From today's UK papers

GUARDIAN

Sir Michael Bichard announced unexpectedly yesterday that he is to stand down as the top civil servant at the Department for Education and Employment.

Anna Kournikova, the 19-year-old Russian tennis player, succeeded yesterday where countless hackers had failed, bringing chaos to large parts of the internet in the form of a highly infectious computer virus.

INDEPENDENT

Head teachers protested to prime minister Tony Blair yesterday over the declaration by his official spokesman that "the day of the bog-standard comprehensive is over".

Organisations representing the elderly have welcomed government plans to outlaw fixed retirement ages and protect older people's tenure to work.

FINANCIAL TIMES

The Confederation of British Industry last night criticised government plans to abolish the contractual retirement ages of men and women, allowing them to work as long as they wish.

The government is to back 11 projects aimed at breaking new ground in public-private partnerships in education.

Baroness Jay predicted yesterday that most of the 1 million jobs that the government expected to be created in the next 10 years could go to women as "brain replaces brawn".

More than 90,000 international patent applications were filed with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) last year, a jump of nearly a quarter from 1999 and equivalent to nearly 8.5 million national patent applications.

The government has decided against spending £1bn to resuscitate its ailing plans for broadband Britain.

DAILY TELEGRAPH

A rare insight into bawdy humour of Stuart England has been unearthed by archaeologists, proving that men were as obsessed with lavatory humour 300 years ago as they are today.

MISCELLANY

Having boldly gone where no man - or man-made object - had gone before, the Near Shoemaker spacecraft that landed on Eros on Monday night could continue beaming back data about its new home for up to three months. ( Independent, Daily Telegraph )

A giant stick insect that evolved before the Jurassic era and was thought to have been extinct for 83 years has been found living on a remote island more than 600km east of Australia. ( Independent, Guardian )

A drug to treat thinning bones in older women has been found to significantly reduce the risk of breast cancer, according to a four-year study in America. Fruit and vegetables were not shown to help to protect women. ( Independent, Daily Telegraph )