2 million in Northeast still without power
SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Many of the 2 million U.S. Northeast residences and businesses with no power Monday after a deadly snowstorm will likely stay that way for days, officials said.
At least 11 deaths were blamed on Saturday and Sunday's historic nor'easter, and states of emergency remained in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and parts of New York, police said..
The dead included a 77-year-old grandmother in New York City who relied on an oxygen machine that shut down when her house lost power, her family told reporters, and a 20-year-old man in Springfield, Mass., electrocuted when he touched a guardrail electrified by a downed wire, Springfield Police Lt. Robert Moynihan told The Boston Globe.
At least eight people were killed in car accidents, police told several newspapers and TV stations, and an 84-year-old man in Temple, Pa., was killed instantly while napping in a recliner when a tree covered with snow crashed through the roof of his home, WTXF-TV, Philadelphia, reported.
"Unprecedented damage from this storm. Please prepare for worst case scenario -- a week or more without power," Connecticut Light and Power Co., the state's major utility, posted on Twitter Sunday.
Similar predictions were made by utilities and officials in other states, where the number of customers without power from Virginia to Maine originally topped 3.2 million.
Occupy Oakland plans general strike
OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Occupy Oakland demonstrators expect tens of thousands of people to participate in a general strike Wednesday in the California city, an organizer said.
Flyers announcing the strike said "all banks and corporations must close down for the day or we will march on them." The flyers called for solidarity with the global Occupy movement, an end to police aggression and pledged support for local schools and libraries.
Organizer Tim Simons said organized labor plans to participate.
Simons said the general strike would be "the largest organization project any of us have ever been involved in," and tens of thousands of people were expected to participate, the Oakland Tribune reported Monday.
Because of the diversity of perspectives, "there won't be one center of gravity driving the whole thing," Simons said.
The strike has received support from local labor leaders and union members. Unions had yet voted to officially support the strike but organizers said they expect a high level of participation, the Tribune reported.
Sue Piper, a spokeswoman for Mayor Nancy Quan, said city employees who want to support the strike can ask their supervisors for permission to use leave time, a floating unpaid furlough day, or a day off without pay on Wednesday.
Diplomat says attack killed 9 Americans
KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Nine, not 13, Americans were among the 17 people killed in a weekend suicide attack on a NATO armored bus in Kabul, Afghanistan, a Western diplomat said.
The unidentified diplomat told CNN the nine Americans killed included four U.S. troops. Others killed in the attack included two British civilians believed to be civilian contractors, a Kosovo national and a Canadian soldier. Afghan officials said four Afghans, including two students, also died in the incident, bringing the total death toll to 17.
It was earlier reported 13 Americans died in the Saturday attack when a car loaded with explosives rammed into the bus. But the diplomat told CNN that some of those in the bus were not on the passenger list, which led to confusion over the casualties.
"Afghan people are grieved by the NATO loss of lives and share the pain and sorrow with the families and friends of the troops killed," Afghan President Hamid Karzai said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The U.S.news network quoted an Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman as saying it was not clear how many people were wounded.
In other incidents Saturday, the International Security Assistance Force said NATO and Afghan troops killed 20 suspected Taliban insurgents following clashes in Nangarhar province, east of Kabul.
World's population reaches 7 billion
LUCKNOW, India, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- India Monday marked the arrival of girl named Nargis as the world's symbolic 7 billionth citizen, the Plan India child rights group said.
The United Nations had estimated that Oct. 31 would mark the day when the world population reached 7 billion.
Nargis was born as the first child to Ajay and Vinita Yadav in Mall village near Lucknow, capital of the northern Uttar Pradesh State, the Times of India reported.
The state is the most populous state in India, which has the world's second highest population after China. The baby weighed 6.6 pounds, the Times of India reported.
The BBC reported Nargis was born at 7:25 local time.
Bhagyashri Dengle, executive director of Plan India, said: "Nargis' birth as the symbolic 7th billion baby attempts to draw attention to the serious issue of declining child sex ratio in India," the Times report said.
Other girls born in the state Monday also earned the symbolic seven billionth title.
Nargis' father was quoted as saying he and his wife would ensure their girl gets good education and does well in life.
Plan International in Britain, which had identified Uttar Pradesh as the place of birth of the 7 billionth person, said Nargis was chosen symbolically because it was not possible to know where exactly the 7 billionth baby would be born, the BBC reported.
Earlier on Monday, a girl born in a hospital in Manila, the Philippines, also was declared a symbolic 7 billionth baby, the report said.
