A survey of more than 1,000 parents, grandparents, and others has found that 42% give their children treats simply because they ask for them and almost one in three do so “to make their children feel better”.

Assisted reproduction is an “evolutionary experiment” that could prove as big a health disaster as junk food, a scientist has warned.

US President George Bush today urged the Senate to renew a landmark civil rights law passed in the 1960s to stop racist voting practices in the South.