WESTERN EUROPE

HIJACKERS SURRENDER, RELEASE HOSTAGES

ATHENS, Greece – Two armed Albanian hijackers surrendered and released their hostages early today, 18 hours after seizing a bus in an Athens suburb and threatening to blow it up if authorities did not pay a ransom. Police said a preliminary investigation indicated the two men, both 24, were motivated by money and had planned to take the bus to Albania.The six remaining hostages left the bus from the driver’s door, and heavily armed police then searched the vehicle. The two hijackers left the bus with their hands on their heads after throwing two shotguns out the door. No hostages were harmed.

The hijackers had initially seized 26 hostages, but the bus driver, a ticket inspector, and a passenger escaped almost immediately.

The armed men then gradually released 17 other passengers throughout the day yesterday. Relatives of the hostages, who were waiting in a nearby supermarket, ran to hug them.

At one point during the standoff, a hijacker threatened to blow up the bus if authorities did not deliver a ransom of $1 million by dawn today. They also initially demanded a new bus driver and told police they wanted to be taken to Athens airport and flown to Russia.General Giorgos Angelakos,chief of the Greek police,said the two suspects were armed with shotguns but did not have explosives and the demand to go to the airport appeared to be a ruse to hide their real destination.

– Associated Press

EASTERN EUROPE

YUSHCHENKO’S POISON LEVEL 6,000 TIMES HIGHER THAN NORMAL

New tests revealed that Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko’s blood contains the second-highest level of dioxin poisoning ever recorded in a human – more than 6,000 times the normal concentration, according to the expert analyzing the samples. Abraham Brouwer, professor of environmental toxicology at the Free University in Amsterdam, where the blood samples were sent for analysis, said they contained about 100,000 units of dioxin per gram of blood fat.

However, the concentration could prove to be higher or lower once results are in later this week from a more definitive test, said Arnold Schechter, a specialist in dioxin analysis from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.The test also will show how long Mr.Yushchenko may show symptoms from the poison. Mr. Schechter said it also could determine that Mr. Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin-like PCBs, rather than dioxins. PCBs were used in electrical transformers and as hydraulic fluid until they were banned in much of the world in the 1970s because they are so toxic and persist so long in the environment.

– Associated Press

CARIBBEAN

ARISTIDE’S ABANDONED HOME TAKEN OVER

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – A band of former soldiers took over the former home of the ousted president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, early yesterday and said they would use it to provide security in the neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital. Dozens of ex-soldiers entered Mr. Aristide’s abandoned compound before dawn, said former Sergeant Remissainthe Ravix, their spokesman.Armed men wearing fatigues guarded the walled entrance of the estate as two men painted two big white pillars mustard yellow, the color of the Haitian military.There were no U.N. peacekeepers or Haitian police at the scene, and their spokesmen could not be immediately reached for comment.

Some of the 50 former soldiers had pickaxes and were breaking cinder blocks that had sealed off doorways and windows. The plundered home had been abandoned since Mr. Aristide fled the country February 29.

The ex-soldiers will use Mr. Aristide’s former house in the suburb of Tabarre as a base of operations so “we can provide security to the population there,” Mr. Ravix said. Some of the men were carrying shovels and inspecting the rooms of the two-story house, littered with hundreds of history books and old photos of Mr.Aristide. The ex-soldiers, whose previous base was in suburban Petionville, say that Haiti’s ill-equipped police force is not able to provide security in the Caribbean country of 8 million people, and they have offered their services.

– Associated Press