Wednesday's Headlines: Snowstorms Pound the East; Greek Workers Strike

HEADLINES -- February 10, 2010 at 9:50 AM EDT

Wednesday's Headlines: Snowstorms Pound the East; Greek Workers Strike

Wednesday in New York City; Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images -- A plow removes snow in front of the News Corp building in Manhattan during a snowstorm Wednesday. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images.)

The second powerful snowstorm to hit the mid-Atlantic and Northeast in less than a week has, for the third straight day, shut down the federal government, closed most schools and canceled hundreds of flights on Wednesday.

Snow is falling from Virginia to Connecticut after moving out of the Midwest, where the storm was blamed for three traffic deaths in Michigan.

The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings that extended into New York City, where there is potential for a whiteout and a foot or more of snow.

"Conditions will deteriorate from southwest to northeast across the Interstate 95 corridor today as the storm rapidly strengthens into a blizzard offshore," reports AccuWeather.com, adding, "During the height of the blizzard, strong winds will severely whip around the falling snow. Visibility will become extremely poor for an extended period of time. Blowing snow and massive drifts will further clog roads."

Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, which were hit hard by snowstorms over the weekend, each needs about nine more inches to give the cities their snowiest winters on record.

If the cities don't break the records by Thursday, there's good (or bad) news: A pair of systems could bring additional snow to the eastern United States later this week and early next week, according to Weather.com.

In Greece, flights have been canceled, many schools are closed and hospitals are operating an emergency-only service, as well, but not because of snow. Public workers in have launched a national strike, as thousands are rallying against the government's budget-cutting measures, the BBC reports.

Greece is under increasing pressure from European Union nations to reign in its spending. And the financial markets remain unstable as disagreement persists within the E.U. about how to deal with swelling debt levels in Greece, Portugal and Spain.

On Tuesday's NewsHour, Jeffrey Brown talked to Nariman Behravesh, the chief economist at IHS Global Insight, an economic forecasting and consulting firm, about the E.U.'s problems:

The BBC's Clare Spencer compiles what commentators are saying about what a European debt crisis could mean for the future of the euro, while the New York Times' Paul Krugman offers an "Anatomy of a Euromess."

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