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.
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
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