*[Enwl-eng] Europe's wild birds in danger
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 Bird populations are plummetingEurope’s wild birds are in trouble, according to a newly published comprehensive assessment of their populations. Scientists warn that two in every five species are now considered at risk. They include owls, vultures and and lapwings. Many problems are driving the decline. Puffins, to take a pressing example, have lost their food sources to commercial fishing. Avian flu is a problem for others. But chief among the concerns is habitat loss. Fortunately, on this point, there is a clear path out of the crisis. A Europe-wide initiative is seeking to protect important breeding sites. And a bold project underway in Hungary to restore grassland loved by birds is cited as an inspiration to others. Territorial mattersYou’d be forgiven for having missed two small but highly controversial words slipped into a recent EU declaration published to mark the end of a summit with Latin American nations. But eagle-eyed British diplomats certainly didn’t and they have been frothing with indignity ever since. The words in question are “Islas Malvinas”, the Spanish term for the land the British call the Falkland Islands. For the British government, even just using the Spanish version alongside the British, as this document did, can be seen as the first step on a slippery slope towards recognising Argentina’s potential ownership of the archipelago. What seems like a minor textual clarification for Spanish readers has, therefore, triggered a panic attack across the Channel. The EU’s response has effectively amounted to reminding the British that they’re no longer a member of the union and cannot therefore expect unwavering solidarity for their claim over a cluster of islands on the other side of the world. If the argument over the Falklands tells us anything, it’s that language is inherently political. That's especially true for speakers of minority languages, who often engage in intense campaigning to protect their native tongues. Here in the UK, for example, successful lobbying by Welsh language activists has resulted in laws mandating Welsh be taught in schools and be used in official government correspondence. But this sociolinguist argues that we shouldn’t always presume that such efforts are time well spent. A violent territorial dispute unfolded 15 years ago this month over the region of South Ossetia – which is officially part of Georgia but had been occupied by Russia since the end of the Soviet Union. Understanding this conflict provides context to the current debate around whether the EU should grant Georgia candidate status to become a member state. DNA breakthrough In a paper published yesterday, scientists revealed that they have found the final piece of the puzzle that was holding them back from sequencing the Y chromosome. It’s a huge development for medicine. Read about how the discovery came about here. In a less edifying scientific breakthrough, a Dutch man has ended up fathering more than 550 children by donating his sperm. The story has specialists wondering if it might not be a bad idea to limit the number of times people should be allowed to ride this particular merry-go-round. If one single donor can parent a population the size of a small village then it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility that two of these siblings might end up living in the same actual village. And they might even then get rather more close than is sensible for two people of shared parentage, if you catch my drift. This awkward situation has become a pan-European issue, since the Dutch man was able to spread his seed so far and wide by travelling to different countries to make deposits. So the only way to stop it from happening again would be to regulate from Brussels. - Laura Hood, Senior Politics Editor and Assistant Editor, The Conversation UK  Europe’s wild bird species are on the brink – but there are ways to bring them backA new assessment of the population status of Europe's birds reveals that the number of species that are of conservation concern is increasing. Was this email
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