The quake struck at 0931 GMT in the Gulf of Alaska, 280 kilometers (175 miles) southeast of the town of Kodiak, the US Geological Survey said, revising a preliminary estimate of 8.2 magnitude. The epicenter was 10 kilometers under the seabed.

Tsunami warnings were issued for south and southeast Alaska and the west coast of Canada, the National Tsunami Warning Center said.

Less-ominous tsunami watches were issued for the US west coast — the entire coasts of California and Oregon and part of Washington state — and Hawaii out in the Pacific.

Heather Rand, who was 360 miles away in Anchorage, told CNN it felt like the longest earthquake she had ever experienced.

“It was a very long, slow build up. Creepy, more than anything. Definitely the longest, and I was born here,” Rand said, adding the only damage was cracks in the wall.

In Alaska, authorities urged coast dwellers to seek safety.

“If you are located in this coastal area, move inland to higher ground,” the Anchorage Office of Emergency Management said.

“Tsunami warnings mean that a tsunami with significant inundation is possible or is already occurring. Tsunamis are a series of waves dangerous many hours after initial arrival time. The first wave may not be the largest.”

The impasse, the first of its kind since 2013, cast a huge shadow over the first anniversary on Saturday of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The Senate was poised to pass the compromise, but the shutdown will only end formally once the House of Representatives approves the measure keeping the government funded until February 8 — which it is expected to do.

As the Senate convened for the day, the chamber’s top Democrat Chuck Schumer announced that members of his party would vote with ruling Republicans to end the shutdown on day three, after a weekend of frustrating talks on Capitol Hill.

“After several discussions, offers, counteroffers, the Republican leader and I have come to an arrangement,” Schumer said on the Senate floor, referring to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“We will vote today to reopen the government.”

But he warned McConnell that he expected Republicans to make good on a pledge to address Democrat concerns over the Deferred Action on Child Arrivals (DACA) program that shields immigrants brought to the country as children from deportation, but expires on March 5.

There are an estimated 700,000 “Dreamers” whose fates are up in the air.

“If he does not, of course, and I expect he will, he will have breached the trust of not only the Democratic senators but members of his own party as well,” Schumer said.

– Dealmaker on sidelines –

Hopes that the shutdown, which began at midnight Friday, could be limited to the weekend were raised when a bipartisan group huddled for hours on Sunday trying to end the standoff, but they ultimately failed to reach a deal.

Then as Monday began, Trump goaded Democrats from the sidelines, accusing them of shutting down the government to win concessions on immigration, in service of “their far left base.”

“They don’t want to do it but are powerless,” he tweeted, referring to Schumer and other Democratic leaders.

But Schumer said on the Senate floor it was time to get back to work, and lashed out at Trump.

“The great deal-making president sat on the sidelines,” he said.

The bill needed 60 votes to advance in the 100-member Senate, meaning Republicans — who have a one-seat majority — could not maneuver on their own.

Over the weekend, Trump encouraged the Senate’s Republican leaders to invoke the “nuclear option” — a procedural maneuver to change the chamber’s rules to allow passage of a budget by a simple majority of 51 votes to end the shutdown.

But Senate leaders have been wary of such a move in the past, as it could come back to haunt them the next time Democrats hold a majority.

There have been four government shutdowns since 1990. In the last one, more than 800,000 government workers were put on temporary leave.

Essential federal services and military activity are continuing, but even active-duty troops will not be paid until a deal is formally sealed.//AFP

Commuters in the bustling Japanese metropolis battled home through flurries of snow as the worst of the weather so far hit during evening rush hour.

“At least 67 people have been injured in snow-related accidents in Tokyo and the number is expected to increase further as calls for ambulances have continued,” a spokesman with the city’s fire department told AFP.

More than 330 domestic flights departing from and arriving to airports in the Tokyo region were cancelled due to the bad weather, while some regional trains were also suspended, local news reports said.

Japan’s northern regions frequently see heavy snow but such weather is rare in Tokyo.

Large crowds struggled through the snow at Shinjuku, the world’s busiest train station, as the nightly rush hour began.

Television footage showed commuters forming long queues at bus stops at another district, Shibuya, as snow blanketed the city.

The weather agency only issues a heavy snow alert when there are fears there could be damage o property or disruption to traffic.

“In Tokyo, we also warn of heavy snow if the snow is expected to accumulate more than 10 centimetres (4 inches) in 12 hours,” Sakiko Nishioka from the weather agency told AFP.

The last time the alert was issued, in February 2014, Tokyo saw 27 centimetres of snow.

The country’s northern regions that often see heavy snow have a higher bar for the warning.

This prompted some mockery on Japanese social media, with one user noting “public transport is paralysed with such little snow in Tokyo and a flood of people cannot go home.

“People in Asahikawa (in Hokkaido) live as if the snow didn’t exist.”

National Statistician Lisa Grace Bersales said gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the fourth quarter was at 6.6 per cent.

The fourth-quarter economic growth was the same as the previous year’s 6.6 per cent.

The government has set the GDP growth target for 2017 at 6.5-7.5 per cent.

This year, the government targets 7-8 per cent growth.

Sources said the dead man Yusuf Ali was a camp leader at the Balukhali camp on the border with Myanmar. Mohammad Yusuf, a leader in the neighbouring Thaingkhali camp, was shot dead last Friday.

Yusuf Ali, 60, was stabbed to death, district police chief Iqbal Hossain told AFP. Another police official described him as a Rohingya “majhi” or camp leader.

The Dhaka Tribune described the earlier victim, Mohammad Yusuf, as a pro-repatriation leader.

His wife Jamila Khatun, 35, said some 20 armed and masked men stormed their home and and shot her husband in the head.

“He shouted ‘Oh Allah!’ and they shot him again in the mouth. He fell down,” she told AFP.

“They spoke Rohingya. They were saying to my husband: ‘Why did you put our name on the list?’ They were furious,” she added.

She did not say which list the attackers were referring to.

Bangladesh authorities have been trying to draw up a list of Rohingya, among nearly one million in camps on the border, who could be sent back to Myanmar.

Bangladesh has been besieged with an influx of more than 680,000 Rohingya since Myanmar’s military launched the latest crackdown on the Muslim minority last August.

Following an agreement with Myanmar, Bangladesh authorities had wanted to start the repatriations on Tuesday but have delayed the operation — saying they need more time to prepare.

Local media and a Rohingya leader have linked the killings to fears of being sent back. Police have rejected any such connection.

Hundreds of Rohingya have taken part in protests against repatriation in recent days.

Local authorities in Cox’s Bazar on Monday prevented hundreds of them from holding a rally at one large camp.

One of the suspects, an Indonesian construction worker, had previously wandered around Kuala Lumpur with a knife in an unsuccessful attempt to attack Buddhist monks in revenge for atrocities against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, police said.

Hundreds of suspected extremists have been arrested in Muslim-majority Malaysia in recent times, as fears grow that IS is encouraging would-be militants to launch attacks in a country that has never before suffered a major assault.

The latest arrests took place in separate police operations in January and December, with a Malaysian teacher from a religious school detained as well as the construction worker.

The men were “suspected of being involved with the Daesh (IS) terrorist group”, said national police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun in a statement.

The 23-year-old Indonesian was detained in the capital last week and had allegedly been planning to attack police headquarters and other police stations to steal weapons that could be used in attacks.

In November he had scouted an area of downtown Kuala Lumpur with a knife, allegedly planning to target Buddhist monks, but he did not succeed, police said.

There has been an outpouring of sympathy towards the Rohingya in Malaysia since hundreds of thousands fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar, their mainly Buddhist homeland, in the wake of a military-led campaign in Rakhine state.

The suspect, who was not named, had been in contact with a senior IS leader and had raised a flag of the jihadist group at the construction site where he worked, police said.

The Malaysian teacher, 25, was detained outside Kuala Lumpur and had been planning attacks on entertainment outlets around the capital, police said, without giving further details.

He previously served an 18-month jail term under tough internal security laws.

The winter months regularly bring worse air quality to Hong Kong and other parts of the region due to wind direction and weather conditions.

But as acrid air shrouded the city’s skyscrapers, harbour and surrounding hills, residents said they were afraid for their health.

“It feels stuffy and airless. It’s more difficult to breathe,” said Elsa Choi, 32.

“I’m not sure if masks could filter out (the particles). I won’t go outside as much,” Choi added.

The air quality in Hong Kong Monday was categorised as “unhealthy” on the World Air Quality Index.

Readings of damaging fine particles known as PM 2.5 hit an average concentration of 198 micrograms per cubic metre.

The World Health Organization recommends a maximum average exposure of 25 micrograms per cubic metre in a 24-hour period.

In Beijing, where pollution has reached hazardous levels in the past, the average reading was 25, categorised as “good”.

The government said that pollution in Hong Kong was higher than normal and that the risk to health was “very high”, as it warned residents to avoid outdoor activities.

Schools were urged to take “appropriate measures” to safeguard students’ health.

The environment bureau blamed the smog on a mix of light winds, preventing dispersion of pollutants, and sunshine which it said worsens the problem.

But campaigners said authorities should not simply look to the weather.

“We know that there is a weather factor but we also know that roadside air pollution comes from traffic,” said Patrick Fung of NGO Clean Air Network, who said there should be traffic controls on high pollution days.

Fung added that few people in the densely packed city could go about their daily routine without being close to the clogged roads.

A clean air plan was introduced in 2013, and the environment bureau has said roadside pollutants have dropped by up to 74 percent in the past 20 years.

But the number of days where pollution readings were categorised as a high health risk in 2017 was almost double the number in 2016, according to bureau statistics, although it was an improvement on 2014 and 2015.

Campaigners have questioned the speed at which authorities are implementing change and encouraging a drop in fossil fuel use.

In February last year the government was slammed by environmentalists, lawmakers and manufacturers for axing a tax waiver on electric cars as a way to fight congestion.

Resident Susane Yip, 40, said the smog would also put off tourists who want to capture the city’s epic harbour views.

“I hope the government can devote its efforts to solving this problem,” Yip told AFP.

“We try to encourage the young generation to vote for us. If they [the ruling party in government] win, Malaysia will never change,” Marina said at the Bangkok Edge festival at the weekend.

“For me, it’s clear that you [Malaysians] should vote for the opposition alliance Pakatan Harapan [PH]. Because we have had this government for too long and they are not going to change – they will do everything to stay in power. The government controls the press and security council. It’d be really hard to win, unless Malaysians get totally fed up,” she said.

Religious elements present in the election campaign agenda in the upcoming election also had a strong voice, she said.

The ruling party tried to get support from Muslim Malays, notably in the rural areas, so they are trying to capture votes by putting up the most conservative ideas about Islam into their campaign, she said.

“This strategy created a really kind of disturbing atmosphere where people – both nonMuslims particularly and progressive Muslims – are worried where these [ideas] are going to lead, just because they [the ruling party] want to get votes,” she said.

Islamisation is also affecting women in her country. “Islamisation is a very broad term, basically when I say that I mean the state form of Islam is very bureaucratic and very controlled and it wants everyone to conform to one type of Islam, which is very [strict] Sunni Islam. It’s more strict than we are used to,” she said.

The trend had a lot of implications for everyone in Malaysia, whether Muslim or nonMuslim, particularly for women because it reflected a type of thinking “which is I don’t think it’s based on the Koran or anything but on a very patriarchal attitude”.

“It’s not only putting the women’s issues and women’s rights into the agenda, I also help with the general issues, especially the big issue in Malaysia, which is corruption.”

“All these things impact everybody, but particularly women. If we have a culture of corruption, women have less money so they cannot do anything because they cannot pay bribes. These issues to me are women’s issues,” she said.

“We, women’s groups, have to keep insisting. The women’s issues and women’s rights are very big parts of the democracy. Unfortunately, both sides are not talking about these, including the opposition,” she said, noting that she wanted to see more female candidates in the election.

“Right now we have very low amount, we have only 10 per cent of female MPs,” she said, adding that she did not want to be a candidate herself.

At the age of 60, she said, “I think I’m too old already. We want to put up more young female election candidates.”