Brutal Arctic blast leaves 187m shivering in US At -16°C, NY Breaks 118-Yr-Old Record Of Lowest Temperature

New York: A deadly blast of arctic air that shattered decades-old records as it gripped the middle US moved eastward on Tuesday, cancelling thousands of flights, paralysing road travel and closing schools and businesses. 

    Forecasters said some 187 million people could feel the effects of the "polar vortex" by the time it spreads across the US. New York's Central Park 
hit a record low temperature for the day of -16°C, shattering a 118-year-old record, but with winds gusting to 51kmph conditions felt far colder, according to the US National Weather Service. The cold broke records in Chicago, which set a local record on Monday at minus -27°C, and elsewhere. 
    Shelters for the homeless were overflowing due to the severe cold brought by a polar air mass that produced the coldest temperatures in two decades and at least four deaths. 
    Temperatures were expected to be 14°-19° celsius below normal from the midwest to the southeast, the National Weather Service warned. 
    After running into unpassable snow and ice, three Chicago-bound Amtrak trains came to a halt on Monday afternoon, stranding more than 500 passengers overnight. They had heat, water, lights and toilet facilities, according to Amtrak. As of Tuesday morning, passengers on two trains, which spent the night on the tracks in Bureau County, Illinois were being transported to Chicago by chartered bus, an Amtrak spokesman said. More than 15,000 customers in Indiana remained without power. 
    In the normally mild south, Atlanta recorded its coldest weather on this date in 44 years, when the temperature dropped to -14°C. Wholesale electricity prices in the central and eastern US spiked far above their normal seasonal level as homes and businesses needed to use more energy to warm buildings. 
    The deep freeze snarled many Americans' morning commutes with icy or closed roads and flight delays on Tuesday, with some 1,987 US flights cancelled and roughly 1,028 delayed, according to FlightAware.com. Major US cities from the midwest to the east coast were in the grip of temperatures below freezing, with Chicago at -23°C, Detroit -24°C, New York -14°C, Washington -13°C and Boston -11°C. AGENCIES 
Oil prices shoot up 
    The price of oil rose to near $94 a barrel on Tuesday as unusually cold weather in the US was expected to fuel demand for energy. By mid- afternoon in Europe, benchmark US oil for February delivery was up 42 cents to $93.85 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Monday, the contract fell 53 cents to settle at $93.43 a barrel. AP

FREEZE FRAME

NEW RULES Reliance Life to launch 25 products in 3 months

Mumbai: Reliance Life Insurance, part of the Anil Ambani-run Reliance Capital, on Thursday said that over the next three months it would launch 25 insurance products under the new rules that are applicable from January 1. Subsequent to that, it also plans to approach the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), the sector regulator, for its nod to launch more products. 

    The company also said that it is increasing its focus on more customer-centric initiatives, some of which are being adopted from its foreign partner Nippon Life, the largest insurance company in Asia. "We have received most of 
the product approvals from IRDA and will be launching these over the next three months," said Anup Rau, CEO, Reliance Life Insurance. "We will largely focus on traditional plans and continue to provide simple and need-based solutions to customers." 
    The additional products would include online term 
policies, some health insurance, pension and ULIP products, which will help it expand its product suit. "Traditional plans will contribute 80% while the unitlinked plans will contribute around 20% to the top-line in the new product environment," Rau said. 
    The new guidelines have segmented life insurance products into three broad categories — traditional insurance plans, variable insurance plans and unit-linked insurance plans. 
    Rau feels that the new regulations would help serious distributors to remain in the industry, improve the quality of advice, take the market more towards long-term policies, and also keep a check on recklessness with capital that was visible in some cases. "People will be more prudent with their capital now," he said. As part of its increased focus towards customers, Reliance Life has started a pre-insurance verification process.

CEO Anup Rau