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Chinese-made Spongebob items are recalled

By Times Wires
Published August 23, 2007

WASHINGTON

An Ohio importer recalled nearly 250,000 SpongeBob SquarePants address books and journals manufactured in China because the bindings might contain hazardous levels of lead paint, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wednesday. Martin Designs Inc. notified the agency that tests of the metal spiral bindings turned up lead content above the level considered safe for children, the CPSC said. The company said it has received no reports of injury. The address books and journals were sold in retail stores nationwide from June 2006 through July 2007. They have a black metal spiral binding and depict the SpongeBob SquarePants character in various outfits on the front cover. For more information, consumers can call the company at 1-866-898-0261 or visit its Web site at martindesigns-ltd.com.

CHINA

Soybeans from U.S. called tainted

China on Wednesday said U.S. soybean exports contained pesticides, poisonous weeds and dirt. "We've already made exchanges with the United States, demanded an investigation into the cause, and asked that effective measures be taken to improve the situation to avoid similar incidents from happening again," the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a notice posted Wednesday on its Web site. In the latest development, a distributor announced a recall in Australia and New Zealand of Chinese-made blankets found to contain high levels of formaldehyde, a potentially cancer-causing chemical preservative.

IRAN

Passport seized, freed scholar stuck in iran

Haleh Esfandiari, 67, the Iranian-American scholar released after months of imprisonment in Iran, has no passport and cannot leave the country where she still faces charges of endangering national security, her lawyer said Wednesday. Esfandiari was released on bail Tuesday; she had been held since May. Her family said their greatest worry is her frail health and mental well-being after months behind bars, and they hope she will be able to leave Iran soon. Esfandiari's lawyer, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, said her client has the legal right to leave the country but authorities seized her passport in January and have not returned it or issued a new one. Authorities have not indicated when, or whether, they intend to return her passport.

SOUTH KOREA

Envoy's death worries family

A senior South Korean diplomat in Beijing became fatally ill after eating a tuna sandwich last month - a death that has left the envoy's family and his government asking China for an explanation. Whang Joung Il, 52, who was the No. 2 diplomat at the South Korean Embassy in Beijing, suffered severe stomach pains and vomiting after eating the sandwich from a nearby restaurant on the night of July 28. He checked himself into Beijing's Vista Clinic the next morning and died two hours later. China's government immediately got involved. It carried out an autopsy the next day to determine the cause of death, but no results have been revealed. The family is "deeply concerned that his death will be erased," Whang's son, Tae Ho, said in a statement Wednesday.

Elsewhere

Georgia: Georgia said Wednesday that an aircraft from Russia violated its airspace Tuesday, raising tension just weeks after the former Soviet republic claimed a plane from Russia dropped a missile on its territory.

Denmark: Somali pirates released the crew of a hijacked Danish cargo ship after receiving a ransom payment, Denmark's government said Wednesday.

[Last modified August 23, 2007, 00:42:24]