From today's UK papers

Times

Downing Street approached Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative party leader, yesterday to put forward candidates for the vice-chairmanship of the BBC.

Guardian

A US spacecraft bristling with new technology is about to plunge into a comet. Deep Space 1, the first aircraft outside science fiction to use ion drive, will begin its dive tomorrow into Comet 19P/Borelly, that swings around the sun every seven years.

Independent

The 24-hour society is shortening lives and harming health because of the havoc it plays with our biological clock, Surrey University scientists claim today. One in five workers in urban societies is now working outside normal working hours in response to the increased demand from consumers for round-the-clock access to shops, banks and other services.

Miscellany

Britain's ethnic minority population grew 15 times faster than the white population during the 1990s, a government report showed yesterday. ( Times , Daily Telegraph , Guardian )