drift below minus 18 Celsius.  Forecasters warned snow-struck regions of the Midwest and the Great Plains that temperatures could plunge dangerously low because of wind chill, dipping to around minus 29 Celsius and even far lower in Chicago, Kansas City and some areas of Montana.  South  Several deaths have been blamed on storms that struck the area with heavy rain, tornado reports, hail and wind. Survey teams were heading out Wednesday in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina to determine whether tornados struck, National Weather Service officials said.  An 81-year-old woman in Alabama was killed when her mobile home was tossed from its foundation by a suspected tornado. A man died south of Atlanta when a tree fell on his car. Another person died in North Carolina after a suspected tornado struck a mobile home park.  Roofs were blown off homes, furniture, fences and debris were strewn about during the height of the storm in the South.  Many areas of Florida remained under flood watches, warnings and advisories early Wednesday amid concerns that streams and rivers were topping their banks. Gov. Ron DeSantis, who gave his State of the State address Tuesday as tornado warnings were active outside the Capitol, issued an executive order to include 49 counties in North Florida under a state of emergency.  Rescuers in Virginia pulled two people from flood waters, where they were clinging to branches after their vehicle flooded and they were then swept from its roof, according to the Albemarle County Fire Rescue. They weren't injured but were in the water for at least 10 minutes, according to spokesperson Abbey Stumpf.  West Storms in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountains dumped snow, including 74 centimeters reported at Stevens Pass in Washington state and 76 centimeters outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico, according to the National Weather Service.  Authorities issued warnings for very dangerous avalanche conditions in mountainous areas of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Washington and Oregon. Backcountry travelers were advised to stay off steep slopes and away from the bottom of steep slopes.  In areas of northern Montana, temperatures could drop below minus 30 degrees (minus 34 Celsius) by Saturday morning. High temperatures were expected to remain below freezing as far south as Oklahoma.