The first anthrax letters were received in the US by institutions symbolic of American culture. But in the last few weeks, anthrax scares have been reported in a number of countries around the world.
Israel: Jerusalem's main postal sorting office was closed for two days "recently" because of an anthrax scare, the telecommunications ministry said Thursday. The office was closed and its several hundred employees sent home for 48 hours while a suspicious envelope, posted abroad, was tested and found to be harmless. The postal services have reported a number of alerts which all proved to be false, while the police have threatened severe measures against hoaxers or anyone trying to spread panic.
Cyprus: Cyprus has had its first postal anthrax scare, but the package turned out to be nothing more than tokens of affection and a love letter, police sources were quoted as saying Thursday. Police and specially equipped fire crews were called to a post office in the southern resort of Limassol on Wednesday when the parcel was discovered with an unidentified substance on the taped exterior, press reports said. Some 120 Cyprus postal sorters were given surgical gloves earlier this week in the wake of the anthrax-related deaths of US postal workers.
Sri Lanka: The French embassy in Sri Lanka was yesterday closed indefinitely following an anthrax scare in Colombo, embassy officials said. The decision to shut down the embassy until further notice was taken pending the results of tests on a suspicious letter received there four days ago, an official said. The Australian, British, Indian and US diplomatic missions here have also received suspicious mail in the past few days containing a white powder.
Iceland: Police on Thursday were investigating an apparent anthrax hoax sent to Iceland Prime Minister David Oddsson. A powder-filled letter was sent to the home of Oddsson, who personally opened it on Tuesday, Oddsson's spokesman said. Tests later revealed that the substance did not contain anthrax. Police spokesman Arnar Jensson said the letter had been sent from within Iceland, and that detectives were working on leads.
South Korea: South Korea's Asiana Airlines yesterday said it would minimize the use of powdered coffee creamer on its planes to prevent anthrax scares. A box containing white powder was found at Los Angeles' Tom Bradley Terminal last week, causing thousands of passengers and employees to be evacuated and the terminal was shut down for two hours. The powder turned out to be coffee creamer.
India: Fearing anthrax, postal workers in a remote eastern Indian town locked up the post office and fled after they received a package containing a white powder, but police said Thursday the substance was protein powder meant for a cancer patient. Panic stricken postal workers in Soro, a small town in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, vacated the post office Wednesday after one of their colleagues handled a package containing the white powder sent from New York.
Bangladesh: In Bangladesh, suspicious powders found in letters sent to foreign embassies this week tested negative for anthrax spores, investigators confirmed Thursday.
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