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Maple Leaf recalls meat as outbreak investigated

TORONTO - A nationwide outbreak of listeriosis has killed one person and sickened at least 16 others, officials confirmed Wednesday as one of Canada's largest meat packers temporarily shut down a Toronto plant and recalled nearly two dozen packaged, ready-to-eat meat products. Maple Leaf Foods (TSX:MFI) is shutting down the plant for several days as part of a precautionary $2-million recall of prepared-meat products that health officials are investigating as the possible source of potentially deadly listeria bacteria. The bulk of the confirmed cases were in Ontario - one death and 12 people ill, with an additional 16 probable or suspected cases, said Dr. David Williams, the province's chief medical officer of health. The remaining four cases were outside Ontario - two in B.C., one in Saskatchewan and one in Quebec. Brand names for some of the recalled products include Schneiders, Sure Slice, Deli Gourmet and Burns Bites. A complete list of affected products is available on both the Maple Leaf Foods website and that of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

U.S. and Poland sign missile deal

WARSAW, Poland - The United States and Poland signed a controversial deal Wednesday to place a U.S. missile defence system just 185 kilometres from Russia - a move followed swiftly by a new warning from Moscow of a possible military response. For many Poles - whose country has been a staunch U.S. ally in Iraq and Afghanistan - the accord represented what they believed would be a guarantee of safety for themselves in the face of a newly assertive Russia. Negotiators sealed the deal last week against a backdrop of Russian military action in Georgia, a former Soviet republic turned U.S. ally, that has worried former Soviet satellites across eastern Europe. It prompted Moscow's sharpest rhetoric yet over the system, which it contends is aimed at Russia despite Washington's insistence the site is purely defensive.

Bombings

SNC-Lavalin workers killed

ALGIERS, Algeria - Twin car bombings rocked a hotel and military headquarters in the Algerian town of Bouira killing a dozen people who worked for Montreal-based engineering giant SNC Lavalin Inc. a day after a suicide bombing in a neighbouring region killed 43. SNC-Lavalin (TSX:SNC) said Wednesday the 12 dead were Algerians on a bus heading to work at the Koudiat Acerdoune water treatment plant the company is building in the north African country. Another 15 Algerian workers were also wounded, the company said. Wednesday's first bomb targeted the regional military command in Bouira province, 95 kilometres southeast of Algiers, and injured four soldiers, the state-run APS news agency reported. Initial reports suggested that 11 people died and 27 were wounded when a second bomb went off a minute later next to a hotel in downtown Bouira. Both bombs were set off by remote control, officials said. Just 50 kilometres to the north, a suicide bomber on Tuesday rammed a car into a line of applicants at a police academy, killing at least 43 people.