Rabbi called to the rescue

BNI: A man who held his two-year-old daughter hostage at a central Brussels hotel demanding medical help for her was being questioned today after police ended the siege.Federal police intervened without violence after a 20-hour standoff on the 17th floor of the Tulip Inn hotel at Place Rogier, prosecutor Paul Degryse told reporters at a press conference.The 55-year-old man, who is not Belgian, had threatened to blow up his hotel room, but police said they found no weapons or explosives.Degryse said the man was trying to get specialist medical help for the girl who has a heart condition. Doctors who examined the girl said she was in good health.Police have not confirmed the man’s identity or nationality although reports said he spoke to police in English. Degryse said the man was Jewish and police had asked a rabbi in the nearby city of Antwerp to negotiate with him but the hostage situation had ended before he could come.Le Soir daily said the mother of the child, who lives in Poland, had also been contacted.The hotel and two nearby buildings were evacuated after the man entered the hotel room on Saturday...