:00:00. > :00:00.heart is through the pound. Time now for a look at the news as
:00:00. > :00:13.seen across the United States a couple of hours ago, in ABC World
:00:14. > :00:15.News with Dianne Sawyer. Tonight, millions of Americans are
:00:16. > :00:21.battling the fast, furious and frozen finale of a record-breaking
:00:22. > :00:25.storm. Ice, falling like missiles, firefighters barely able to see the
:00:26. > :00:29.flames, drivers stranded in their cars. Half a million Americans
:00:30. > :00:36.without power on a dark and stormy night. Your cable bill. What will
:00:37. > :00:47.happen tonight if Time Warner is bought out?
:00:48. > :00:54.Good evening. As we come on the air, 100 million Americans have an hit by
:00:55. > :00:59.a winter storm packing pretty much everything in the weather arsenal.
:01:00. > :01:09.This map shows the ferocious speed and power. Barrelling from Texas,
:01:10. > :01:31.across the south, and up the coast to Maine.
:01:32. > :01:35.With snow, ice, wind and rain, the storm that crippled the south,
:01:36. > :01:39.killing at least 20 people, is still wreaking havoc. Whiteout conditions
:01:40. > :01:45.from the nation's capital to the treacherous New York straightaway.
:01:46. > :01:50.Winds whipping a house fire in New York City, at least seven injured.
:01:51. > :01:58.In New York, a pregnant woman was struck and killed by a plough, her
:01:59. > :02:02.baby saved. In Pennsylvania, a state of emergency still left over from
:02:03. > :02:07.the last storm. We helped this woman did her car out. She lost power for
:02:08. > :02:13.three days last week, and again last week. -- last night. I have a coat
:02:14. > :02:19.on, and I have been wearing it inside. Per 100 -year-old mother had
:02:20. > :02:27.to go to the hospital to stay warm. This title with breathing problems
:02:28. > :02:31.evacuated. I boil water in a big pan, and then I dump it in the sink.
:02:32. > :02:49.For now, the food in her fridge is Phil Gould. Hundreds of schools are
:02:50. > :02:53.closed, but in the authorities defended their decision. In
:02:54. > :03:00.Philadelphia, we have nine inches of snow today. Some people taking
:03:01. > :03:05.advantage, sledding down these steps. Another 3-6 inches expected
:03:06. > :03:10.tonight. We are going to head south, where
:03:11. > :03:14.will families are telling survival stories after abandoning their cars
:03:15. > :03:21.on frozen roads. They were hardly in houses without power, and our
:03:22. > :03:28.correspondence is with them. More than half an inch of ice
:03:29. > :03:30.finally starting to melt today. Not before bringing down trees and
:03:31. > :03:36.leaving more than 100,000 in the dark. More than half a million
:03:37. > :03:39.people still without power tonight. For someone who is sitting at home
:03:40. > :03:44.without power, that is a bad place to be, and we understand that.
:03:45. > :03:53.Authorities say people should not use a fireplace to cook food. These
:03:54. > :03:57.people lost power, and accidentally burned down their house with the
:03:58. > :04:00.fireplace. Families across seven states will need candles tonight. In
:04:01. > :04:08.Charlotte, the people of this Baptist Church were underneath a
:04:09. > :04:13.collapsed roof. These people explained why they walked away from
:04:14. > :04:24.their cars. Cars around me were spinning. Tonight, families have to
:04:25. > :04:28.watch out for falling trees. By the time you hear something hit the roof
:04:29. > :04:33.you come out and... Mystery was brought down not by the wind, not by
:04:34. > :04:42.the snow, by the weight of the ice now melting below it. Listen closely
:04:43. > :04:54.to the sound of danger. Falling ice from city skyscrapers. It just can't
:04:55. > :04:58.melt fast enough. Now from that ice and the coalition to the chaos in
:04:59. > :05:03.the skies. One in five flights cancelled. By one calculation, the
:05:04. > :05:07.worst day for cancellations this winter. Or than 1 million travellers
:05:08. > :05:14.delayed in a kind of dominant effect.
:05:15. > :05:18.-- domino effect. Massive snowploughs race to clear
:05:19. > :05:22.open -- unopened runways as hundreds of thousands of passengers... I've
:05:23. > :05:29.had three flights cancelled. Remain grounded. We were on a flight at
:05:30. > :05:35.9am. Now we are rebooked for 7pm tonight. While Washington's runways
:05:36. > :05:40.were closed for much of the day, a few flights got out of the
:05:41. > :05:46.north-east airports. Airlines wasted no time cancelling flights, letting
:05:47. > :05:49.many aircraft sit out the storm. One in five flights translates to over
:05:50. > :05:54.6000 flights, rippling throughout the country. Airlines even moved
:05:55. > :05:59.planes out of the east and will start moving them back tonight.
:06:00. > :06:04.Atalanta was trying to bounce back from its storm. Warm winds there
:06:05. > :06:08.today. Tonight, a look at what workers to all season, prepping
:06:09. > :06:12.claims for takeoff. You can tell the different colours of the ice.
:06:13. > :06:20.Basically, we are getting it off. This is antifreeze. In Philadelphia,
:06:21. > :06:25.they will use 20,000 gallons of the aviation type of this. Good news,
:06:26. > :06:29.you are seeing some planes behind us. It should be better tomorrow.
:06:30. > :06:34.Less than 500 flights cancelled for tomorrow.
:06:35. > :06:40.20,000 gallons! What a month this has been.
:06:41. > :06:44.In New York, seven storms in seven weeks. Tonight, a lot of people
:06:45. > :06:50.across the country are praying for better weather. Prayers and said?
:06:51. > :06:56.Warm enough to have drizzle but we are switching back to snow. There
:06:57. > :07:02.will be up to another six inches overnight. Let me show you what's
:07:03. > :07:07.happening. Now that you know you will be getting more snow tonight,
:07:08. > :07:13.anywhere from parts of Maryland, up through New York City. Valentine's
:07:14. > :07:16.Day is clear. Look at Cincinnati. The new snow storm will slide across
:07:17. > :07:21.on Friday night, through early Saturday. It looks like we will pick
:07:22. > :07:28.up more snow into the weekend. Look at this. If it feels like it has
:07:29. > :07:32.been non-stop, you are right. In New York City, we have had seven days
:07:33. > :07:37.where we have had more than one inch of snow, adding up to 40 inches
:07:38. > :07:43.since the beginning of this year. Philadelphia, for example, in their
:07:44. > :07:50.fifth snowiest year ever. Last year, just half a foot was the average.
:07:51. > :07:56.More like 12! Then, 53.5 inches is where we are at this year.
:07:57. > :08:04.If you have a General Motors compact car in your driveway augur Raj, we
:08:05. > :08:08.have a warning. -- or garage. They are recalling some of their older
:08:09. > :08:10.models because they thought -- because of a faulty switch that can
:08:11. > :08:15.cause the engine to shut down without warning. It has been
:08:16. > :08:21.responsible for six deaths and over 20 crashes.
:08:22. > :08:28.We have all of the details on our website. Now to the news reaching
:08:29. > :08:36.into American living rooms tonight. Time Warner cable and Com cast
:08:37. > :08:40.joining forces. -- Comcast. What will this mean for our access and
:08:41. > :08:48.service and the already skyhigh cable bills? Today, Comcast
:08:49. > :08:53.announcing it will team up with Time Warner cable and grow its foot and
:08:54. > :09:00.30 million households, becoming the biggest cable provider. -- growing
:09:01. > :09:07.its footprint. Congress will be looking very closely at the whole
:09:08. > :09:11.business of pricing. Comcast says the deal will benefit consumers but
:09:12. > :09:16.some watchdogs say not so, telling us this deal would lead to less
:09:17. > :09:23.consumer choice, less diversity and much higher cable bills. In general,
:09:24. > :09:30.mergers tend to drive up prices. We looked back at other recent mergers
:09:31. > :09:33.today and, if it happens, prices could go up to 14% in the case of a
:09:34. > :09:37.deal. That is based on other mergers.
:09:38. > :09:48.Thank you on this big news tonight. Next, a plea for help. One family's
:09:49. > :09:53.fight to reunite to children living very far apart. The parents
:09:54. > :10:34.determined to win this fight. We will be back.
:10:35. > :10:39.Next, we have been seeing a lot of the Winter Olympics but today a
:10:40. > :10:42.reminder of the country behind the celebration. Russia, which has
:10:43. > :10:48.banned American adoptions, today extended the ban all countries that
:10:49. > :10:52.allow same-sex marriage. Tonight, too little brothers are leaving the
:10:53. > :11:01.divide, separated by 5000 miles and so much more.
:11:02. > :11:10.This is the Thomas family from Minnesota. My dream of being a mum
:11:11. > :11:14.happened. It was all of those emotions that I would say you would
:11:15. > :11:19.go through, as if you are having your own baby. They are happy and
:11:20. > :11:24.healthy but in their incomplete family. Jack has a five-year-old
:11:25. > :11:31.brother. He is still in an orphanage in Russia. If he came home tonight,
:11:32. > :11:36.we would have a big party with chocolate and watch movies! Blow me
:11:37. > :11:42.a kiss! He loves giving jitters. Almost four years ago, they were
:11:43. > :11:46.close to reuniting the brothers. I thought it was going to go just like
:11:47. > :11:51.our first adoption. But we would go home and be back to pick him up.
:11:52. > :11:56.There was never a thought in my mind that we wouldn't return to bring him
:11:57. > :12:00.home. Suddenly, Russia changed the law and the band came into force.
:12:01. > :12:07.After a string of high profile cases, one child sent to America was
:12:08. > :12:10.delivered back to America alone, no longer wanted. Another toddler died
:12:11. > :12:18.when his new father left him in hot car. As the world's focus is on
:12:19. > :12:21.Vladimir Putin, Rene is now appearing on Russian television to
:12:22. > :12:27.make a direct appeal. It means everything to us. To be able to have
:12:28. > :12:34.his brother home and raise them together, we wouldn't be fighting so
:12:35. > :12:40.hard if it didn't mean so much to us. Lawyers and politicians here are
:12:41. > :12:45.telling us they are in no doubt that politics has played a part in this.
:12:46. > :12:49.Of course it is children who are caught in the middle.
:12:50. > :12:53.How instant index begins with a change coming to your Facebook page
:12:54. > :12:58.starting today. The 150 million Facebook users in the US can choose
:12:59. > :13:03.their gender in a whole new way. Facebook profiles that identified as
:13:04. > :13:10.male or female and also androgynous, transgender, 50 choices in all. The
:13:11. > :13:13.move comes after Facebook users lobbied for more options. One
:13:14. > :13:18.engineer said today that it will impact a lot of people but for the
:13:19. > :13:21.few it does it means the world. -- it won't impact.
:13:22. > :13:26.News over the international jewel thieves known as the Pink Panther
:13:27. > :13:32.gang. You can see them in action here, smashing the luxury car
:13:33. > :13:42.through a more in Dubai and making off with millions. -- mall in Dubai.
:13:43. > :13:49.Tonight, this man is under arrest. He is Serbian, 33, arrested in
:13:50. > :13:53.Madrid. Police believe he was part of that brazen heist in Dubai. Don't
:13:54. > :13:59.say we didn't warn you, this is not for the faint of heart. New video.
:14:00. > :14:03.The group of extreme athletes trying to master a slack line stretching
:14:04. > :14:09.between two hot air balloons, hundreds of feet in the air. Watch.
:14:10. > :14:13.One after another they go down. What, don't worry, they have
:14:14. > :14:17.parachutes. Finally, the Valentine's Day challenge in the snow and ice.
:14:18. > :14:23.How do you carry a fragile flower across a river of ice? With
:14:24. > :14:30.creativity. On this day, it is one of the most
:14:31. > :14:34.important jobs in America. Delivering those Valentine's Day
:14:35. > :14:39.flowers was troubled today. With businesses closed, this North
:14:40. > :14:44.Carolina florist was ground to a halt. This 24 hour period is Super
:14:45. > :14:50.Bowl for florists when many do up to 20 times their normal business. Last
:14:51. > :14:54.year, 233 million roses were grown for Valentine's Day. We might be
:14:55. > :14:59.delivering late but we do what we need to do. We joined a delivery man
:15:00. > :15:04.as he set out on foot through the slush and snow, determined to
:15:05. > :15:08.deliver this bouquet. In Georgia, the weather was so bad a sheriff
:15:09. > :15:14.actually cancelled Valentine's Day in his county, citing safety
:15:15. > :15:17.concerns. I would hope that all of the people who are usually on the
:15:18. > :15:23.receiving end with the understanding and would cut us guys some slack. It
:15:24. > :15:29.has triggered a Valentine's Day panic. One person said:
:15:30. > :15:36.Others are getting creative. Check out these alternative
:15:37. > :15:42.bouquets, made up of whatever is in the house. Some people just push on.
:15:43. > :15:48.This man and his cargo did make it to where they have to be. Somebody
:15:49. > :15:55.loves you. After all, what is a little snow... OK, a lot of snow,
:15:56. > :15:59.when it comes to Valentine's Day? I hope you spend the big night with
:16:00. > :16:12.us tomorrow night. Thanks for watching. Have a great evening.
:16:13. > :16:18.Thursday offered some respite but a different kettle of fish on Friday.
:16:19. > :16:21.Quiet across central and northern parts of Britain in the first part