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• In fact, a first draft of the treaty circulated in New York this week has been criticized by arms-control activists for containing too many loopholes. For instance, it doesn't include a proposed ban on ammunition trade. Gun activists are standing firm in near-blanket opposition to such a ban, as last Friday's deadly Aurora, Colo., theater shooting rampage heightens interest in the deliberations and raises the stakes.
• ___

• CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) -- If President Barack Obama wins swing-voting Colorado, and a second term as president, voters like Paula Burky will probably be the reason.
• Burky, who has decided to vote for Obama, says, in her words, "He understands women."
• Both Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, see women -- specifically suburbanites from their 30s to their 50s -- as critical to victory in Colorado as well as in other hard-fought places like Virginia and Nevada.
• The state of the campaign in the sprawling Denver region illustrates how the fight is playing out across the nation, and how the candidates are seeking to woo these female voters in different ways.
• Romney is decrying Obama's handling of the sluggish economy. Obama warns women could lose abortion rights with a Republican president.
• ___

• LONDON (AP) -- In a way it was inevitable, given the size and scope of the event that is taking place in this most multicultural of capitals.
• But the Olympic-sized political gaffes and cultural goofs already registered before the games officially open Friday have proven one thing in the globalized planet of the early 21st century: Even with the best of intentions, organizing an offense-free Olympics is nearly impossible.
• On Thursday, three issues rankled some Muslim activists:
• --A "Welcome to London" street sign written in Arabic that was virtually indecipherable, with the characters written backward.
• --A ruling that one of Saudi Arabia's two female athletes couldn't wear a head

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