German minister postpones Israel trip

Germany's top security official called off a planned visit to Israel on Sunday to stay home and deal with issues surrounding terrorists' attempts to mail a pair of powerful bombs to the United States.

A spokesman for Germany's Interior Ministry said that Thomas de Maiziere would not travel to Jerusalem later in the day, as planned, but stay in Germany.

The DAPD news agency cited spokesman Stefan Paris as saying the minister felt that given "current knowledge" of the situation, it made sense for him to remain in Germany. He said the trip would be rescheduled.

British police say one of the packages, destined for synagogues in the Chicago area, arrived from Yemen at Germany's Cologne-Bonn airport, where it was reloaded and sent to England.

Germany has responded to a US request to retain and search all freight arriving in the country from Yemen.

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