Cold snap kills 200 across East Europe

A vicious cold snap across Russia and eastern Europe has claimed nearly 200 lives, officials figures showed yesterday, as forecasters warned it would last until Christmas Eve.
In Russia, the cold has killed two people in the past 24 hours, the Ria-Novosti agency reported, citing medical sources, bringing the total number of deaths over the past week to 56.
The freeze had also left 371 people in hospital.
Thermometers have been stuck below minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) in Moscow -- and below minus 50 degrees (minus 58 F) in some parts of Siberia -- for a week.
Other European countries hit hard by the extreme temperatures were counting the toll as temperatures gradually started to return to normal.
Authorities in Ukraine, which has been battling heavy snowfall for weeks, said 83 people had died of cold, with 57 of the victims found on the street.
The homeless are traditionally the hardest-hit by the region's bitter winters.
In eastern Europe, police in Poland said Friday that 49 people had died of exposure this month, with most of the victims homeless, as temperatures plunged to minus 10 degrees Celsius.
At least six people have died of exposure in Lithuania in the past weeks, police and emergency services said there.
Czech police said several people had died of exposure in recent weeks, but no overall statistics were available for the country.