Nation & World Glance
MENLO PARK, Calif. — A Facebook mail facility near company headquarters was evacuated Monday after a routine check found mail possibly containing the nerve agent sarin.
Authorities put the site under quarantine as they conducted additional testing. Four buildings were evacuated and three have been cleared for people to come back in, said Facebook spokesman Anthony Harrison in a statement. The suspicious package was delivered around 11 a.m. to one of the company’s mail rooms, he said.
“Authorities have not yet identified the substance found,” Harrison wrote.
There were no reports of injuries, Menlo Park Fire Marshal Jon Johnston said. Incoming mail undergoing routine processing by machine tested positive for sarin, but it could have been a false positive, Johnston said.
“Right now we don’t have anybody that has any symptoms,” he said. “We’re just doing verification.”
The FBI is assisting in the investigation.
Taliban bombing in Afghan capital kills 6, wounds scores
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban set off a powerful bomb in downtown Kabul on Monday, killing at least six people and wounding more than a hundred, and sending a cloud of smoke billowing over the Afghan capital.
At least 26 children were among the wounded, many of whom were cut by shards of glass when the bomb shattered nearby windows, government spokesman Feroz Bashari said. He said a total of 105 people were hurt.
An education ministry spokeswoman, Nooria Nazhat, later raised the number of students who were slightly wounded to 51, from two schools.
The Taliban claimed the attack, which came as the insurgents were holding their latest round of talks with U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in the Gulf state of Qatar, where they have a political office.
The attack ended nearly 10 hours after it began with all five attackers dead, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi.
Search continues for man missing at Grand Canyon
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK — The search continues for a California man who was reported missing from a river trip at the Grand Canyon.
The national park has asked other river rafters to be on the lookout for Healdsburg resident Peter Francis Schwab, who is 66.
Park spokeswoman Becky Latanich says Schwab had been traveling with a commercial river rafting company when he went missing Friday. He was wearing a tan hat, white long-sleeved shirt, gray cargo pants and sandals.
Schwab went on a day hike at National Canyon near mile 167 on the Colorado River.
Latanich wasn’t sure how many people were on the trip or if Schwab was hiking alone.
An email left with the rafting company, Grand Canyon Expeditions in Kanab, Utah, wasn’t immediately returned Monday. Calls to the company went unanswered.