Nation in brief

Separated twin breathes on own

DALLAS - One of the formerly conjoined Egyptian twins was taken off a ventilator and was breathing on his own Sunday, a week after doctors successfully separated him from his brother.

The twins, Mohamed and Ahmed Ibrahim, continue to make small gains, including motion in their arms and legs and improved response to verbal cues from the family and medical team, according to Children's Medical Center Dallas. They are in critical but stable condition in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Mohamed was breathing on his own Sunday, and Ahmed could come off the ventilator as soon as today, said Dr. James Thomas, chief of critical care services at the hospital.

The twins, joined at the top of their heads when they were born in Egypt on June 2, 2001, were separated Oct. 12 during a 34-hour operation.

LIVINGSTON, La. - The second of two men who escaped from a jail by slipping under a chain-link fence and scaling over razor wire was captured Sunday.

John Priest, convicted of manslaughter, was arrested when an anonymous tip led police to a trailer about a mile from the Livingston Parish jail, said Sheriff Willie Graves.

The other inmate, Gerald Bordelon, was captured earlier Sunday, less than a mile from the jail, after a motorist reported seeing him along a highway, said Stan Carpenter of the sheriff's office.

The two men, accused in separate killings, broke out of jail on Saturday while they were out of their cells for an hour of exercise, Sheriff Willie Graves said.

Bordelon awaits trial on murder and kidnapping charges in the death of his 12-year-old stepdaughter. Priest was convicted Thursday night of manslaughter and obstruction of justice for killing a man and burning his house.

CHICAGO - The fire that killed six people in a 35-story government office building may have been started by malfunctioning light fixtures, investigators said Sunday.

An electrical engineer was hired to test the fixtures, wires and switches in the 12th floor storage room where the fire began Friday. The results may not be available for up to two weeks, said Tom Ahern, spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Eight people remained hospitalized Sunday, some in serious and critical condition.

WASHINGTON - A publisher is recalling 5,400 copies of Candle and Soap Making for Dummies because the instructions for one recipe call for an incorrect mix of ingredients that could cause the solution to bubble over and burn consumers.

The book's recipe for lye, an ingredient in soap, provides an incorrect mixture of sodium hydroxide and water, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement last week. No injuries have been reported.

Customers can return the books to the stores where they purchased their copies for a refund.

Consumers also can contact the publisher, John Wiley & Sons of Hoboken, N.J., toll-free at 1-877-762-2974, from 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

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