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          Belgium Remains on High Alert Amid Search for Terror Suspect

   by VOA News

   Schools and the subway system remained closed Tuesday as Brussels
   remained under tight security while Belgian authorities tried to find
   the key suspect in the November 13 Paris attacks.

   Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said that because a "serious and
   imminent threat" still exists, the capital will be on the highest state
   of alert until at least next week.

   Michel said he hopes the country can begin returning to normal
   Wednesday with some schools reopening and trains running in Brussels,
   which is also the headquarters for the European Union and NATO.

   ''

   Suspected Paris attacker Salah Abdeslam is being sought after
   authorities said he evaded a massive manhunt involving raids in
   Brussels and its suburbs. Security forces are also focusing on towns in
   eastern Belgium, suggesting police fear Europe's most wanted man might
   be trying to flee to neighboring Germany.

   Germany investigates tip

   After receiving a tip that Abdeslam was in northwestern Germany, police
   there launched an operation Tuesday in the Minden and Luebbecke areas
   in North Rhine-Westphalia state.

   Police, however, said they had found no indication, so far, that
   Abdeslam is there. The search is ongoing.

   On the third day of an unprecedented lockdown of the Belgian capital,
   officials remain tight-lipped about the biggest security operation
   mounted in the country since World War Two.

   ''

   Also Tuesday, French authorities questioned Jawad Bendaoud, the only
   person in France facing potential terrorism charges linked to the
   November 13 Paris attacks.

   Bendaoud appeared before an anti-terrorism judge in Paris, a judicial
   official said. He has been detained since last week for providing
   lodging to the suspected ringleader of the attacks in an apartment in
   the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

   Police raided the Saint-Denis apartment November 18. Three people were
   killed, including organizer Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a female cousin and one
   other. Officers fired more than 5,000 rounds of munitions.

   Terror investigation

   Bendaoud, 29, acknowledged to BFM television that he gave shelter to
   two people from Belgium but said he didn't know who they were or what
   they planned. He must be either charged or released Tuesday.

   Speaking to lawmakers, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said
   124 people had been handed preliminary charges since a state of
   emergency was imposed hours after the attacks. He didn't, however,
   specify what the charges were or if they were linked to the attacks.

   Police executed more more than 1,230 searches, in which 230 weapons
   were recovered, Cazeneuve added.

   ''

   In Belgium, four people have been handed terrorism charges since the
   Paris attacks, officials said.

   Elsewhere, due to a security alert, several subway stations in central
   Paris were temporarily closed Tuesday. Trains passed through several
   stations without stopping, and the Place de la Republique was briefly
   evacuated but is being reopened, CNN reported.

   On Monday, police in the southern Paris suburb of Montrouge were
   investigating an apparent suicide explosives belt found in a trash bin.

   Traces of explosive

   A French police official quoted by The Associated Press said
   preliminary analysis of the vest, which lacked a detonator, showed
   traces of TATP, an explosive used in the Paris attacks.

   The belt, containing bolts, was found in the same area as a cellphone
   belonging to the fugitive Abdeslam, who was seen in the area the night
   of the attacks.

   Late Monday, the U.S. State Department issued a worldwide travel alert,
   warning Americans that Islamic State extremists and other terror
   organizations continue planning attacks "in multiple regions."

   The advisory cited recent attacks in Denmark, France, Mali, Nigeria and
   Turkey, and urged "particular caution" during the coming holiday
   season.

   Brussels businesses

   Meanwhile, businesses in Brussels were starting to feel the impact of
   the severe security measures. While few question the government's need
   to protect the public from a potential attack, some shop owners said
   the shutdown was too extreme.

   Esther Willems, assistant manager at the Galler chocolate shop in the
   heart of Brussels' city center, suspected the alert level had scared
   away tourists and said he hoped things would start to improve on
   Wednesday, once the subways and schools begin reopening.

   "The (government) measures are a little bit extreme," Willems said.
   "It's not like terrorists are just walking around the streets here."

   Zerif Gan, who runs a souvenir shop opposite the normally swarming Rue
   de la Bourse, said he didn't have a single customer over the weekend.
   "It cannot go on like this," he said of the ongoing uncertainty created
   by the threat level. "We are in the center of Brussels, but even here
   there is nobody."

   Mia Bush contributed to this report.

   ''
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/belgium-remains-on-high-alert-amid-search-for-terror-suspect/3071601.html