Snow storm hits Midwest, Northeast, 3 killed
NEW YORK, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- A blizzard warning has been issued for New York City as a massive snow storm hits the Midwest and Northeast Saturday.
Total snow accumulations for the New York City area will be 14 to 21 inches by Sunday evening and Northeast winds will increase -- up to 50 mph Saturday night -- creating whiteout conditions and visibilities to drop to near zero at times, according to the Weather Underground. The blowing and drifting snow may result in power outages.
In addition, a full moon Tuesday along with the stiff winds will push water Sunday morning 2 to 4 feet above normal and will likely result in widespread areas of minor coastal flooding.
As the storm moves from the Great Plains to the northeast the cities of Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York City, Washington and Boston can expect six inches to up to 20 inches of snow, before the storm ends Sunday.
The storm killed three in Ohio Saturday and many localities have issued travel warnings.
Hundreds of flights in several Midwest and Northeastern cities have been canceled or delayed.
Mom unfit to stand trial in baby attack
MCKINNEY, Texas, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- A court-appointed psychiatrist says a north Texas woman accused of fatally cutting off her baby's arms is not competent to stand trial.
Dr. David Self determined Dena Schlosser, 35, suffers from bipolar disorder and postpartum onset, the woman's lawyer, David Haynes, told Saturday's Dallas Morning News.
A judicial decision on her fitness to stand trial will be made next month, officials said.
Authorities charged Schlosser with capital murder in November after she told a 911 operator and a police officer that she cut off 10-month-old Margaret's arms.
Police found the woman in her apartment holding a knife. Emergency crews rushed her bleeding daughter to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Schlosser had been diagnosed with postpartum psychosis after she gave birth last January. Medical records show Schlosser tried to commit suicide by cutting her wrist the day after Margaret was born.
Schlosser's two surviving daughters, ages 6 and 9, were returned to their father this week after living in foster care since their mother's arrest.
Brazilian engineer abducted in Iraq
BRASILIA, Brazil, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- A Brazilian engineer has been abducted in northern Iraq, Arab news station Al Jazeera reported Saturday.
A video sent to the station identifies the abductors as al Mujahideen Squadrons working with the Iraqi militant Army of Ansar al Sunna group.
The man has been identified as 55-year-old Joao Jose Vasconcelos Junior, an engineer for the Odebrecht Industrial Group, one of Brazil's largest construction firms.
Brazil's foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday they were looking into the abduction and that Brazilians traveling to Iraq for business take into account the extreme risk traveling there poses.
'Untouchable' caste kept from relief aid
TAMIL NADU, India, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- International aid agencies in India have reported that some tsunami survivors have been refused help because they are considered "untouchables."
Dalits, as the former "untouchables" are known, have been thrown out of government relief camps and kept from using basic relief supplies such as being allowed to drink clean water from a tank provided by UNICEF, the Independent reported Saturday.
The Indian government has been accused of not doing enough to prevent the injustice that includes members of higher castes requiring the Dalits to dispose of the bodies of the dead.
Untouchability has been illegal in India for decades but after Mahatma Gandhi told his followers he "would far rather Hinduism died than untouchability lived," the practice is still widely followed in India and Dalits face daily persecution.
