London - The British economy has shrunk for the first time in 16 years, dropping 0.5 per cent in the July-September quarter, the Office for National Statistics reported Friday.

London, October 24: British scientists have developed a revolutionary “universal test” that can enable prospective parents to screen embryos to detect almost any genetic disease in unborn children.

The 1,500-pound “genetic MoT” may be available as early as next year.

The test will allow couples at risk of passing on gene defects to conceive healthy children using IVF treatment.

Its developers at the Bridge Centre in London claim that their test just takes some weeks from start to finish, and is suitable for couples at risk of almost any condition.

London - British theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking will retire from teaching next year, the University of Cambridge has announced.

Hawking, who suffers from a motor neurone disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that has left him almost paralysed and only able to communicate through a computer, will hand over the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics to a successor in the new academic year, a statement said early Friday.

Hawking, who reaches the Lucasian chair's retirement age of 67 in January, will continue his research at the university.

The Lucasian Chair of Mathematics is renowned and was occupied by Isaac Newton in the 17th century.

Hawking has held the chair for almost 30 years.

London - About half the dogs and a third of all cats in Britain are too fat, a veterinary charity warned Thursday.

Worse: most pet owners don't notice that their four-legged friends are packing too many pounds.

According to the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals, only a fifth of cat owners are aware that their pet has a weight problem. That applied to only a third of dog owners.

Since so many dogs and cats are overweight, pet owners have unrealistic perceptions of the ideal weight and shape for their pet, said veterinarian Sean Wensley.

London, Oct 23: Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a potential target for developing new cancer drugs.

They have found a previously undetected trigger point on a naturally occurring "death protein" that helps the body get rid of unwanted or diseased cells.

The research team suggests that the newly discovered ‘trigger point’ called BAX can help design new drugs that would force malignant cancer cells to commit suicide.

Bratislava - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was to arrive in Slovakia Thursday for her first visit to the ex-communist country that went independent 15 years ago and became an economic success story.

The queen and her husband, Prince Philip, were coming off a trip to Slovenia, a smaller country to the south that once was part of Yugoslavia.

In Slovakia, the queen was to meet Thursday with President Ivan Gasparovic, Prime Minister Robert Fico and Sir Nicholas Winton, 99, a Briton who saved hundreds of mostly Czechoslovak Jewish children from Nazi concentration camps on the eve of World War II.