LONDON, Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) - British officials confirmed Sunday an eighth case of foot and mouth disease since the outbreak began last month, within a protection zone in the southern English county of Surrey.

'Foot and mouth disease (FMD) has now been confirmed at the premises in Surrey where slaughter on suspicion was announced yesterday,' the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said in a statement.

LONDON, Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) - The research lab that was largely blamed for an outbreak of foot and mouth disease last month ignored warnings that its drains and pipes needed upgrading, The Sunday Times reported.

Citing emails it had seen sent by a contracted engineer hired to oversee construction and maintenance at the Institute of Animal Health (IAH), the newspaper said officials were warned as early as June 2006 about drainage problems.

LONDON, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - British authorities culled cattle on a farm in the southern English county of Surrey on Saturday on suspicion of foot and mouth disease, the environment ministry said.

The farm was within an existing protection zone in Surrey, southwest of London, where seven cases of the disease have been confirmed since the first was announced on August 3.

LONDON, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Saturday that bluetongue disease has been detected now in 11 animals, more than double the five cases confirmed three days earlier.

'There are now 11 cases of bluetongue,' Brown said in a statement from his offices at 10 Downing Street, a day after veterinarians confirmed Friday that there was a full-blown bluetongue outbreak.

LISBON, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - More than 40 farms in southern Portugal are believed to have been infected by bluetongue disease, eight days after the first case was reported, authorities said on Saturday.

The presence of the livestock virus, which is spread by midges, was confirmed on September 21 in a farm in Barrancos. Since then another 42 farms in the region, involving more than 4,300 head of cattle and sheep, are suspected to have been contaminated.

According to the agriculture ministry, 183 animals have been reported sick and 33 have died.

BRUSSELS, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - A recent easing of rules on culling sheep and goats during outbreaks of mad cow disease could have brought infected meat onto the European market, an EU court warned Friday.

The risk to public health 'was objectively increased' after the new EU rules were introduced in July, the European Court of First Instance ruled.

LONDON, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - Britain on Friday confirmed a full-blown outbreak of bluetongue disease, a rare livestock virus not previously found in the country, in a new blow to embattled farmers.

The insect-borne virus, which spread to northern Europe in the last year from its historic confines in southern Europe, adds to a simmering foot and mouth outbreak with which Britain has grappled since August.

'I can now confirm that we do have bluetongue virus circulating in this country,' Britain's deputy chief veterinarian Fred Landeg told a press conference.

LONDON, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - Britain on Friday confirmed a full-blown outbreak of bluetongue disease -- a rare livestock virus not previously found in the country -- that has dealt a new blow after foot and mouth disease returned in August.

The disease, which is spread by midges and historically was confined to southern Europe, was first detected in a cow at the weekend. Since then, a further four heads of cattle have been confirmed as infected.

LONDON, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - Bluetongue disease, an economically debilitating livestock infection, is circulating in Britain after being reported in a cow at the weekend in southern England, the country's deputy chief veterinarian said Friday.

'I can now confirm that we do have bluetongue virus circulating in this country,' the official, Fred Landeg, told a media conference.

The infected cow, from a farm near Ipswich, Suffolk, northeast of London, tested positive Saturday for bluetongue. It is the first case ever recorded in Britain.

WASHINGTON, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - US oil giant ConocoPhillips and agribusiness leader Archer Daniels Midland announced Thursday plans to collaborate on a new renewable 'biocrude' fuel made from crops, wood and other sources.

'ConocoPhillips believes that the development of next-generation biofuels is a critical step in the diversification of our nation's energy sources,' said Jim Mulva, chairman and chief executive officer at the Houston-based oil group.

MOSCOW, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - Over 80 foreign companies were stripped of meat import licences into Russia this year because of deemed poor quality, Russia's state veterinary service Rosselkhoznadzor said Thursday.

'The right to export meat to Russia was stripped from 83 foreign companies, including 37 EU-based ones -- one in France, Lithuania, Finland and Iceland each, three in Belgium and Spain each, four in Denmark, five in the Netherlands and 18 in Germany,' the agency said in a statement.

LONDON, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - Britain's environment ministry said Thursday that a fifth animal has tested positive for the livestock infection bluetongue, but said there was still no clear indication of an outbreak.

The infection, which is spread through biting insects like midges, was found on an animal on a farm near Burstall, in the county of Suffolk, eastern England, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.

BRUSSELS, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - The European Commission said Wednesday it could agree to water down several contested points in its proposed root-and-branch reform of the EU wine sector.

Some member states have said that proposals from the Commission to shake up the industry would be too hard for them to swallow since it produced the package in July.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has now said she is willing to compromise.

BRUSSELS, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - The European Union, traditionally one of the world's main breadbaskets, sought Wednesday to boost grain imports as soaring demand and prices crimp global supplies.

With global cereals supplies increasingly strained, EU Agriculture Minister Mariann Fischer Boel said she would propose 'in the coming days' a suspension of import duties, which currently run at less than 10 percent.

LONDON, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - British experts on Wednesday confirmed a fourth case of the livestock infection bluetongue, which has added to fears from a foot and mouth disease outbreak over the last two months.

A cow on a farm near Ipswich, Suffolk, northeast of London, will be killed after testing positive for the disease, which is spread through biting insects like midges, said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

BRUSSELS, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - The European Union sought on Wednesday to boost tight cereals supplies with a proposal to suspend import duties and freeze a requirement for farmers to keep land fallow.

With cereals supplies increasingly strained, EU Agriculture Minister Mariann Fischer Boel told farm ministers during a meeting that she would propose suspending import duties for current marketing year running until the end of June 2008.

BRUSSELS, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - The European Commission is to propose soon to suspend import duties on cereals for the current marketing year running to the end of June 2008 to cope with tight supplies, a spokesman said Wednesday.

EU Agriculture Minister Mariann Fischer Boel told farm ministers during a meeting in Brussels that 'she will propose the suspension for this year,' her spokesman Michael Mann said.

LONDON, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - British experts on Tuesday confirmed a third case of bluetongue disease, a rare livestock virus which has added to a foot and mouth outbreak over the last two months.

The new diseased cow tested positive on a different farm from the two earlier cases, which were found on Saturday and Monday near Baylham in Suffolk, northeast of London.

LONDON, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Two temporary control zones around farms in southern England were lifted Tuesday after animals there tested negative for foot and mouth disease, the environment ministry said.

Britain is battling to contain the disease -- and avoid a repeat of the devastating 2001 outbreak -- after it re-emerged in the county of Surrey, southwest of London, on August 3. So far, seven cases have been confirmed.

SALMON, Idaho, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - America's drive for alternative sources of energy is proving an expensive challenge for cattle farmers who are struggling to pay for traditional feed as the price of corn soars.

Corn has traditionally made up 40 percent of the diet of cattle at the Agri Beef Company in Idaho, but earlier this year the firm decided to cease relying on the grain after the price per bushel doubled.

The price rises have been driven by demand for homegrown corn to make ethanol, a biofuel whose synthesis has been sweetened by federal subsidies.

LONDON, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - A herd of cattle culled earlier on Monday has tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease, the seventh case in Britain since an outbreak began in August, the agriculture ministry confirmed.

'Positive test results for foot and mouth disease (FMD) have now been confirmed at the site where it was decided that cattle should be slaughtered on suspicion earlier today,' the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said in a statement.

LONDON, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - Tests for foot and mouth disease on a farm in the southern English county of Hampshire have proved negative, the government said Monday, while reporting another new suspected case.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said a new three-kilometre (1.2-mile) temporary control zone had been set up Monday around a second farm in the same county.

BRUSSELS, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - The EU Commission hopes for a vaccine next year to protect farms against the bluetongue strain moving northwards through Europe, and is planning rule changes to help, a spokesman said Monday.

Britain has become the latest European Union member state to be struck by the serotype 8 bluetongue strain which affects ruminants and for which there is as yet no vaccine.

COTONOU, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - More than 2,000 people have been made homeless by floods in Benin's cotton-growing north and 80 percent of farmland in the region has been affected, a local official said on Monday.

'We have more than 2,000 victims that we are housing in classrooms and more than 4,000 hectares (9,900 acres) of land for rice, millet, corn and cotton have been affected,' the mayor of the Malanville commune in the north of the country, Koumba Gadje, told AFP by telephone.

LONDON, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) - Britain's farmers braced for more bad news on Sunday after the discovery of its first ever case of bluetongue infection in farm animals and amid fears of a new suspected case of foot-and-mouth.

The authorities established a new three-kilometre (1.8-mile) temporary control zone on Sunday for a suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease near Petersfield, in the county of Hampshire.

It is about 45 miles away from a premises near Egham, west of London, where the disease was confirmed earlier this month.

LONDON, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) - British authorities have established a new three-kilometre temporary control zone for a suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease in southern England, the agriculture ministry said on Sunday.

The site is near Petersfield, in the county of Hampshire, about 45 miles (70 kilometres) from a premises near Egham, west of London, where the disease was confirmed earlier this month.

LONDON, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) - Britain's first ever case of bluetongue infection in farm animals is the same strain as that found in Europe over the last year, the environment ministry said Sunday.

The Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the virus identified Saturday in a cow on a rare breeds farm near Ipswich, in the county of Suffolk, eastern England, was identified as Serotype 8.

The strain has previously been found in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and The Netherlands since August 2006, it said in a statement.

LONDON, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) - Britain's first-ever case of bluetongue infection in farm animals is the same strain as that found in Europe over the last year, the government's deputy chief vet said Sunday.

Fred Landeg said the virus identified Saturday in a cow on a cattle and sheep farm near Ipswich, in the county of Suffolk, eastern England, was the BT serotype 8 strain.

LONDON, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) - Tests were being carried out Sunday to determine the extent of bluetongue infection after the first-ever case was detected in Britain, where farmers are already dealing with foot-and-mouth disease.

The disease, which is spread through livestock by midges, was discovered in a cow on a cattle and sheep farm near Ipswich, in the county of Suffolk, eastern England, the environment ministry announced Saturday evening.

LONDON, Sept 22, 2007 (AFP) - Britain's chief vet on Saturday again urged farmers to be vigilant after another case of foot and mouth disease was confirmed in cattle in south-east England.

Debbie Reynolds asked all farmers in the county of Surrey to be on the lookout for signs of disease and check their livestock twice a day following the discovery of the virus in about 40 cattle near the town of Egham.

'Their vigilance is the front line of defence in reporting any suspicion of foot and mouth disease,' Reynolds told BBC News 24 television.

LONDON, Sept 22, 2007 (AFP) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Saturday called a meeting of the government's civil contingencies cell COBRA to discuss the latest confirmed cases of foot and mouth disease.

The meeting with the country's chief vet Debbie Reynolds, public health officials and other experts came after tests confirmed the sixth case of the highly contagious disease in two months.

A spokesman for Brown's office said the meeting was to 'stock-take on recent developments in the past few days'.

LONDON, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Tests confirmed an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at a farm in southern England Friday, the sixth case in Britain since August, after cattle showed symptoms of the virus and were ordered slaughtered.

Cattle on the farm, which is in the same area as three other recent cases, tested positive for the contagious disease that can affect all-cloven footed animals, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.

LONDON, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - A sixth case of foot-and-mouth disease has been confirmed on a farm in southern England, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said Friday.

Cattle on a farm in the same area as three other recent cases tested positive for the disease, Defra said. Two other cases have also been confirmed since an initial outbreak in August, all of them in the southeastern county of Surrey.

LONDON, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - British health authorities were investigating Friday a suspected new case of foot-and-mouth disease in a control zone and ordered cattle that showed symptoms of the virus slaughtered.

'The decision has been taken to slaughter cattle on suspicion of foot-and-mouth disease on a farm in (the southeastern county) Surrey,' said a spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

LONDON, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - British health authorities were investigating Friday a suspected new case of foot-and-mouth disease in a control zone and ordered cattle that showed signs of the illness slaughtered.

'The decision has been taken to slaughter cattle on suspicion of foot-and-mouth disease on a farm in Surrey,' said a spokeswoman for the department of environmental health.

MANAUS, Brazil, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Brazil welcomed Friday the United States's agreement to negotiate on the basis of a WTO proposal to cut farm subsidies as a 'step forward' in foundering global trade talks.

'It is a good step forward,' said Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.

'My reading is much like that of the (WTO) director general -- that negotiations can wind up rapidly with goodwill,' Amorim said, before leaving Manaus to visit Haiti.

BEIJING, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - China said Friday it would reduce its import duty on soybeans to one percent from three percent currently, effective October 1, in a temporary three-month move to stabilise food prices.

The brief announcement on the central government's website said the move would reduce grain costs, which in turn will help keep a lid on food prices.

China is worried about rising prices. Consumer prices rose by 6.5 percent year-on-year last month, its sharpest increase in over a decade.

ATHENS, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - The Greek government has warned farmers in areas devastated by last month's wildfires to be extra careful in rebuilding their sheep and goat flocks to ensure high-quality production of Greece's renowned feta cheese, the semi-state Athens News Agency reported Thursday.

The agriculture ministry has impressed upon farmers in the Peloponnese peninsula south of Athens to only choose sheep and goats of Greek stock for fear of altering the composition of the soft briny cheese, ANA said.