European Union food safety experts clashed over authorizing a genetically modified maize, their 13th consecutive failure to agree over biotech foods.
The maize, known as 1507, is jointly made by Pioneer Hi-Bred International and Dow AgroSciences. 1507 maize is engineered to resist the widely used glufosinate-ammonium herbicide and certain insects, in particular the European corn borer.
The experts, representing the EU's 25 member states, could not reach a majority vote to approve or reject the application for approval.
Britain, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands voted in favor of authorizing the maize.
Voting against were Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal and Slovenia.
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Keep it pristine: Sweden will push for new rules to force polluters to clean up after themselves in the Antarctic.
The proposal would make companies and organizations liable if they caused an oil spill or other disaster on the world's fifth-largest continent, where tourists now outnumber scientists.
The proposed liability agreement would force the 45 nations that have signed the Antarctic Treaty to introduce such liability laws for companies operating on the continent.
While governments are already required to make environmental impact studies of activities in Antarctica, there is currently no mechanism to determine legal responsibility and possible compensation if disasters happen.
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Good distractions: Living next to a noisy road does not impair a child's reading ability and can actually improve memory recall, according to a new study into the effect of noise on childhood learning ability.
Based on a sample of 2,800 children aged between nine and 10 years from 89 primary schools near three major airports -- Amsterdam's Schiphol, Madrid's Barajas and London's Heathrow -- the study is the largest of its kind.
It found the reading age of children exposed to high levels of aircraft noise was put back by two months in Britain and up to a month in the Netherlands for a five decibel change in noise exposure.
On the other hand, exposure to road traffic noise did not delay reading age and was unexpectedly found to help memory recall.
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Bigger is better: Sharp said it would begin selling a 65-inch LCD television, the biggest in the world, encroaching on the turf of plasma TV makers.
Sharp already makes a 45-inch model and is keen to expand its footprint in the fast-growing market for flat TVs above 40 inches, a segment now dominated by plasma and rear-projection models.
As Sharp plans initially to produce only 300 65-inch TVs per month, the new set is unlikely to boost profits in the near term.
But introducing the world's largest LCD set could help Sharp in what has become a heated public relations war.
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Compiled by David Cohn. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
