DENVER (Reuters) – Snowfall in the Rockies, strong winds in the West and soaking rain in the South caused problems for holiday travelers on the first official day of winter, forecasters said on Thursday.

A snowstorm swept across Colorado overnight, dumping up to 10 inches of snow in the Denver metropolitan area and up to two feet of snow in the foothills west of the city, according to the National Weather Service.

The storm snarled rush-hour traffic in the Denver area, and roads from Wyoming to the New Mexico border remain snow-packed and icy, said Mindy Crane, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.

"It's affected the whole urban corridor," Crane said.

More than 100 regional commuter flights from rural airports had been canceled at Denver International Airport, but all runways were open, said airport spokeswoman Laura Coale.

The early winter snowfall is a boon to Colorado's ski resorts for the upcoming busy holiday season. The fresh snow and warmer temperatures forecast for the weekend will make for optimum skiing conditions, said Mistalynn Lee, spokeswoman for the Winter Park ski resort west of Denver.

"Christmas came early," she said.

The dangers of heavy snowfall to travelers in some parts of the country were highlighted by the rescue of a college student stranded in her car for nine days on a barren northern Arizona road was rescued after living on candy bars and melted snow.

Arizona State University student Lauren Weinberg, 23, was found Wednesday by two U.S. Forest Service employees patrolling on snowmobiles, Coconino County Sheriff's Office patrol Lieutenant Jim Coffey said.

The discovery came the same day a Texas family was rescued from their sports utility vehicle, trapped for at least 36 hours under heavy snow in New Mexico, police said.

Heavy snowfalls were again developing over New Mexico, with 12 to 18 inches of snow expected on Thursday afternoon and evening in the mountains, said National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Wiley.

Some three to five inches of snow are expected in the western part of the state, he said.

Wiley said travel could be hampered, though the winds were not likely to be as strong as the 35-40 mph winds that blew snow around earlier this week, shutting down highways in New Mexico and nearby states.

Wind gusts also affected Southern California on Thursday, where forecasters warned travelers they should use extra caution as gusts up to 60 mph would make driving difficult over the holiday weekend. The Weather Service advised motorists to watch for broken tree limbs and downed power lines.

By Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, Wiley said, the snow storm is expected to move into north Texas, where two to four inches of snow could fall.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee also could disrupt flights, said AccuWeather.com senior meteorologist Paul Walker.

Persistent rain was falling in Memphis early on Thursday and moving across the state.

"There will be a lot of rainfall today, with the areas south and east of us getting one to three inches," said Trevor Boucher, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Nashville.


Most of the more violent weather -- thunder and lightning storms -- will stay south of Tennessee, he said.


The showers will move into the Northeast, bringing heavy rains and thick fog overnight to New York, Washington and Philadelphia, Walker said.


"There's going to be some snow up into northern New England, north of Boston," Walker said.


(Additional reporting by Mary Slosson, Tim Ghianni, Corrie MacLaggan; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis)

KINSHASA, Congo – Police fired tear gas Friday at supporters of Congo's opposition leader who had gathered near a stadium to see him inaugurating himself as president, three days after President Joseph Kabila was sworn in for a second term.
It was unclear if 79-year-old opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi would make it to Kinshasa's Martyrs' Stadium for the unofficial act that observers fear could spark more election-related violence in the mineral-rich central African nation.
About 1,000 Tshisekedi supporters of gathered near the stadium Friday morning. Several tanks waited nearby.
Police thronged Tshisekedi's neighborhood, possibly to keep him from reaching the stadium.
Hours after the event was scheduled to begin, a spokesman for Tshisekedi's party said he was still at home and was consulting with colleagues on his next move.
"Etienne Tshisekedi is well at his home in Limete" neighborhood, said Jean Marie Vianey Kabukanyi.
Police inspector general Charles Bisengimana said the situation was calm in Kinshasa. He said he did not know if Tshisekedi would be able to go through with his plans.
"It's not for the police to permit someone to do such and such an act, but the work of the police to maintain public order," he said.
Tshisekedi earlier declared himself the winner of the November election that international and local observers say lacked credibility, defying Kabila who results said had 49 percent of the vote, compared to 32 percent for Tshisekedi.
Kabila came to power after his father's assassination and has led Congo for a decade. His father, Laurent Kabila, was a rebel leader who toppled the country's dictator of 32 years, Mobutu Sese Seko, in 1997.
Joseph Kabila was declared the winner following constitutional reforms he pushed through parliament limiting the election to one round. Under the old rules, any winner had to have more than 50 percent of votes.
Human Rights Watch said Wednesday that security forces have killed at least 24 people and detained dozens in attacks to quell dissent over the much-criticized vote.
Tshisekedi last month ordered his followers to stage jailbreaks to free detained colleagues.
Observers fear unrest if Tshisekedi, who is enormously popular with the country's impoverished masses, orders his supporters to take to the streets.
The November election was only the second democratic vote in Congo's 51-year history, and the first to be organized by the Congolese government rather than by the international community.
Congo, which is sub-Saharan Africa's largest country, has suffered decades of dictatorship and civil war. The country's east is still wracked by violence perpetrated by dozens of militia and rebel groups.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan's powerful military pledged on Friday to continue supporting democracy, reiterating it was not planning a takeover as tensions grew over a controversial memo alleging an army plot to seize power.

At the same time, President Asif Ali Zardari's spokesman said he had resumed duties after returning from medical treatment in Dubai and has no intention of leaving over the scandal, which has undermined the already deeply unpopular president.

An army statement quoted military chief General Ashfaq Kayani as telling troops the military will continue to support democracy in Pakistan and that any talk the army was planning to take over was "speculation".

Many Pakistanis wonder whether Zardari can survive the crisis, and speculation has been growing that the powerful generals will try to oust him somehow. The tension is a worrying sign for the region and for Pakistan's uneasy relationship with its key ally, the United States.

There are several scenarios under which Zardari could be forced out. The military does not want to be seen interfering in politics.

But it could use its vast influence to isolate Zardari, or offer him an honorable exit by guaranteeing he won't face prosecution on long-standing corruption charges.

Alternatively, Supreme Court justices, seen by some as anti-Zardari, could move against him in the memo case.

The United States wants political stability in Pakistan so that Islamabad can help fight militancy and aid Western efforts to stabilize Afghanistan.

Zardari, known for his resilience in the face of pressure, plans to stay in Pakistan, said his spokesman.

"He is performing his usual work. There is no truth in the reports that the president will leave the country after the 27th of December. He is here in Pakistan and he has come to stay," Farhatullah Babar told Reuters.

Zardari is expected to address a rally on December 27 on the fourth anniversary of the assassination of his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

On Friday, Zardari chaired a meeting with senior leaders of his Pakistan People's Party, and also met coalition partners.

Pakistan's top judge earlier moved to allay fears of a possible military coup as tensions rose.

"There is no question of a takeover. Gone are the days when people used to get validation for unconstitutional steps from the courts," Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said.

The Supreme Court is looking into a petition demanding an inquiry into what has become known as "memogate". Kayani, arguably the most powerful man in the country, has called for an investigation into who may have been behind the memo.

"SPECTRE HAUNTS PAKISTAN"

Newspaper editorials on Friday highlighted unease in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation, predicting a showdown between Zardari and his allies and the military, which is so influential it has been described as a state within a state.

"A specter is haunting Pakistan -- the specter of a clash between the army and the government that threatens to turn fatal," said an editorial in the News.


Businessman Mansoor Ijaz, writing in a column in the Financial Times on October 10, said a senior Pakistani diplomat had asked that a memo be delivered to the Pentagon with a plea for U.S. help to stave off a military coup in the days after the raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May.


Ijaz later identified the diplomat as Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, a Zardari ally who denied involvement but resigned over the controversy.


The military faced unprecedented public criticism over the bin Laden raid, widely seen as a violation of sovereignty.


But many Pakistanis rallied around the army after a November 26 air attack by U.S. forces in Afghanistan mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the border. The memo has also helped boost the army's image at the expense of the government.


Later on Friday, a Pakistani official said a planned briefing by the head of U.S. Central Command, General James N. Mattis, to explain the incident to Pakistani leaders had been cancelled.


Zardari's government has become increasingly unpopular since he took office in 2008. It has failed to tackle myriad problems, from crippling power cuts to suicide bombings and a struggling economy.


The army is fed up with Zardari and wants him out of office, although through legal means and without a repeat of the coups that are a hallmark of the country's 64 years of independence, military sources told Reuters on Thursday.


TEMPERS FLARE


Another military source said tensions must be defused.


"Tempers are flaring, there is no doubt about that. However, there are efforts to pacify the situation as well. And I hope they work, as under the current scenario, it is fast becoming a recipe for a head-on collision," he told Reuters on Friday.


Dawn, one of the country's most respected newspapers, said talk that a coup was being planned was premature, but also noted the army has seized power before.


The army remains the arbiter of power and analysts say it has plenty of ways to pressure Zardari to step down, especially if a link is established between him and the memo, which sought the Pentagon's help in averting a feared coup.


In the past the army has asked Pakistani civilian leaders to resign and influenced judicial proceedings against them.


On Thursday, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told parliament that any institution acting as a "state within a state" was unacceptable, a clear reference to the military.


Although his position is largely ceremonial, Zardari wields considerable influence as leader of the ruling party and his forced departure would be a humiliation for the civilian leadership and could throw the country into turmoil.


Zardari is the widower of former premier Benazir Bhutto, who spent years opposing military rule before she was assassinated in 2007.


Pakistan's next parliamentary elections are not due until 2013, although some opposition parties have been calling for early polls. Presidents are elected by legislators.


(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Paul Tait and Ed Lane)

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada's economy stalled in October after four consecutive month-on-month increases, a sign the country is feeling the effect of increasing global uncertainty, Statistics Canada data indicated on Friday.

Gross domestic product was unchanged from September, matching the forecast of market operators who cited the impact of turmoil in Europe and a troubled U.S. economy.

Output of goods-producing industries fell by 0.2 percent in October from September, cancelling out a 0.2 percent increase in the production of services.

The utilities sector dropped by 1.5 percent on lower demand for both electricity and natural gas, while mining and oil and gas extraction were off 0.2 percent. These declines offset a 0.3 percent gain in manufacturing.

Retail trade grew by 0.6 percent, reflecting widespread gains, while the finance and insurance sector rose 0.3 percent on increased mutual fund activity. Compared to October 2010, overall GDP was up by 2.7 percent.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)