Police: Colo. bomb was in paper bag

Police: Colo. bomb was in paper bag

lafayette, colo.

A bomb that seriously injured two people in a Colorado town was left beside their car in a paper bag with their names written on it, police said Sunday.

Allyson Stone, 44, and her husband, 59-year-old Christopher Stone, were hospitalized with burns after the explosion Saturday in Lafayette. No other information had been released.

The couple found the bag as they were preparing to drive to Boulder, and they put it in the car with them, police said. Christopher Stone told investigators it exploded as his wife began to open it when they had driven about a block.

No one has been arrested.

Radical sect kills 6 in Nigeria, police say

maiduguri, nigeria

Police say suspected members of a radical Islamist sect have killed six people in two attacks in northeast Nigeria.

Police said gunmen attacked a military vehicle Sunday in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Hassan Ifijeh Mohammed says the attack killed three civilians and wounded six civilians and one soldier.

At least 52 people have been killed in recent days by Boko Haram, which is carrying out an increasingly bloody sectarian assault against Nigeria’s weak central government.

Texas electoral maps are at issue

washington

A federal law says states and localities with a history of discrimination cannot change any voting procedures without first getting approval from the Justice Department or a federal court in Washington. Yet Texas is asking the Supreme Court to allow the use of new, unapproved electoral districts in this year’s voting for Congress and the state Legislature.

The outcome of the high- court case, to be argued today, could be another blow to a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. In 2009, the justices raised doubts about whether Southern states still should need approval in advance of voting changes more than 40 years after the law was enacted.

The case also might help determine the balance of power in the House of Representatives in 2013, with Republicans in a stronger position if the court allows Texas to use electoral districts drawn by the GOP-dominated Legislature.

Arab League to Syria: Halt violence

beirut

The Arab League demanded Sunday that the Syrian government immediately stop all violence and allow more monitors in, as activists reported at least 10 more civilians, including two teenagers, were killed by regime forces.

Fierce clashes in the south between government troops and military defectors left 11 soldiers dead, activists said. The Arab League also called on other armed parties to halt all bloodshed, an apparent reference to the defectors.

Blankley dies at 63

washington

Tony Blankley, a conservative author and commentator who served as press secretary to Newt Gingrich during the 1990s, when Republicans took control of Congress, has died. He was 63.

Blankley, who had been suffering from stomach cancer, died Saturday night at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, his wife, Lynda Davis, said Sunday.

From 2002 to 2007, Blankley served as editorial page editor of The Washington Times. In recent years, he also wrote a syndicated newspaper column and provided political commentary for CNN, NBC and NPR.

Associated Press