Temperatures broke a 64-year-old record in China’s far western region of Xinjiang, plunging to a bone-chilling minus 52.3 degrees Celsius (minus 63.4 degrees Fahrenheit) amid a cold spell and traffic disruptions following the Lunar New Year holiday.
Several parts of China are battling another deep freeze as people return from week-long celebrations of the year’s biggest holiday. Just before it started, blizzards and icy rain had stranded travellers on railways and roads.
State media said Sunday’s milestone in the Tuerhong township of Fuyun county was the lowest since records began in Xinjiang, surpassing a temperature of minus 51.5 C (minus 60.7 F) set on January 21, 1960.
The figure was just shy of the lowest national temperature of minus 53 C (minus 63.4 F) in Mohe, a city in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, on Jan. 22 last year.
Through several days of cold and snow, 853 km (530 miles) of roads have been affected in the region’s area of Altay, broadcaster CCTV said. That spurred highway authorities to send 47 vehicles and 86 rescuers to remove snow overnight.
Transport ministry figures show the regions of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, along with the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang, have closed 43 sections of roads and 623 toll stations, CCTV said on Monday.
National weather authorities raised the warning for freezing weather conditions to its second highest level, the Global Times newspaper said, with drastic falls expected across the nation through Thursday.
The most severely affected areas will include parts of Inner Mongolia, northeastern China, the central province of Hubei, and Hunan in the south, it added.
China’s extreme weather over the last year has ranged from sandstorms to torrential rain and record-breaking searing heat over the summer, as well as several typhoons.
Over the weekend, severe sandstorms blanketed several cities in the region of Ningxia Hui, including its capital of Yinchuan.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
