The nation will experience the coldest temperatures for 40-years as the deep-freeze which began on Thursday causes potential record-low temperatures across the Midwest beginning today. Caused by an ominous and massive polar vortex, the frigid air will push down across the United States affecting 140 million people - almost half the nation - as far south as New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Already much of the country is blanketed in snow and ice. Ryan Maue, of Tallahassee, Florida, a meteorologist for Weather Bell, said temperature records will likely be broken during the short yet forceful deep freeze that will begin in many places on Sunday and extend into early next week. 'All the ingredients are there for a near-record or historic cold outbreak, he said 'If you're under 40 (years old), you've not seen this stuff before.'

Hundreds of members of the Satmar Hasidic community gathered Saturday in Brooklyn (right) for an emotional funeral service honoring Menachem Stark (top left), 39, whose burned body turned up on Long Island Friday. The Orthodox Jewish real estate developer was kidnapped Thursday. This development comes as cops released dramatic surveillance footage that shows the suspects forcing Stark into a Dodge Caravan (bottom left) after he left his offices in Williamsburg during the recent blizzard.

Tallahassee resident Katie Schlinger was in Aiken, South Carolina late last month when she says she was brutally attacked by a stranger she offered to drive to the hospital. She met 23-year-old Michael Antwon Fuller while smoking in the parking lot of a nearby Holiday Inn when he asked her if she would drive him to the hospital to see his uncle. She agreed but claims he pointed his gun at her and ordered her to keep on driving, she claims. She attempted to flee once and was unsuccessful but on her second attempt, totaled the car, pictured, and escaped. Fuller was arrested, but Ms Schlinger has injuries that will last a lifetime, and hospitals bills that will likely last as long.

After weeks of discussions, Dennis Rodman(left) has persuaded players including All-Stars Kenny Anderson, Cliff Robinson, and Vin Baker (top right) to fly to Pyongyang. Rodman, known as much for his piercings, tattoos and bad behavior as he was for basketball, traveled to the secretive state for the first time last February with the Harlem Globetrotters for an HBO series produced by New York-based VICE television. Rodman has called Kim a 'friend for life.'

TV host Melissa Harris-Perry started her weekend show with an apology after viewers complained that a segment the previous week was offensive. Complaints were made after panelists gave comic captions for photos of key moments in the past year, including a family portrait of Mitt Romney which showed his adopted African-American grandson. After admitting the section was in poor judgment, the MSNBC host was close to crying as she apologized to the Romneys and other inter-racial families.

Joseph, 40, from Fallbrook, California, was suffering from a mystery illness in the months before he went missing with Summer (both main) and their two young children (top right), and would spend days in bed barely able to walk. Doctors couldn’t diagnose the energy-sapping condition and according to a book written by his close friend, Chase Merritt, (bottom right) he started to suspect that his fiery wife may have something to do with it.

Uk born Emer Gillespie and her daughter Laoisha, now 11, document each other in their favorite activities in the portrait series, 'Picture You, Picture Me.'Laoisha has down-syndrome but that didn't stop the pair from documenting bubble blowing, teeth-brushing, and kite flying activities in their photo-series entitled, 'Picture You Picture Me' made in 2008 when Laoisha was six years old, reports the Huffington Post.

Maricopa County Sheriff's Office posse member Phillip Grigg (pictured left with wife) was shot in the chest after coming to the rescue of Phoenix cop Scott Sefranka (top right), who was being assaulted by two suspects (bottom right). Deputies said the brave Vietnam War veteran, a married father of two and grandfather of three, has undergone multiple surgeries and remains in critical condition. Grigg's wife of 25 years said during a press conference that she was proud of her husband's heroic actions.

The Stork Club was one of the hardest New York night clubs to get into from the end of Prohibition through the 1960s with a clientele of famous authors, actors and politicians. The club was owned by ex-bootlegger Sherman Billingsley who developed a secret hand signal code to communicate with his staff. The codes ranged from the benign 'turn down the music' to the more serious 'get them out' (left) and 'pretend I have a call' (second right). But most of the of the hand signals were good and meant a free round of drinks (right) or a complimentary bottle of $200 perfume (second left) were about to be lavished on one of his regulars.

Detroit police say Bettye Adams (bottom right), 45, placed the body of Milena Moore (left), 23, into her car and headed to a hospital, but panicked and returned home, leaving the victim for dead in the driveway. Moore, a young mother, was gunned down in the early hours of January 1 while trying to walk away from a fight with her husband, 25-year-old Brandon Glenn (top right).

A student pilot became a hero yesterday after making a daring emergency landing on a New York City highway after the small aircraft he had taken on a tour over the Statue of Liberty ran into technical problems. Michael Schwartz, pictured left, was able to save himself and his two passengers by landing the small plane on the Major Deegan Expressway in the middle of the Bronx, pictured main and as it was removed inset. Despite the risky outmaneuver taking place at 3.20pm all three escaped uninjured and avoided any collisions on the busy road.

Terrifying video has emerged of a man opening fire on a Michigan bus as innocent passengers run for cover, including a man holding his baby. A peaceful Grand Rapids bus became a scene of panic on New Year's Eve when a passenger shot what is believed to be .22-caliber pistol at a man sitting on the back seat (left and top right). The unidentified man fired at the passenger about 8.30pm while the bus was stopped at South Division Avenue and Delaware Street SE. Surveillance footage obtained by MLive shows about 10 passengers, including a man holding a child in a pink blanket, frantically rush to the front of the bus after the shot rang out (bottom right). No-one was injured and police are investigating.

Ryan Jones, right, was taking part in a University of Virginia program, where actors pretend to have a list of ailments that the doctor must diagnose, when he found an abdominal aortic aneurism. At first the student thought his fake patient, Jim Malloy, pictured with wife Lousie, knew he had the condition and had been planted their to test Mr Jones's abilities. Fortunately the medical student spoke up and Mr Malloy has since had life-saving surgery.

For one Seattle woman, a mind-blowing orgasm sent her to heaven - and then to the emergency room. Liz had just had sex with her partner Eric, but well after he climbed out of bed, Liz was hitting new peaks of pleasure. About an hour into her epic climax, Liz started to panic. By the second hour, the panting woman was rushed to hospital where medical staff thought she was in labor. Liz's orgasm lasted for over three hours before she finally found relief. The couple shared their story during last night's TLC show 'Sex Sent Me to the ER'.

border, similar horrors have been visited upon a country hidden from the outside world. For ten deadly months, the Central African Republic has been ravaged by atrocities between Muslim Séléka rebels, who seized power last March, and Christian militias.

The technology is being pioneered by Leia Display Systems, a Polish company named after the Star Wars heroine. The caller will stand in front of a specially-adapted camera with two lenses and a microphone before the images are blended to create a three-dimensional person. The company aims to have a working model of the telephone operating by next year after it successfully built interactive 3D hologram machines. And inventors claim High Street stores could stock the incredible machine as soon as 2019.

Kate's 'black sheep' uncle Gary Goldsmith has started marketing the La Maison de Bang Bang - supposedly named after the island's 'banging' dance music scene - as a high-class getaway. In 2006 the Royal couple stayed at the house, where IT recruitment millionaire Mr Goldsmith, 48, was once caught apparently chopping up lines of cocaine in a tabloid sting. Last year he put it on the market for £6 million, but with no buyers, he's renting it out through a website full of glossy pictures - and spelling mistakes.

The spooky image shows a transparent figure dressed in modern clothing gazing out over the Thames near Westminster Bridge in London. Professional photographer Jules Annan took the image on New Year's Eve - but only noticed the ghostly apparition when he got home. He insists he did not use double or long exposure to create the image.

Novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard died at home in Bungay, Suffolk, last Thursday. She was married to Kingsley Amis. Here the novelist's son Martin remembers her impact on his life. In 1962 she met Kingsley Amis, then married to Hilary Bardwell, and the two fell passionately in love. After their marriage, in 1965, they became London’s most celebrated literary couple but separated 15 years later and then divorced in 1983 amid bitter recriminations. Here, Martin Amis pays his first tribute to his stepmother, and reveals the profound influence she had upon him as a young man.

Astronomer Phil Plait captured footage of beautiful clouds (top left) rolling over Denver, Colorado yesterday evening. The clouds were both iridescent(top right) and lenticular(bottom right).Iridescent clouds are characterized by striking colors like pink and green and are caused by sunlight reflecting off of tiny raindrops of ice crystals. The sunlight is broken up and the waves interfere with each other like 'waves in a bathtub.'Lenticular clouds or 'lens shaped clouds' in the cloud ridge are heavy cloud formations that occur in moist air and wind.

It may have been a little bit warmer in the Italian capital than much of the United Kingdom at eight o’clock this morning. But that should take nothing away from the brave effort of those who stripped down to their underwear (top left) for the beginning of the January sales in Rome.These photographs show bargain hunters queuing up (bottom left) outside a designer shop promising free clothes and discounts before racing in (right).

A broke 88-year World War Two veteran from Kansas who spent a night in jail the day after Christmas and received a $500 fine because he can't afford to pay for repairs to his own property has spoken out. Horton resident, Kenneth Knudson, (pictured) who owns his own jewelers in the same town, was cited for a code violation to his building after failing to produce a plan to fix a cracked exterior wall.

Courtney (main) ran off with some friends at a Christmas party, leaving behind 'Ben', who she had spent hours chatting to and 'really hit it off' with at a bar in North Virginia. So she exacted an elaborate plan to track down her mystery man. Photocopying dozens of signs appealing for Ben to get in contact with her (bottom left), as well as setting up a special Twitter account (top left), Courtney was assisted by strangers who thought her quest was romantic. With their help, she somehow managed to #FindBen.

An Oklahoma woman has finally spoken out about why she faked her own kidnapping only months before her 2010 wedding - she had cold feet. Tiffiny Bray, 42,, left, and bottom right, of Oklahoma City, stole her fiancé's pickup truck, shacked up with another man in a Corpus Christi, Texas motel room and pretended to be kidnapped in July 2010 because she decided against marrying Chad McGuire. top left.

Their intended victims cheated death despite the gunmen unleashing a hail of bullets in a terrifying ambush in the southern Italian city of Reggio Calabria. Shock footage of the attack was released by Italian police on its Facebook site after an investigation of almost two years eventually led to the arrest of the alleged shooters, Antonino Pricoco, 40, and Giole Mangiola, 29, above.

The tomb (top) of Khonso Em Heb, who lived 3,200 years ago, was discovered by a Japanese team and has been described as 'one of the most important discoveries' made at the Thebes necropolic site in the city of Luxor (bottom). Egypt's antiquities minister Mohamed Ibrahim described Khonso Em Heb as the chief ‘maker of beer for gods of the dead’ who was also the head of a warehouse.

From a wacky Wizard Of Oz (inset center) to a modern Hansel and Gretel (left) and a creepy Three Little Pigs (right), Houston-based photographer Krista Steinke was inspired by her new found motherhood to 'blur the lines between fantasy and reality'. The artists new body of work, Backyards, BB Guns and Nursery Rhymes, features children playing out classic stories in a dark, uncertain, and mischievous way. Alot of the photos have been merged with vintage Super 8mm film stock to make the images even more eerie.

Yang Yi Kui, 55, from Jiangsu province, China, is recovering in hospital in Nanjing after surgeons removed the steel pin which was lodged near his left eyesocket. Incredibly, he did not even realise the nail had ripped through his skull until he went to the hospital feeling sick and it was discovered by doctors. Mr Yang had been using a cutting machine while decorating his home on December 29 when the accident happened.