World/Nation Briefs February 1, 2011

Monster storm targets Midwest

COLUMBIA, Mo. - A monster winter storm took aim at a third of the nation Monday, threatening to lay a potentially deadly path of heavy snow and ice from the Rockies to New England, followed by a wave of bitter, bone-rattling cold that could affect tens of millions of people.

Cities including St. Louis, Kansas City and Milwaukee could be hardest hit, with expected midweek snowfalls of up to 2 feet and drifts piled 5 to 10 feet. Even hardy Chicago could be in for its third-worst blizzard since record-keeping began.

"I wouldn't want to be on the road in open areas tomorrow night," WGN forecaster Tom Skilling said. "I don't think I'd want to be driving in the city either. The fact is people die in these things. They skid off the road and go wandering around in whiteout conditions."

Warmer areas were not safe, either. The system could spawn tornadoes in the South.

While record snowfalls have pounded the Northeast in one of that region's most brutal winters, the Midwest has been comparatively unscathed, until now.

Control system of nuclear plant at risk in Iran

VIENNA - The control systems of Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant have been penetrated by a computer worm unleashed last year, according to a foreign intelligence report that warns of a possible Chernobyl-like disaster once the site becomes fully operational.

Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, also has raised the specter of the 1986 reactor explosion in Ukraine, but suggested last week that the danger had passed.

The report, drawn up by a nation closely monitoring Iran's nuclear program and obtained by The Associated Press, said such conclusions were premature and based on the "casual assessment" of Russian and Iranian scientists at Bushehr.

Details emerge of teen killings

TAMPA, Fla. - A suburban Florida soccer mom showed signs of trouble in the months before she was accused of killing her two teenage children: Her 16-year-old daughter told authorities in November she had been hit by her mother on two occasions, and troopers investigating a car crash that same month thought the woman's glassy eyes and "mush mouth" indicated she had been using drugs.

However, state investigators found no evidence Julie Powers Schenecker, 50, had abused her children and determined the risk to the children was low, according to one of several reports released Monday. Now, Schenecker is accused of shooting and killing the kids because they were talking back and being "mouthy."

- The Associated Press