Snow began to fall as a massive blizzard headed for the US north-east today, sending residents hurrying to stock up on food and supplies.

A winter storm made travel torturous in north-east America, dropping a thick layer of snow that stranded thousands of airline, train and bus passengers and made motorists think twice about hitting post-Christmas sales.

A wife shot herself moments after writing to her mortgage company to tell them by the time they foreclosed on her house she would be dead.

A religious sect member and his wife slowly starved their infant son to death as he cried horrifically, a prosecutor said today as the man’s murder trial opened.