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Senate approves healthcare bill

WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate voted 60-39 Thursday to approve landmark 10-year, $871 billion healthcare bill to help cover 31 million uninsured Americans.

The 7 a.m. vote was the last in a string of votes capping months of infighting and procedural delays. The measure includes federal subsidies to help low- and middle-income people buy health insurance as well as a raft of new taxes to finance the venture.

Now comes the difficult reckoning with long-standing differences with the House version and uniting behind a bill that can be sent to the president.

Democrats are said to be outlining a strategy to satisfy the more liberal House without upsetting the Senate's carefully assembled coalition of 60 Democrats and independents, The Washington Post reported.

House leaders say the central issue will be an acceptable substitute for a House-designed government-run insurance plan that those without medical coverage could afford.

Yemen attacks suspected al-Qaida hideout

SANA'A, Yemen, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Yemeni air forces raided a reported al-Qaida hideout early Thursday killing about 30 suspected terrorists, government sources said.

An official source in the Supreme Security Committee said the strike in the al-Said district of Shabwa came during a meeting attended by terrorists Nasir al-Whaishi and Said al-Shihri plotting several terrorist operations.

Al-Qaida was planning retaliatory operations to raids a week ago in Sana'a and Abyan, the news service Saba reported.

Midwest prepares for Christmas blizzard

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. Midwest was hit by snow, ice and sleet Wednesday with a Christmas blizzard on the way, forecasters said.

Roads, power lines and sidewalks from the Great Lakes to the High Plains were being coated by ice in advance of a powerful winter storm. Up to 20 inches of snow was forecast in parts of the upper Midwest by the time it the storm ends Saturday, Accuweather.com reported.

In Kansas, State Trooper Edna Buttler urged drivers to pack blankets, extra windshield washer fluid and ice scrapers, the Baldwin City Signal reported.

"It's kind of hard to stay on the roads. You've got to go slow," Jason Juhan, a clerk at the Love's truck stop in Goodland. said Wednesday.

Wind-whipped snow was expected in Nebraska, Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma Thursday, spreading northward across the rest of the Plains into Christmas Day.

At Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, nearly 100 employees were put on notice Wednesday as more than 100 pieces of snow removal equipment were prepared for action, the Star Tribune reported. Snow had started to fall in the Twin Cities as darkness fell.

In the South, the same system was generating powerful and damaging thunderstorms.

Accuweater.com said such cities as Houston; Lake Charles, La.; Tyler, Texas; and Hot Springs, Ark.; were being pelted Wednesday. New Orleans, Memphis and Jackson, Miss., could expect the same Thursday.

In Washington, forecasters predicted difficult travel conditions Christmas morning, The Washington Post reported. Forecasters said rain was likely to fall on frozen ground, with temperatures below freezing at ground level and higher up above.

"That's a recipe for ice," Jason Samenow, chief meteorologist for the Capital Weather Gang, said.

Gunman surrenders at Va. post office

WYTHEVILLE, Va., Dec. 24 (UPI) -- A gunman with explosives who had held hostages for about eight hours at the Wytheville, Va., Post Office apparently has surrendered, police said.

The man rolled himself onto the street in a wheelchair and was lying on the ground on his stomach as about 20 officers wearing shields approached him, WSLS-TV, Roanoke, Va., reported Wednesday night.

Police have identified the suspect as Warren "Gator" Taylor of Sullivan County, Tenn.

State Police Sgt. Mike Conroy said three hostages had emerged from the building and officers were checking to make sure nobody else was inside.

Police exercised caution because "we don't know what he had," Conroy said, The Wytheville Enterprise reported.

The man, who authorities initially said was wheelchair-bound, had apparently pushed a wheelchair into the post office in the rural western Virginia town about 2:30 p.m., Conroy said earlier.

Keith Dunagan, chief deputy of the Wythe County Sheriff's Office, said the man had claimed he had two bombs. The man, who has not been identified, had spoken with the FBI, which handled negotiations, WSLS reported.

The man, who said he is a Marine Corps veteran and is not from Wytheville, had allowed a few hostages to call relatives, Dunagan said.

Dunagan said the man had not made demands other than food and to speak with an FBI bomb expert, which he has done. Food was also delivered to the post office, authorities said.

The Enterprise reported Wednesday afternoon that multiple gunshots were heard in the vicinity after the man entered the post office. Police said he had 5 pounds of the plastic explosive C-4 strapped to the wheelchair.

A customer who left the post office as the gunman entered said the man had been driving a red truck with Marine Corps stickers. She said he fired at police and had hand grenades. A sheriff's office employee confirmed there were grenades on the man's truck, the Enterprise reported.