DENVER (AP):

A major winter storm is promising to bring a white Christmas to parts of the West and Midwest and also threatening to cause long delays and tough driving conditions for countless holiday travellers. The storm is expected to dump more than a foot (0.3 metre) of snow on parts of Colorado and Southern Utah and blow east into the Plains states through Christmas Day. Blizzard warnings were likely on Christmas Eve in Kansas.

"Pretty much the entire central and southern Rockies are going to get snow, and then it's going east and will drop more snow," said Stan Rose, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Pueblo, Colorado. South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds declared a state of emergency on Tuesday.

The National Weather Service in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, warned of treacherous travel conditions through to Friday night, calling the storm "life-threatening."

Iraqi bomb blast claims two

BAGHDAD (AP):

A bomb killed two men and damaged a historic church in a northern Iraqi city yesterday, one day ahead of Christmas Eve services that will be heavily guarded for fear of more attacks on the country's Christian minority. The bomb in Mosul was hidden under sacks of baking flour in a handcart left 15 yards (metres) from the Mar Toma Church, also known as Church of St Thomas, a police officer said. The officer said the two killed were Muslims, and that five other people were injured. A hospital official confirmed the casualties.

Fiery Christmas as volcano spits lava

Philippines (AP):

Police and soldiers donned Santa hats and red clown noses and belted out songs in crammed evacuation centres in hopes of keeping 47,000 displaced residents from sneaking back to their homes on the slopes of a lava-spilling volcano.

Despite the risk of an imminent explosive eruption of the 8,070-foot (2,460-metre) Mayon, which has been oozing lava and blasting ash for a week, some residents, weary of temporary shelters, are conspiring to go back to their abandoned villages for traditional Christmas Eve family gatherings. Others want to retrieve their livestock or harvest crops.

"We are not used to spending Christmas in the evacuation centre," said Ramon Ayala, 48, whose home lies within a five-mile (eight-kilometre) zone around Mayon that authorities emptied last week when the volcano started rumbling.

"We and many others plan to spend Christmas Eve in our homes," Ayala said.

Authorities are determined to make sure it does not happen.

Afghan lawmaker accidentally killed

KABUL (AP):

A member of the Afghan parliament was mistakenly killed in an early morning shoot-out between his bodyguards and police officers, officials reported yesterday. Mohammad Yunos Shirnagha, a lawmaker from northern Baghlan province, was killed as he returned home around 2:30 a.m. yesterday, said provincial police chief Gen Kabir Andarabi.

Officers were hiding in an area near the provincial capital, Pul-e-Khumri, where they expected militants to transport a Taliban commander wounded in fighting Tuesday, local police said. That battle left four police officers and four insurgents dead, according to police.

When Shirnagha's vehicle arrived in the area, police shouted for it to stop. When the driver did not stop, a gunfight broke out between police officers and bodyguards protecting Shirnagha, a member of Afghanistan's upper house of parliament.The lawmaker's driver also was killed and one of his friends was wounded, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.