Without admitting any error, the department has rapidly increased the number of cattle it tests annually. It went from testing 219 in 1997 (the year it banned the feeding of ruminants to other ruminants) to 20,526 last year. By contrast, European countries tested 10 million animals last year.
Now, in the wake of its first case, the department has made some surprising admissions. Its testing was never meant to stop a diseased cow from reaching the public, Dr. Ron DeHaven, the department's chief veterinarian, said. It was meant to reach a statistical level of probability that it could spot one case in a million.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday denied quotes attributed to him in a newspaper report that said he had received information about a plan to attack the Vatican on Christmas Day.