WASHINGTON, D.C.

Letters with white powder sent to media outlets, CDC

The FBI is attempting to determine who mailed four threatening letters, each containing a powdery substance, that were received at The Washington Post and other locations in the past 10 days.

The powder was tested and found harmless, the FBI said. Besides The Post, which received its mailing Wednesday, the letters went to a Denver radio station, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and a Long Island television station, authorities said. All four letters had postage, postmarks or return addresses from Pakistan.

Debra Weierman, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Washington Field Office, said the letters appeared to be identical and contained a message “to the effect of ‘Death to Americans.”‘ She said they also included the sentence, “Penicillin won’t help you.”

Another source said the letters contained the messages, “Long live jihad” and “Long live Islam.”

WASHINGTON, D.C.

American Catholic bishops condemn same-sex unions

America’s Roman Catholic bishops overwhelmingly approved a statement Wednesday that urges states to withhold recognition for same-sex marriages.

The bishops said they did not intend to offend homosexuals, and they called discrimination against gays unjust. But the church leaders said they had an obligation to “give witness to the whole moral truth” and reinforce Catholic teaching that gay sex is a sin.

“Marriage is in crisis and will be further devalued and eroded unless we’re strong in pointing out that same-sex unions are not the equivalent of marriage,” said Bishop J. Kevin Boland of the Diocese of Savannah, Ga., who led a committee that drafted the statement.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in September gave its general support to amending the U.S. Constitution to define marriage as a union of a man and woman.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

White House, Sept. 11 panel reach accord on documents

The independent commission on the Sept. 11 attacks announced Wednesday it had reached an agreement with the White House that would allow it to review classified intelligence documents withheld until now by the Bush administration.

“We believe this agreement will prove satisfactory and enable us to get our job done,” said a statement issued by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.

The statement did not describe the agreement, or what conditions the commission accepted.

Bush said last month that the dispute revolved around the “the presidential daily brief,” a highly classified written intelligence report given to the president each morning.

The White House confirmed last year that one such report in August 2001, a month before the attacks, mentioned that al-Qaida might try to hijack U.S. passenger planes.