Extremists kill at least 7 in Nigeria

Extremists kill at least 7 in Nigeria

BAUCHI, Nigeria

Suspected Islamic extremists struck in two state capitals in northeastern Nigeria on Monday, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens with a double bombing at a crowded market and an attack on a police base. About 30 extremists also were killed in clashes with security forces, police said.

The attacks were the latest in a week of violence linked to Islamic militants that has killed more than 170 people in northern Nigeria.

Police spokesman Gideon Jubrin said at least five people were killed at a market in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state where two female suicide bombers also killed 70 people a week ago.

A vigilante official said two young female suicide bombers also were responsible for Monday’s blasts and that they had recovered their bodies along with those of six victims.

Gay couple sue Fla.DMV over names

ORLANDO, Fla.

A gay couple sued the state’s motor-vehicle agency for revoking driver’s licenses they said they received by showing their marriage license from New York, the latest challenge to Florida’s ban on same-sex unions.

Daniel DeSousa and Scott Wall married in New York last year and legally changed their last name to Wall-DeSousa through the federal Social Security Administration.

Daniel changed his driver’s license in Brevard County, but when Scott tried there, he was told that his marriage certificate wasn’t a legal document in Florida.

Scott later succeeded in changing his license in Orange County.

$10K dropped in SA kettle in Minn.

MINNEAPOLIS

In they went, one after another. Ten bundles of Benjamins. Do the math.

That’s $10,000 in crisp hundreds.

For a fourth-straight Christmas season, the Salvation Army is receiving these grand and anonymous gestures at their red kettles in Minnesota, but until now they had always been for $1,000.

The latest and biggest of donations since they began in 2011 came Saturday at the kettle in front of the Lunds in Bloomington.

Salvation Army officials have dubbed the donor “St. Grand,” although it’s unclear whether there is more than one.

GOP aide resigns over remarks about Obama daughters

WASHINGTON

An aide to a Republican congressman resigned Monday after her Facebook post criticizing President Barack Obama’s daughters touched off a backlash.

Elizabeth Lauten, communications director to Rep. Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, said 16-year-old Malia Obama and her sister Sasha, 13, should have shown more “class” at a turkey-pardoning ceremony last week at the White House.

Addressing her comments directly to the Obama girls, Lauten wrote that they should “respect the part you play,” and added: “Then again your mother and father don’t respect their positions very much, or the nation for that matter, so I’m guessing you’re coming up a little short in the ‘good role model’ department.”

Lauten also urged the Obama girls to “dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar.”

Lauten later apologized for the comments and deleted the original post, which drew harsh criticism across social media.

Combined dispatches