Man arrested in Los Angeles after false bomb alert

Eugenio Parades boarded a city bus late Saturday holding a bag with "wires exposed that looked like (an explosive) device," said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Tony Moore yesterday.

The 62-year-old "was making threats toward the driver," he added without providing further details.

According to a bus passenger, green and gray wires were protruding from the bag, to which an object resembling a countdown device was attached.

The bus was evacuated and it took authorities four hours to determine that the bag was harmless.

Paredes was arrested at the site on suspicion of making a terrorist threat and possessing a hoax device, Sheriff's Deputy Guillermina Saldana said.

Meanwhile, officials shut down part of a terminal and the main access road at the Kansas City, Missouri airport yesterday after screeners spotted a suspicious items in a carry-on bag.

The bag's owner was "uncooperative," prompting officials to detain him and call in the bomb squad, airport spokesman Joe McBride told AFP.

"The devices have been checked out and there's no explosives, so at this point we're awaiting the all-clear," McBride said.

In several ceremonies held under tight security, the United States was commemorating the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks as officials warned of a new terrorism threat.

Washington's Dulles Airport was partially evacuated for four hours on the eve of the anniversary Saturday after a suspicious object was found. The alert was subsequently lifted.