Deadly blizzards bring Asia chaos

Here.

Excerpt:

Central Asian nations have reported unusually cold temperatures.

In Kyrgyzstan, a government agency said 50 homeless people froze to death over the first four days of the new year.

In Tajikistan, people are struggling to keep warm in daytime temperatures as low as -10C, at a time when cutbacks in energy exports from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan mean electricity supplies have been reduced to a total of about four hours a day.

Heavy snow has also caused casualties in Afghanistan.

Five people were killed in an avalanche in the western province of Ghor, and in neighbouring Herat eight members of the same family died after their roof collapsed under heavy snow.