UNABLE to determine which calf was born to the nation’s first cow diagnosed with mad cow disease, US federal officials plan to kill a herd of 450 calves out of “an abundance of caution.”

INVESTIGATORS are combing Canadian feed mills and rendering plants to try to pinpoint the source of infection for the BSE-infected Washington state cow.

The US Agriculture Department has stepped up the country’s defences against mad cow disease, banning meat from cows that cannot walk or stand on their own and promising to create a nationwide animal tracking system as soon as possible.

Investigators and retailers in eight US states are trying to recover meat that may have come from a cow stricken with deadly mad cow disease.

Investigators tentatively traced the first US case of “mad cow disease” to Canada, which could help determine the scope of the outbreak and might even limit the economic damage to the country’s beef industry.

Japan and South Korea banned US beef imports today following an announcement that a recently slaughtered cow had tested for positive for BSE.

George W Bush today angered the European Union by expanding subsidies to American farmers in apparent defiance of global free trade agreements.

The British Government is resisting pressure from countryside leaders to delay elections because of the impact foot-and-mouth could have on campaigning.