CHICKEN, CANTALOUPES RECALLED BY COMPANIES

Chicken, cantaloupesrecalled by companies
Kraft Foods Inc. on Friday recalled all packages of Oscar Mayer/Louis Rich chicken breast strips and cuts, expanding the scope of a Feb. 18 recall that resulted when tests found signs of possible contamination. The initial recall was by Carolina Culinary Foods, a supplier for Kraft, and occurred last Sunday after Georgia Department of Agriculture food scientists found Listeria monocytogenes in a sample. That type of contamination can cause listeriosis, which is uncommon but potentially fatal. The first recall involved only packages of ready-to-eat chicken breast strips with rib meat that carried a "Use by" date of April 19. Meanwhile, a wholesale produce importer on Friday recalled several thousand cartons of cantaloupes after some tested positive for salmonella. Castle Produce said the recall covered roughly 2,560 cartons of cantaloupes delivered on or after Feb. 16 to wholesalers in Los Angeles and San Francisco for distribution in the western states. The cantaloupes originated in Costa Rica. The cantaloupes were distributed for sale in bulk in cardboard cartons, with nine, 12 or 15 melons to a carton.
Vice president sendsstrong message to Iran
SYDNEY, Australia -- Vice President Dick Cheney lashed out at a U.N.-defiant Iran today, warning anew that "all options" are available in dealing with the Mideast nation over its nuclear program. Cheney, speaking at a joint news conference with Australia's Prime Minister John Howard, said the United States was working with it allies to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear weapons programs, and that it was Washington's preference for that to happen peacefully. "But all options are still on the table," Cheney told reporters. The next step toward getting Iran to abandon its nuclear programs was still being debated, he said. "It would be a serious mistake if a nation such as Iran became a nuclear power," Cheney said. Cheney's comments came two days after the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran had not only ignored a U.N. Security Council ultimatum to freeze the enrichment program, but had expanded that program by setting up hundreds of centrifuges.
North Korean envoyto visit United States
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator plans to visit the United States next week for follow-up talks on a recent disarmament deal, a news report said today. Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan is expected to arrive in San Francisco on March 1 en route to New York for meetings with his U.S. counterpart, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. Major South Korean newspapers carried similar reports. Kim's trip, if realized, would mark the first time for North Korea's main nuclear envoy to visit the U.S. since the nuclear standoff flared in late 2002. North Korea agreed at six-nation nuclear talks in Beijing last week to shutter and disable its nuclear facilities in exchange for energy aid and political incentives, including the opening of bilateral talks with the U.S. on establishing diplomatic relations.
Vilsack drops outof presidential race
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Democrat Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor who built a centrist image, abandoned his bid for the presidency Friday after struggling against better-known, better-financed rivals. "It is money and only money that is the reason we are leaving today," Vilsack told reporters at a news conference, later adding, "We have a debt we're going to have to work our way through." Vilsack, 56, left office in January and traveled to early voting states, but he attracted neither the attention nor the campaign cash of his top-tier rivals -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama and John Edwards.
Abducted teen escapes
PARRISH, Fla. -- A 13-year-old boy abducted at gunpoint from a school bus stop Friday morning made a "miraculous" escape hours later, authorities said. The gunman was still being sought. Clay Moore wasn't hurt except for scratches and scrapes, Sheriff Charlie Wells said. Clay was still being interviewed, and the sheriff declined to comment on what happened while the boy was alone with his captor. "He was bound, he was able to get free," Wells said. "It was miraculous, to tell you the truth." Clay was standing with about a dozen children and was closest to the gunman's red truck when he was taken at gunpoint about 9 a.m., Wells said. The boy was bound and taken to a wooded area. After being left alone, Clay managed to free himself and walk until he found a farm worker with a cell phone. He called his mother about 1:30 p.m. "It's a happy ending," Wells said. "[The parents] are relieved, and we are too."
Associated Press