Police and chemical experts in various countries responded to alarms over letters containing white powder, as fear of terrorist anthrax attacks began to grip members of the public:
France: Police evacuated four buildings in Paris yesterday and about 55 people went to hospital for medical tests because of a scare about possible anthrax contamination. Officials said envelopes containing a suspect white powder were sent to addresses around the French capital. A security services official said the hospital examinations were purely precautionary and no one had complained of health problems. The results of the tests will not be known until tomorrow.
Australia: Among many false alarms, 16 buildings were hit by hoaxes forcing authorities to step up security. In Melbourne, US Consulate General, Mr David Lyon, said 40 staff were evacuated for 45 minutes after a letter found to have a suspicious chemical residue arrived at the offices.
Belgium: The discovery of two new suspect envelopes in Liege brought to as many as 15 the number of such cases being analysed for possible anthrax spores.
Switzerland: Two people in Basel were given precautionary treatment after they received suspicious letters.
Czech Republic: In the town of Karlovy Vary, three staff were sprayed with disinfectant after a suspect letter was discovered among post sent to a shop.
Brazil: Despite initial fears, preliminary tests showed there was no bacteria in an unidentified white powder found on a Lufthansa airliner in Rio de Janeiro, the Health Minister, Mr Jose Serra, said yesterday.
Poland: Eleven people were in a hospital yesterday undergoing tests for anthrax after opening letters containing a suspicious powder sent to a police office and a television station, officials said. Israel: Unidentified powder suspected to contain anthrax spores was found on a cargo plane which landed from Europe yesterday. After the cargo was removed from the Boeing 747 plane at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport, handlers found the unidentified material on the floor in the back of the cargo hold. It is not yet known if the substance contained anthrax spores.