From today's UK papers

Britain's first "designer baby" will be born by the end of the year. A British couple have side-stepped UK regulations and undergone treatment in the US to ensure they give birth to a baby with an immune system that matches that of their son, who is recovering from leukaemia and may relapse.  The Guardian , The Daily Telegraph

British codebreakers could have broken the German Enigma cipher machine well before the second world war if they had listened to an unknown woman, according to a book on the secret work at Bletchley Park, the Buckinghamshire home of the government code and cipher school.  The Guardian, The Times

Animals other than humans and apes can reason, scientists have discovered. Experiments show that baboons are capable of abstract reasoning even though their understanding of concepts is less distinct than that of a human.  The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Times

A former student who claims she was raped during an exchange trip to Ukraine is to begin legal action against St Andrews University this week. Erin McLean, , an American, claims that the university sent her to a dangerous area for the six-month mandatory exchange in 1996, during which she says she was raped by three Russian sailors.  The Times

The wife of V. S. Naipaul has leapt to her husband's defence against critics who accused him of being "anti-Islamic". Lady Naipaul, whose husband was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature last week, rounded on British Muslim leaders, claiming that they were abusing the freedoms of this country.  The Daily Telegraph

George Soros, the American billionaire financier and philanthropist, is considering establishing a private university in China dedicated to fostering democratic values in higher education. Financial Times

Independent schools are planning a national campaign to lure student teachers from the state sector.  The Independent

The number of laboratory tests on mice might be about to be reduced. Research centres in Nottingham, Dundee, Manchester and Edinburgh are running a project that is expected to find that chicken cells and embryos grown in the laboratory are more effective for gene studies.  The Independent

The attack of September 11 exposed the United States as a politically unaware nation. Now the "teach-in" is back as everyone rushes to catch up.  The Independent

Iceland, the frozen-food retailer, will confirm at the Booker Prize ceremony on Wednesday that it will no longer sponsor the literary award.  Financial Times

Paul Rizzo is investing in research and bringing in faculty as part of his ambitious vision for Melbourne Business School.  Financial Times

Control and ownership of Hungary's IMC Graduate School of Business, Budapest, was yesterday set to be transferred to the Central European University, an institution with which it shares buildings in the Hungarian capital.  Financial Times

Alec Hudnut has quit as chief executive of Quisic - formly University Access - the company he founded in Los Angeles. The three other founders have also left the company.  Financial Times

Ecstacy damages brain cells so badly that users suffer long-term memory problems, scientists will say today.   The Daily Mail