A man holding a knife to his own throat and screaming in Chinese in front of the entrance to the United Nations, was arrested by New York police on Saturday, U.N. officials reported. The man, whose country was unknown, was at the main security checkpoint at U.N. headquarters on Manhattan's East River. By the time police arrived, a U.N. security guard was able to translate from Chinese to English. "He had a knife to his throat and shouted not in English," U.N. spokesman Brenden Varma said, adding police disarmed him and took him into custody and closed the main avenue in front of U.N. headquarters. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was in the building at the time but Varma said he was not in any danger.
