FBI tests contents of suspicious letter

FBI tests contentsof suspicious letter
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The contents of a suspicious envelop that arrived at Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman's office in Albuquerque have been sent to the state crime lab for testing.
The senator's staff called the FBI after opening the envelop Wednesday and discovering a wrapped package that contained a powdery substance, said FBI Supervisory Agent Doug Beldon.
The envelop was initially considered suspicious because Santa Claus was listed as the return. The letter inside contained "inflamatory statements of a religious nature," Beldon said.
"The responding agents ran a preliminary field test on the substance which indicated a very small possibility that the substance could be botox, which might contain botulism," Beldon said.
Botox -- technically botulinum toxin -- is a potent neurotoxin that temporarily paralyzes muscles. Derived from the toxin that causes deadly botulism food poisoning, it's widely used to smooth facial wrinkles.
Beldon said additional testing determined the substance was not botox.
As a precaution, however, the FBI sent the envelope and its contents to the state crime lab for more testing. Beldon expected the results Friday.
Rebels take major cityin western Ivory Coast
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- Rebels took the largest city in Ivory Coast's coffee-rich far West today after a day and night of fighting, rebels, residents of the city and Western military sources said.
Residents reported rebels patrolling the city of Man at daylight today, with no government forces in sight.
"We have taken control of Man," rebel commander Felix Doh said by telephone from Man. "There are still pockets of resistance, and we'll be taking care of them soon."
Locals in Man, a city of 135,000, said the insurgents were Liberians, speaking only English -- making them members of the latest and most-feared faction in the three-month-old rebellion that has shattered this once-stable West African nation.
Government soldiers backed by foreign mercenaries, tanks and helicopter gunships had made Man one of the most heavily defended and fought-over sites in the growing war splitting a country that is the world's largest cocoa producer, and a leading coffee producer.
Fighting in the West last month opened a new front in the war, and introduced Liberians to the fight -- ill-disciplined, often drugged fighters much feared by residents.
Irish speakers onlyapproved by council
DUBLIN, Ireland -- A local authority in the west of Ireland wants to prevent non-Irish speakers from moving into regions where the ancient tongue is still widely spoken.
Galway County councilor Pol O Foighil on Wednesday said people should have to prove they can speak fluent Irish before receiving permission to build homes in an area known as the Gaeltacht.
O Foighil, whose proposal to restrict planning permission to Irish speakers has been approved by Galway County Council, said the steady flow of English speakers into the Gaeltacht in recent decades was undermining the Irish language.
"If we allow this trend to continue, it will be only a matter of years, maybe 20 or 30, when the Irish language will be completely effaced from the Gaeltacht," O Foighil said on Irish public radio station RTE 1. "It is losing the language rapidly."
Unusual art on displayat Corcoran Gallery
WASHINGTON -- Is a designer bath towel art? How about a pair of female heads cast in rubbery plastic that blink their eyes, move their lips and carry on an unscripted conversation with a kind of artificial intelligence?
Judge for yourself. They're among 13 items on display at a Corcoran Gallery exhibit called "Fantasy Underfoot" opening Saturday.
The works belong to styles still in vigorous practice that critics date from nearly half a century ago, labeled "conceptual art" and "new media."
Ken Feingold represents the newest of media. His two silicone heads lie in a cardboard box filled with plastic packing foam, looking as if they came from a robot factory of the future. The mouth of each is placed close to an ear of the other.
"Through a rambling conversation driven by their rudimentary artificial intelligence, they now attempt to understand their predicament in a futile but dogged manner," Matthew Biro, a University of Michigan contemporary art instructor, wrote in the show's catalog.
The sculptures are driven by compressed air; there's a compressor in the next room, Feingold explained, pointing to tubes along the floor.
Associated Press