Get fit now, pay later
More and more men want a body like David Beckham's - even if they have to take dangerous short cuts to get it. Diane Taylor on the alarming rise of anabolic steroids.
A friend has been fined £200 for parking in a disabled space – because his disabled sticker fell off. Why are local councils so heartless?
Maureen Lipman: There is one reason only for this heartless, disproportionate penalty to be sustained and that reason is greed. The man is not a liar; he's operating under exceptional stress. He's made an understandable error and explained it in a letter - what's not to revoke?
Obesity in Asia mirrors western increase
The rapid modernisation of China and other Asian countries has produced an alarming spike in the rate of obesity and diabetes among their populations, experts warned today. The UK-based International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) said Asian countries were now encountering … Continue reading
Global alert over deadly new TB strains
· Disease untreatable with currently available drugs
· South African cases raise fears for Aids programme
Fumeurs, to the barricades!
Agnès Poirier: French smokers (about 30% of the population), we learned yesterday, have another four months of liberté - the freedom to smoke in public. Then the government will act and the guillotine will fall.
Extreme dining
In the wake of Super Size Me, it looked as if the fast-food giants were embracing healthy eating, with salads appearing on every menu. But that's all over. The big chains in the US are now pushing 'indulgent offerings': huge stacks of meat, oozing with grease - and not a vegetable in sight. Oliver Burkeman reports.
Costa del surgery: Spain corners market on new bodies for beach
Women flock to Spanish clinics for pay-by-instalment cosmetic procedures.
Frog froth to treat wounds
The Tungara frog of Trinidad is an amphibian of unusual habits. When females lay eggs in ponds, their mates build huge balls of froth around them. These act as nests that protect their delicate, developing offspring.
NHS guilty over race laws, report warns
The NHS is guilty of widespread failure to comply with race relations law, the health inspectorate warns in a report today.