In the News

WORLD

BEIJING – North Korea’s main ally, China, joined Japan in sending a strong message Sunday that a nuclear test by the North “cannot be tolerated.” Pyongyang appeared to back down from its threat as an important anniversary passed without any sign of nuclear activity.

The estranged neighbors, holding their first summit in five years, put aside their differences over visits by the Japanese prime minister’s predecessor to a Tokyo war shrine to issue a joint warning to North Korea.

The common ground Japan and China found over North Korea came as a South Korean politician said a North Korean nuclear test was not imminent and the North was ready to drop its plans if Washington engaged in direct talks.

The United States has refused to meet with North Korea outside of stalled negotiations including the Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia. Washington has said it would have bilateral talks with North Korea only in the context of those six-party talks.

North Korea announced last week that it would conduct a nuclear weapons test. Though the North has long claimed to have nuclear weapons, the test would be the first incontestable proof of its capabilities.

Analysts had speculated that North Korea might test as early as Sunday because it often uses anniversaries or other international events to stage provocations.

Sunday was the ninth anniversary of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s appointment as head of the Korean Workers’ Party. Tuesday will be the 61st anniversary of the party’s founding.

NATIONAL

WASHINGTON – An Iowa company is recalling about 5,200 pounds of ground beef products distributed from seven states because they could be contaminated with a dangerous strain of E. coli, the government said Friday.

The meat is suspected of having the same E. coli strain responsible for three deaths in the recent outbreak of contaminated spinach. The government said no illnesses have been reported from consumption of the beef subject to the recall.

Jim’s Market and Locker Inc. of Harlan, Iowa, produced the ground beef patties and packages Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 and sent them to distributors in Iowa, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Texas and Wisconsin, and to one retail establishment in Iowa, said the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Customers who bought the products affected by the voluntary recall should return them to the place of purchase, the service said.

E. coli lives in the intestines of cattle and other animals and typically is linked to contamination by fecal material. It’s believed responsible for about 60 deaths and 73,000 infections a year in the United States. The potentially deadly strain can cause bloody diarrhea and dehydration.

Each package in the latest recall bears the establishment number “Est. 2424” inside the USDA mark of inspection.

STATE & LOCAL

RICHMOND – For the past five years, Sen. George Allen has failed to tell Congress about stock options he got for his work as a director of a high-tech company. The Republican also asked the Army to help another business that gave him similar options.

Congressional rules require senators to disclose to the Senate all deferred compensation, such as stock options. The rules also urge senators to avoid taking any official action that could benefit them financially or appear to do so.

Those requirements exist so the public can police lawmakers for possible conflicts of interest, especially involving companies with government business that lawmakers can influence.

Allen’s stock options date to the period from January 1998 to January 2001 when Allen was between political jobs and had plunged into the corporate world.

In interviews, Allen and his staff sought to play down his corporate dealings, saying they were a good learning experience but did not lead to extraordinary riches-except for a quarter-million-dollar windfall from Com-Net Ericsson stock.