December 2018

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
London-Strategies that animals like lions,
tigers and penguins use to find food can put their
own lives in danger, a study says.
According to researchers from the UK's
Swansea University, animals using a high-risk
strategy to find rarer food are likely to become
extinct as they fail to gather food for their young
ones before they starve.
For example, lions and tigers have to search
for long periods before they find prey, are more
likely to fail to accrue the energy they need to
breed, compared to animals that adopt a low-risk
gambling strategy, like herbivores such as
zebras.
"We know that animal populations across the
world are taking a hit, with the most charismatic
animals like lions and cheetahs being among the
worst affected, but up until now it has not been
clear why," said Rory Wilson Professor from the
varsity.
The average time the young of each species
can survive without food depends on their size
(larger young ones can survive for longer) but
newly hatched or newly born young of none of
the species can live without food for more than a
UNITED KINGDOM
December 2018
British PM May suffers three Brexit defeats in Commons
London, British Prime Minister Theresa
May has suffered three Brexit defeats in the
Commons as she set out to sell her EU deal to
sceptical MPs. Ministers have agreed to publish
the government’s full legal advice on the
deal after MPs found them in contempt of
Parliament for issuing a summary, BBC
reported on Wednesday. And MPs backed
calls for the Commons to have a direct say in
what happens if her deal is rejected next
Tuesday. May said MPs had a duty to deliver
on the 2016 Brexit vote and the deal on offer
was an “honourable compromise”.
The Prime Minister was addressing the
Commons at the start of a five-day debate on
her proposed agreement on the terms of the
UK’s withdrawal and future relations with the
EU. The agreement has been endorsed by EU
leaders but must also be backed by the UK
Parliament if it is to come into force. MPs will
decide whether to reject or accept it on
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Mentoring schemes and top scholarships...
A* to C grades in GCSE maths and English, compared to all
looked-after children in 2016. By establishing up to 10 of these
hub areas – creating partnerships between councils, independent
and boarding schools, social workers and Virtual School Heads –
the government aims to replicate some of the outcomes seen in
Norfolk. In these areas, more children in care will be offered
places at partner independent or boarding schools, but will also
benefit from meaningful opportunities and activities from these
schools without attending as pupils – in recognition that boarding
full time may not always be the best option for every child.
In each hub, arrangements will be put in place setting out the
services available to children in care, including:
the academic support they will receive, with a particular focus
on tutoring, mentoring or contributions towards activities in the
school holidays; the activities they will benefit from that help to
widen their extra-curricular skills, such as work experience opportunities,
targeted help with writing UCAS statements, or debating
clubs; and their access to independent schools’ sports, drama or
music facilities. The plans will also provide schools with advice
and guidance on how to target bursaries towards looked-after
children. They will also provide options between partners for
funding these places, using the Boarding Schools Partnerships
model as an example, where more than 60 independent schools are
already signed up to offer bursaries at reduced rates for children in
care. Head of Highgate School, part of the hubs working group,
Adam Pettitt, said: Too often young people find themselves shut
out of the Higher Education and employment opportunities that
are accessible to peers who have not experienced traumatic experiences
in their young lives. Highgate’s long-standing Chrysalis
Accelerator programme provides a model for other independent
schools to consider when exploring ways to engage with these
especially vulnerable young people.
December 11. May said Brexit divisions had
become “corrosive” to UK politics and the
public believed the issue had “gone on long
enough” and must be resolved.
The Commons supported a motion
demanding full disclosure of the government’s
legal advice, by 311 votes to 293.
The move was backed by six opposition
parties, while the Democratic Unionists,
which have a parliamentary pact with the
Conservatives, also voted against the government.
It came after Attorney General Geoffrey
Cox published a summary of the advice on
Monday and answered MPs questions for
three hours – but said that full publication
would not be in the national interest.
Labour had accused ministers of “wilfully
refusing to comply” with a binding Commons
vote last month demanding they provided the
attorney general’s full and final advice.
After Labour demanded the advice should
be released ahead of next Tuesday’s key vote
on Mrs May’s deal, Commons Speaker John
Bercow said it was “unimaginable” this
would not happen. In response, Commons
Leader Andrea Leadsom said she “would
respond” on Wednesday but would ask the
Commons Privileges Committee to consider
the constitutional repercussions. An attempt
by ministers to refer the whole issue, including
the government’s conduct, to the committee
of MPs was earlier defeated by four votes.
The privileges committee will now decide
which ministers should be held accountable
and what sanction to apply, with options ranging
from a reprimand to the more unlikely
scenario of a minister being suspended from
the Commons. Lib Dem leader Sir Vince
Cable said the result left the government “on
the ropes”, adding: “Theresa May’s majority
has evaporated, and the credibility of her deal
is evaporating with it.”
Rail Review moves forward
as call for evidence launches
Independent chair Keith
Williams invites evidence from
a wide range of stakeholders.
review now seeking views
from passengers and businesses
across the country
evidence to inform ‘root and
branch’ review which will
transform rail industry
ambitious reforms to help
railway meet demands of 21st
century
The sweeping review of the
rail industry, announced by the
Transport Secretary in
September, has moved significantly
forward with the launch
of the call for evidence today (6
December 2018).
Keith Williams, independent
chair of the Rail Review and
former British Airways chief
executive, is inviting evidence
from a wide range of stakeholders
in all parts of the country,
including passenger representatives,
businesses, leading
thinkers and investors, and
local and devolved bodies and
governments. He is travelling
across the country visiting
cities, towns and regions that
depend on rail connections, listening
and gathering information
that will help inform a
transformation of the rail
Why animals with high-risk strategies are likely to be extinct
3
industry to benefit passengers
and support a stronger, fairer
economy.
Keith Williams said:
Creating a railway for the
21st Century passenger is at the
core of this review. We’re
launching a call for evidence
and want to hear from passengers,
the industry, leading
thinkers and investors – and
also the cities, towns and
regions who depend on their
rail connections.
Next year, after forensic
investigations and conversations
with people across the
country, we will deliver a white
paper with ambitious proposals
for change. The review will
consider ambitious recommendations
for rail reform, building
on the government’s franchising
strategy and bringing track
and train closer together to
reduce disruption and improve
accountability. It will also consider
regional partnerships and
how we can use innovation to
improve services and value for
money for passengers.
The government will publish
a white paper on the review’s
recommendations, with the
implementation of reforms
planned to start from 2020.
few days, the researchers explained.
For the study, published in the journal Current
Biology, the team used animal-attached thumbnail-sized
electronic tags record the movement
and measure food consumption in condors, cheetahs,
penguins and sheep in Argentina, South
Africa and Northern Ireland over a six-year period
While the Magellanic penguins from
Argentina finds fish easily, indicating that the
odds are good for them, the African penguins,
whose population has been declining in southern
Africa for decades, have very poor odds for their
food-finding stakes due to commercial fishing
practices.
"When animals are taking rare prey anyway,
even small changes in the ecosystem stemming
from human activities can be the straw that
breaks the camel's back in terms of breeding success,
and this seems to be the case for the African
penguin, whose population is now just one per
cent of what it was 100 years ago," Wilson said.
The researchers hope that their model can be
used to predict the fortunes of species across the
globe, which could prove pivotal in helping to
formulate conservation plans.