News Headlines - 19 December 2015

▽Brexit now backed by 47 per cent of British voters, new poll reveals - Telegraph

British voters who want to leave the European Union dramatically outstrip the number of people who want to stay, the biggest ever poll of where the UK sits on the issue finds today.

▽Over 100 may be missing as ship feared sunk off Indonesian island — RT News

Over 100 people are missing as a boat traveling between two ports of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi failed to dock at the destination city of Siwa. Local media report that the boat may have sunk.

▽Japan executes first man convicted by citizen judges | The Guardian

Japan on Friday carried out the first execution of a man who had been convicted by lay judges, as part of a pair of hangings that were condemned by human rights groups.

▽Japan's curious passion for the business novel - BBC News

When Japanese people want a really good read they may not pick a spy thriller, a sci-fi fantasy or a throbbing romance - they may choose a novel about the world of business, with a besuited middle manager as its hero. Business novels now routinely feature in bestseller lists, and have even made the transition from the printed page to chart-topping TV drama.

▽How scientists may save Darwin's Galápagos finches from extinction - CSMonitor.com

Today, Darwin's finches are in danger. A parasitic fly that appeared on the islands just a couple decades ago could drive the finch populations to extinction, say researchers.
But "it's not all gloom and doom," University of Utah parasitologist Dale Clayton tells The Christian Science Monitor in an interview. A reduction of nests infested by the fly by just 40 percent should alleviate the risk of extinction, he says.