Portugal slaughters two cows

Portugal has detected antibodies to foot-and-mouth disease in two cows imported from the Netherlands, the Agriculture Minister, Mr Luis Capoulas Santos, said yesterday. "The presence of antibodies does not mean there is a . . . positive case of the disease. But as a precaution we decided to destroy the two animals," he said. Blood samples were sent to a laboratory in Brescia, Italy, to confirm the findings.