Polish police say 15 people froze to death in the country overnight as temperatures fell as low as minus 20 Celsius in some places.

Police also appealed Sunday to Poles to alert police if they come across homeless or drunk people lying outdoors in an attempt to lower the number of people who die each winter from the bitter cold.

Police say 47 people have already frozen to death countrywide since the beginning of December.

Manchester Airport has resumed full service after all of its planes were grounded because of the severe weather.

Flights in and out of the airport have been given the green light after snow and ice was cleared off runway one - the only runway being used over the Christmas period.

Meanwhile, five Easyjet flights have been cancelled at Bristol Airport.

A spokesperson confirmed all other flights were going ahead.

Earlier, the travel plans of thousands in the North of England were disrupted after Manchester Airport cancelled services for an hour and a half amid heavy snow.

Across the country, thousands of flights were canceled and delayed as winter weather walloped the Northeast.

Keith Lane-Richardson and his wife Sheila had a long evening ahead of them at Tampa International Airport.

"We've been here about an hour and we've got another six hours to do," said Lane-Richardson.

Weather has delayed their flight home. For Keith, it's Christmas come early: a built-in excuse to kick up his feet and relax.

"I love being at airports. I can endure four or five hours no problem, but my wife was very upset," added Lane-Richardson.

New York City and its suburbs are preparing to get walloped by the snowstorm that has crippled travel and caused power outages across the East Coast.

Stores closed early and driving became treacherous as snow began sticking to the roads. There were minor delays at the area's three major airports.

National Weather Service meteorologist Patrick Maloit says that the storm will drop about 8 to 10 inches of snow on the city. A blizzard was expected to hit the Long Island suburbs, with 12 to 18 inches forecast. Snow was dropping steadily by about 6:30 p.m.

Maloit says the area will get hit with the brunt of the storm in the next hour or two as a band of heavy snow moves northward.

Five deaths appeared to have been caused by the storm system, which stretched from the Carolinas north to New England and also spread into some Midwestern states. The 14 inches of snow that fell at Reagan National Airport outside Washington was the most ever recorded for a single December day, while about 9 inches had fallen in Philadelphia.

AC Milan's hopes of clawing some ground back on Serie A leaders Inter before the end of the year were hit by the postponement of their match at Fiorentina.

Milan are five points behind their city rivals following a run of four wins in five matches, with this weekend's programme the final round of fixtures before the league breaks up for Christmas.

Leonardo's men had been hoping to further close that gap and also ensure they would head into the winter break in second place, but heavy snow at the Stadio Artemio Franchi saw the fixture in Florence called off this evening.

Juventus will have the chance to climb above Milan when they play host to Catania on Sunday.

A winter storm is gripping the eastern US, dumping more than 1ft (30cm) of snow in some areas, snarling up travel and cutting power supplies.

Storm-related incidents claimed five lives and forecasters warned of 40mph (64km/h) winds in what may be the worst snowstorm in a decade.

Snowfall is due to reach 22in overnight in the Baltimore-Washington DC area, the heaviest since 2003.

The storm system is moving north toward New York and Boston.

Forecasters say the cities could be in for more than 14in of snow.

A large earthquake struck Taiwan on Saturday, rattling buildings in the capital of Taipei.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.4-magnitude quake was centered off the eastern coast of Taiwan, about 16 miles (25 kilometers) from Hua-lien. It struck at a depth of 28 miles (45 kilometers). The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not immediately issue any warning.

A major storm moving up the Atlantic Coast on the last shopping weekend before Christmas threatened to shut down much of the region as officials warned of up to 20 inches of snow and significant power outages.

People stocked up on groceries and other staples Friday after the National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings from the Carolinas to Rhode Island.

In Virginia, Gov. Tim Kaine declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm, placing the National Guard and other agencies on standby. Philadelphia officials also declared a state of emergency and the school district canceled all weekend activities. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley urged motorists to stay home if possible.

Some shoppers were trying to get their holiday buying done before the snow hit.

"Most of them are coming in this morning to shop before they get snowed in," said Kayla Mahr at the Bath and Body shop at the River Ridge Mall in Lynchburg, Va.

The Federal Aviation Administration said departing flights at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were delayed by as much as an hour Friday because of rain and wind. United Airlines said it had already canceled more than 140 Saturday flights on the East Coast ahead of Saturday's weather.

A 3.1-magnitude earthquake centered near New Madrid, Mo., Friday shook parts of the Midwest, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

KFVS-TV, Cape Girardeau, Mo., said the early morning quake's epicenter was nine miles outside New Madrid and the quake was determined to have occurred at a depth of 5.6 miles.

No reports of damage or injuries were reported.

The New Madrid Seismic Network said the quake took place at 5:38 a.m. CST, nearly six miles northwest of Tiptonville, Tenn.

With increasing species richness, due to more plant introductions than extinctions, plant communities of many European regions are becoming more homogeneous. The same species are occurring more frequently, whereas rare species are becoming extinct.

It is not only the biological communities that are becoming increasingly similar, but also the phylogenetic relations between regions. These processes have led to a loss of uniqueness among European floras, scientists from the DAISIE research project have published their findings in the current online edition of the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

For their research the scientists analysed the data of flora native to Europe (Flora Europaea), extinct plant species (national red lists) and alien plant species from the DAISIE database. About 1,600 new non-European species were introduced to the approx. 11,000 native European plant species since 1500 A.D. The researchers also took into account those European plants that are native to a particular region of Europe but considered as introduced species in another (approx. 1,700. It works in a similar way for the species considered to be "extinct."

While in the whole of Europe only 2 plant species can "really" be considered as extinct, approx. 500 species have become locally extinct. One such example is the Blue Woodruff (Asperula arvensis), a weed that grows on cultivated land, which has been greatly displaced particularly from the intensification of agricultural practices. This species is considered to be locally extinct in Germany and Austria for example, whereas it still occurs e.g. in Italy and Spain.