Polar Vortex: Deep Freeze Moves Across US

A whirlpool of freezing, dense air known as a "polar vortex" has gripped the US Midwest and is making its way East and South, bringing record low temperatures.

Thermometers plunged to -32C (-25F) in Fargo, North Dakota, while Madison, Wisconsin, hit -28C (-19F) and even Chicago and Minneapolis saw temperatures reach -20F, with wind chills of -50F.

Forecasters say some 187 million people could feel the effects of the frigid blast by the time it has spread across the country.

Nearly 3,200 flights - one out of every 10 domestic departures - were cancelled on Monday, following a weekend of travel disruption across the US.

Snow is removed from the tarmac as a plane lands at New York's JFK Airport

Airline officials said de-icing fluid was freezing and fuel was pumping sluggishly.

More than a foot of snow has been dumped on a large part of the nation's midsection, forcing officials to close schools in Chicago, St Louis and Milwaukee.

In Chicago, transit officials believe the frigid conditions caused a commuter train to strike a bumping post at a downtown station, injuring 14 passengers.

The polar vortex will hit temperatures in 48 US states by Tuesday

Authorities said six people were taken to hospital with minor injuries after the accident - the second such incident of the day.

The National Weather Service (NWS) is predicting 48 US states will have wind chills of below zero - an area of 1.5 million square miles.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard upgraded the city's travel emergency level to "red" for a time, making it illegal for anyone to drive except for emergencies or to seek shelter.

The last time the city issued such a warning was in 1978.

The extreme weather is affecting area of 1.5 million square miles

Utility crews worked to restore power to more than 40,000 Indiana customers affected by the weekend storm and cautioned that some people could be in the cold and dark for days.

In New York City, the temperature was expected to drop sharply from about 11C (52F) to around -12C (10F) as the arctic air moved in.

Missouri transport officials said it was too cold for rock salt to be effective and several roads in Illinois were closed because of drifting snow.

Government offices and courts in several states have also been closed.

Predicted temperatures across the US on Tuesday morning

In Newfoundland, Canada, around 30,000 customers remain without power because of rolling blackouts over the last few days.

The record cold temperatures are also affecting southern states.

Louisiana citrus farmers have been warned they could lose any fruit they cannot pick as two nights of freezing temperatures are forecast.

Packers fans watch the seventh coldest NFL game in history

Fans braved subzero temperatures to watch the Green Bay Packers lose 20-23 to the San Francisco 49ers at Lambeau Field on Sunday night.

The game kicked off with temperatures of -15C (5F), making it the seventh coldest NFL game in history.

People in Canada have also been reporting hearing loud "booms" known as "frost quakes"

The phenomenon - or cryoseism - takes place when water underground freezes and then expands, forcing the ground to crack and creating the noise.

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Newborn Baby's Body Found Dumped In Rubbish

The body of a newborn girl has been found dumped in a biomedical waste disposal truck at a hospital in India.

The child died in the early hours of Monday morning and her family paid the privately-owned Mata Chanan Devi Hospital 1,500 rupees (£15) to keep her body in a mortuary overnight.

However it was missing when the family returned to collect it at around 10am.

Ashok Kumar, the newborn's uncle, said: "We asked for it and it wasn't there.

The child had been treated at the Mata Chanan Devi Hospital

"One of the hospital staff suddenly ran towards a truck collecting biomedical waste. He looked in the garbage bags and found her there."

The hospital has denied medical negligence, and the hospital's medical superintendent Dr Nidhi Sareen has promised to conduct an internal inquiry.

Delhi's chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said: "Dumping a newborn's body into the garbage is cruel and inhuman. We'll investigate the matter and take action against the guilty."

The hospital's biomedical waste storage site

According to some reports, it is thought that the hospital staff mistook the newborn's body as an amputated limb and dumped it into the truck.

Rajesh Kumar Verma, the newborn's father, said his daughter was born prematurely at Khanna Nursing Home in Janakpuri at 1.30pm on Sunday.

The family said she had swelling in her head and the doctors advised them to take her to the hospital.

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Aspen: Plane Crashes At Colorado Airport

A private jet has crashed and burst into flames while landing at an airport in the US state of Colorado.

One person was killed and two injured in the accident at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, which serves the famous Colorado skiing resort.

Photos and video from the scene show a fire engine spraying down the wreckage, and smoke billowing from the plane.

Aspen is a popular winter holiday destination for celebrities, and comedian Kevin Nealon and singer LeAnn Rimes posted tweets after witnessing the crash.

The incident happened at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport

"Horrible plane crash here at Aspen airport. Exploded into flames as it was landing. I think it was a private jet," wrote Nealon, best known for his role in TV black comedy Weeds.

"Fire trucks and other emergency vehicles still at scene. No word on survivors or who was on jet but I can't imagine there are survivors."

Rimes wrote: "So sad. Horrible plane crash we just saw happen at the Aspen airport."

Kevin Nealon posted tweets after seeing the crash

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said: "The airplane appears to be a Bombardier Challenger 600, coming from Tucson to Aspen. It crashed while attempting to land."

It is not clear how many people were on board.

Aspen, nestled in the Rocky Mountains, is about 100 miles southwest of Denver.

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Polar Vortex: NFL Fans Brave -26C Wind Chill

Diehard football fans braved freezing temperatures and a wind chill of -26C (-14F) to watch a crucial NFL match in Wisconsin.

San Francisco players wrapped up in thick red blankets during game breaks

The Green Bay Packers took on the San Francisco 49ers at their home field on Sunday night, in one of the coldest American football matches ever played.

A phenomenon described as a polar vortex has plunged states in the north and northwest US into a deep freeze, causing transport chaos and school closures.

Fans at the Packers' Lambeau Field swaddled themselves in multiple thick layers of clothing and covered themselves with blankets for the tie, which lasted around three hours.

Some Packers fans - affectionately known as cheeseheads - wore costumes

The 49ers' stars – used to balmy California temperatures – wrapped up on the touchline in signature colour red blankets.

Despite not being accustomed to the inclement weather, they won 23-20, putting them one step closer to February's Superbowl.

The weather phenomenon has seen super-chilled air from the Arctic sucked into North and South Dakota, the Great Lakes states and New England, sending temperatures plunging.

Thick layers were neccessary for the three-hour game

Washington DC has already seen its coldest temperatures for 20 years and several states in the Midwest have recorded their lowest mercury readings for more than a decade.

Icy weather is feared to have been a factor that led to a Delta Airways flight skidding off the runway at JFK Airport on Sunday.

None of the flight's 35 passengers were injured and the aircraft was safely towed to a gate.

Snow at JFK Airport in New York

The busy New York airport suspended operations for about two hours due to slick runways.

In Chicago, about 1,200 flights have been cancelled at the city's O'Hare and Midway international airports.

Weather Bell meteorologist Ryan Maue described current weather conditions as a once in a generation event.

Scituate, Massachusetts, is among the places to have seen blizzards

"If you're under 40 (years old), you've not seen this stuff before," he said.

With much of the northeast of the country already under thick snow and well below zero, a newly emerging weather system is threatening to cause further misery.

The 'polar vortex' is an anti-clockwise rotating pool of cold, dense air that forms close to the North Pole, but typically hangs over Canada.

People enjoy Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro during a heatwave in Brazil

Meteorologists say that unusually, this year, it is heading south and moving towards the north and eastern United States.

Fargo in North Dakota is expected to dip to -31C (-25F), International Falls, Minnesota will fall to -35C (-31F) and Indianapolis, Indiana and Chicago, Illinois, will reach -26C (-15F).

The frigid forecast prompted Minnesota public school officials to announce a statewide closure for Monday, marking the first such mass closing in 17 years.

The Wisconsin cities of Milwaukee and Madison have also announced school closures to start the week.

At least 16 deaths have been blamed on a snow storm that swept across the eastern half of the US at the end of last week.

Only a few thousand people have been left without power in the US despite heavy snowfalls, but in Canada, which has seen unusually heavy snow in a country used to cold winters, nearly 90,000 are without power in Newfoundland.

Meanwhile, in Brazil, soaring temperatures in Rio de Janeiro set off fire sprinklers in shopping malls as the thermometer topped 40C (102F).

Thousands headed to the beach as temperatures rose to more than 50C in the sunshine.

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Iraq: Troops Remain Until Militants 'Eliminated'

Al Qaeda-linked fighters have reportedly taken control of Fallujah, as the Iraqi army shells the city to try and seize it back.

At least eight people have been killed and 30 others hurt in the latest violence, according to officials and medical sources.

It comes as Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki insisted government troops would remain in the Anbar region until al Qaeda-linked militants are "eliminated".

He said: "There will be no retreat until we eliminate this gang and rid the people of Anbar of their evil acts.

"The people of Anbar asked the government for help, they called us to come to rescue them from terrorists."

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been tightening its grip in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, near the Syrian border, as it tries to create an Islamic state across the Iraqi-Syrian borders.

Parts of Fallujah and Ramadi, the other main city in Anbar, have been held by Sunni Muslim militants for days.

Armed men pictured in Ramadi

The areas were both strongholds of Sunni insurgents during the US-led conflict that topped Saddam Hussein in 2003.

In Ramadi, tribesmen and the army have worked together to counter al Qaeda militants seeking to take control.

But in Fallujah, ISIL received a boost after being joined by tribesmen against the government.

The fighting began in Ramadi on Monday, when security forces broke up an anti-government camp demonstrating against what Sunnis see as the marginalisation of their community.

The violence then spread to Fallujah, and when security forces left both cities after fighting the militants, it cleared the way for ISIL to move in.

"Fallujah is under the control of ISIL," a senior security official in Anbar province told the AFP news agency, adding the outskirts were in the hands of local police.

Iraqi ground forces commander Staff General Ali Ghaidan Majeed said police and tribesmen were hunting for militants in Ramadi, with army support.

And he said authorities were working on "fixing the situation in Fallujah".

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Baby Deaths: Hospital Recalls IV Supplies

Authorities in France have recalled a batch of nutrient bags used to feed infants after three babies died from bacterial contamination.

The parents of the three babies have filed criminal complaints for manslaughter following the deaths last month at a hospital in Chambery, southeastern France.

The bags were used to feed newborns intravenously in the hospital's neo-natal intensive care ward.

Analysis of several unused bags found they were contaminated with bacteria, the hospital told the parents.

"We've lodged the complaint to find out what happened," said the 37-year-old father of one of the babies.

Hospital director Guy-Pierre Martin confirmed the IV bags were contaminated

"There was a failure in the system and this failure needs to be found so it never happens again."

The director of the hospital, Guy-Pierre Martin, said the contaminated IV nutrient bags were provided by a French pharmaceutical firm.

He refused to identify the firm, saying that was the responsibility of French government authorities.

France's health minister Marisol Touraine has announced that all the affected IV bags had been withdrawn.

She called the deaths "an extremely grave accident".

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Egypt: Thirteen Dead In Pro-Morsi Protests

At least 13 people have been killed in Egypt after Mohamed Morsi supporters clashed with police and opponents.

Violence broke out after thousands of people loyal to the deposed president demonstrated ahead of a new hearing in Morsi's trial, to be held on Wednesday.

Five people were killed in Cairo, said a health ministry statement, and the rest died in other cities including Alexandria, Ismailiya and Fayoum.

More than 120 people were arrested for carrying weapons and at least 57 were wounded nationwide as police used tear gas and birdshot to break up the demonstrations.

Protesters in Cairo threw rocks, petrol bombs and fireworks at police during street battles.

Petrol bombs and fireworks were reportedly thrown by demonstrators

The capital's main squares, the site of violent clashes in the past, had been sealed off in advance by barbed wire and military vehicles.

Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist who came to power in democratic elections, was removed by a military coup in July 2013.

He now faces charges of inciting the killing of protesters when he was in power and is also accused over a jailbreak during the 2011 uprising that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak.

His Muslim Brotherhood movement was declared a terrorist organisation in December after Egypt's current rulers blamed it for a car bomb that killed 15 people.

It is now illegal to belong to the group or finance it.

The military says Mohamed Morsi incited the killing of protesters

The crackdown has increased tensions in a country suffering the worst internal strife of its modern history.

More than 1,000 Morsi supporters are estimated to have been killed in fighting since he was overthrown and thousands have been jailed.

Around 350 police and security officials have also died in attacks.

Tensions are also high ahead of a referendum on a new constitution later this month which would give the military more power and ban political parties based around religion.

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Schumacher: Friend Claims German 'Out Of Danger'

A camera reportedly attached to Michael Schumacher's helmet is being looked at in the hope it will reveal more about the circumstances of his skiing accident.

Authorities are examining the device and are also questioning Schumacher's son, who was with him when he crashed, according to French news agency AFP.

Small helmet-mounted cameras have become popular for filming extreme sports in recent years.

Fans show their support outside the hospital treating the injured driver

It comes after friend Philippe Strieff told reporters outside the hospital on Friday that the German's life was no longer in danger.

He said: "I'm not a doctor, I'm repeating what Gerard Saillant (surgeon and friend of the Schumacher family) told me.

"Gerard Saillant said it is a serious condition but his life is not in danger anymore now, thankfully."

However, no official statement has been made by the hospital or Schumacher's representatives to confirm those claims.

Philippe, a fan from Lyon, waves a flag featuring an image of Schumacher

Meanwhile, Schumacher's family have said they were "utterly overwhelmed" and "moved to tears" by fans' silent vigil to mark the Formula One legend's 45th birthday.

On the driver's official website the family said: "The incredible sympathies shown today by the Ferrari Fans outside the hospital has utterly overwhelmed us and moved us all to tears.

"We are deeply grateful for it and also for all the heartwarming and heartfelt wishes for Michael to get well soon, which have reached us from all over the world."

Corinna Schumacher arrives to visit her husband

The seven-times F1 world champion has been in Grenoble University Hospital since suffering critical head injuries in a skiing accident in the French Alps on Sunday.

His father Rolf and brother Ralf arrived separately to visit him on Friday. His wife Corinna and children Gina-Maria, 16, and 14-year-old Mick are also at his bedside.

The Ferrari team, for which he spent many years racing, bussed in scores of fans from Italy and France to the hospital.

It put a message on its website, saying "Forza Michael," or "Go Michael" in Italian.

"He is tackling the most important fight of his life and therefore we want to send him very special wishes," said Schumacher's old team, as similar messages poured in from around the world.

Rolf (left) and Ralf Schumacher arrive at the hospital

German former tennis ace Boris Becker wished his compatriot "Happy Birthday" on Twitter, adding "Fight Schumi" in a German hashtag.

Schumacher slammed his head against a rock on Sunday while skiing near Meribel and has had two operations to remove bleeding and pressure on his brain.

He is being kept in an induced coma and the latest health update given by his manager on Wednesday described his condition as stable but still critical.

Fans show their support outside the hospital treating the injured driver

Accountant Stefano Pini, 47, who arrived at the hospital from Milan to pay tribute, said: "Schumi has given us a lot in the past.

"The least we could do is to come here and support him and his family on his birthday."

French fan Gabriel Klose, who turned up with his 12-year-old son, said: "He is one of my greatest idols. We want him to fight and to return to us."

However, the Ferrari tribute also created controversy.

Some have accused the Italian racing giant - which asked fans to sport its trademark colour red and its insignia - of exceeding the limits of good taste.

The carmaker, which has 130 clubs in Europe, provided about 20 coaches across Italy to bus in fans for the vigil.

But Roberto Luongo, president of the Roma-Colesseo Ferrari club, said he did not want to be associated with an event linked to "a man who is suffering".

"It's very delicate and if I was among those who are close to Michael, such an initiative would not have pleased me," he said.

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Obesity Rates Balloon In Developing World

The number of overweight and obese people has reached almost one billion in the developing world - overtaking rates in industrialised countries, a report has found.

The report by the UK's Overseas Development Institute said the number of obese people has more than tripled in the developing world since 1980.

In 2008, more than 900 million people in poor countries were classed as overweight compared with around 550 million in high-income countries - almost twice as many.

Steve Wiggins, the report's author, said: "The statistics are quite sensational, it is a tripling of the number of people who are considered overweight and obese in the developing world since 1980. That takes the number to more than 900 million and that is more than the number of overweight and obese people that we have in the high income countries, which is probably around 570 million, something like that.

"It is a very rapidly emerging problem and it is now of a very large size."

Rates of obesity are still rising in richer countries, but not at the same rate as in the developing world.

Obesity rates in China have almost doubled since 1980

Two countries with particularly high obesity rates are China and Mexico, where the numbers of overweight people have almost doubled since 1980.

In South Africa, obesity has risen by a third and now has a higher rate than the UK.

North Africa, the Middle East and Latin America all have similar overweight and obesity rates to Europe.

Explaining the developing world's obesity epidemic, Mr Wiggins said: "It is associated with incomes and urbanisation and a more sedentary lifestyle, so it is those emerging countries which have done the best at raising their incomes.

"It's the middle income countries, it is the Chinas, it is the Mexicos, which are the countries which are seeing the highest rates of overweight and obesity at the moment."

The report predicts that if current rates continue there will be a huge increase in people suffering certain types of cancer, diabetes, strokes and heart attacks.

It also warns that governments are not doing enough to tackle the crisis, partly due to politicians' reluctance to interfere at the dinner table, the powerful farming and food lobbies and "a large gap" in public awareness as to what constitutes a healthy diet.

Countries singled out for praise in tackling obesity are Denmark and South Korea.

In Denmark, laws against trans-fatty acids have made Danish McDonalds among the healthiest in the world, while in South Korea the government launched a large-scale public education campaign 20 years ago which has turned around obesity rates.

Mr Wiggins said: "A few decades ago the government of Korea said we must encourage our traditional foods, which are low in fats and oils, high in vegetables, high in sea food and so on. And there was a lot of public education, a lot of training and a sense that Korean food is good for you."

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Schumacher: Ferrari Mark F1 Driver's Birthday

Michael Schumacher's family have thanked the public for their support as he remains in a coma following a skiing accident.

The Formula One driver turns 45 today in his hospital bed in Grenoble after suffering critical head injuries in the French Alps on Sunday.

The Ferrari team which he spent many years racing for announced it would hold a "silent gathering" in front of the hospital to mark his birthday.

Jean Todt, former head of the team, visited his bedside on Thursday along with his wife Corinna, their children Gina-Maria, 16, and 14-year-old Mick, his father and brother.

Arsenal striker Lukas Podolski sends a message with team-mates

Schumacher has had two operations to remove bleeding and swelling on his brain and is in an induced medical coma.

A statement from his family on his website said: "Following Michael's skiing accident, we would like to thank the people from all around the world who have expressed their sympathy and sent their best wishes for his recovery. They are giving us great support.

"We all know he is a fighter and will not give up. Thank you."

A source close to the investigation into his crash said his helmet had been smashed "in two" by the impact after he hit his head on a rock on an off-piste section at the popular Meribel ski resort.

The German was injured while skiing off piste in Meribel, France

Prosecutors have opened a probe into the accident, which is common practice in France in such cases, and are exploring the theory that the German was skiing at great speed when he fell.

The accident has led to an outpouring of sympathy from racing drivers and fans alike.

Brazilian racer Felipe Massa, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Arsenal footballers are among the many public figures who have sent messages of support.

But his manager has said there have been "constant attempts" to get access to him as he lies in an induced coma.

Sabine Kehm has confirmed that security at the hospital had stopped a journalist posing as a priest from getting into his room.

The German driver is the most successful in Formula One history, racking up a record 91 race wins and seven world titles.

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