:00:23. > :00:26.Evening, everyone, Newsround is on air. We are live just after 5.00pm.
:00:26. > :00:29.I'm Ricky, and she's Nel. Stay right where you are cos we've
:00:29. > :00:39.got a full round-up of today's top stories.
:00:39. > :00:39.
:00:39. > :00:42.Coming up: Lea finds out what happens when wildlife gets extra
:00:42. > :00:45.protection. And a solar storm lighting up the sky.
:00:45. > :00:48.But first, to a call for urgent action in West Africa. The charity
:00:49. > :00:58.Oxfam says a drought in the Sahel region could turn into a disaster
:00:58. > :01:01.affecting 13 million people if something isn't done soon.
:01:01. > :01:04.The region spreads from Senegal in the west to Chad in the centre of
:01:04. > :01:05.the continent and children are some of the worst affected.
:01:05. > :01:08.Today Oxfam's launched an appeal to help.
:01:08. > :01:11.Images from Africa that are very familiar, and now more than one
:01:11. > :01:14.million children are at risk of starvation.
:01:14. > :01:17.Drought in west and central Africa has led to poor harvests, and the
:01:17. > :01:21.situation is being made worse by high food prices and fighting which
:01:21. > :01:27.has forced people from their homes. All that means families have not
:01:27. > :01:33.been able to get the food they need to survive. The situation is so bad
:01:33. > :01:35.that people in Chad in central Africa are digging up ant hills to
:01:35. > :01:39.gather grain that the ants have stored.
:01:39. > :01:43.Jo Harrison works for Oxfam and is in Mali. She explained to me what
:01:43. > :01:48.can be done to stop the disaster. Droughts are a way of life here.
:01:48. > :01:52.They happen every few years, so we can't stop them happening, but what
:01:52. > :01:57.we can do is give people the right tools and the right equipment so
:01:57. > :02:01.that they can prepare for when there is no rain and they can't
:02:01. > :02:05.grow food. Oxfam has been doing things, like helping people to dig
:02:05. > :02:07.wells so when the rain does come, it fills up with water and will
:02:07. > :02:10.last for much longer amounts of time.
:02:10. > :02:13.Last year I was in East Africa where a famine killed thousands of
:02:13. > :02:15.people. Aid agencies now say that thousands of lives could have been
:02:15. > :02:18.saved if the world had responded sooner.
:02:18. > :02:26.Charities like Oxfam say the only way to prevent a humanitarian
:02:26. > :02:31.disaster in the West of Africa is to act now.
:02:31. > :02:34.Next up, we're talking about adoption. The Government says there
:02:34. > :02:37.are more than 6,700 children in England who are living in care and
:02:37. > :02:41.waiting to be adopted. But the latest figures show the colour of
:02:41. > :02:44.your skin could affect how long you wait to find a family. On average
:02:44. > :02:47.children who are black have to wait twice as long as those who are
:02:47. > :02:50.white. That's because up untill now adoption authorities have made a
:02:50. > :02:52.real effort to match children with families who come from the same
:02:53. > :02:58.ethnic background. But that means sometimes black kids
:02:58. > :03:01.have to wait much longer to be adopted. Now the Prime Minister
:03:01. > :03:04.wants to cut down the waiting time and says the most important thing
:03:04. > :03:14.is for children to find a loving family, and their race shouldn't
:03:14. > :03:15.
:03:15. > :03:18.matter. We're joined by KJ Simmons. You spent a lot of your childhood
:03:18. > :03:21.in care. Do you think skin colour matters when families adopt?
:03:21. > :03:25.don't think it should, but unfortunately, as we have seen, it
:03:25. > :03:29.seems to matter very much so for me it shouldn't matter at all. The
:03:29. > :03:33.most important thing is a family should be loving and caring to make
:03:33. > :03:36.the child a better person. Some would argue the cultural
:03:36. > :03:40.differences may actually make it harder for a black family to bring
:03:41. > :03:46.up a white kid. Would you agree? completely disagree with that. This
:03:46. > :03:49.is the one time I agree with David Cameron. For me, being with a white
:03:49. > :03:52.family has not hurt my cultural background, and actually I
:03:52. > :03:56.flourished with these families. you think it might affect kids
:03:56. > :04:02.later on in life when they want to find out about their back grounds?
:04:02. > :04:05.No, why should it? It's up to the foster family or their parents in
:04:06. > :04:08.adoption to integrate that culture into their life. Thank you very
:04:08. > :04:11.much for coming in. Now this week, Leah's been
:04:11. > :04:13.travelling all over the UK to bring you the biggest stories from our
:04:13. > :04:23.coastline. For her final Wild 5 report she's
:04:23. > :04:30.
:04:30. > :04:39.travelled to an island where Imagine a place where marine life
:04:39. > :04:43.was allowed to live without any interference. Well, that place is
:04:43. > :04:47.Lundy Island, and it's where the fight-back to save our coastal life
:04:47. > :04:50.begins. There is a catch, though. The only way we can get to this
:04:50. > :04:54.island, which is ten miles north of the Devon coast is by getting a
:04:54. > :04:58.ride on that helicopter there. It's about six minutes.
:04:58. > :05:04.This island is very small - just three miles from north to south.
:05:04. > :05:08.Hundreds of years ago, it was a refuge for pirates. Just about to
:05:08. > :05:14.touch down and find out what this island is all about.
:05:14. > :05:20.Here we are! Only 28 people live here all year round. The best place
:05:20. > :05:25.to get a sense of the island is to head to the coastline. One of the
:05:25. > :05:29.reasons this island attracts lots of rich marine life is we have the
:05:29. > :05:33.warm currents of the Bristol Channel here which meets the
:05:33. > :05:37.Atlantic on the west coast of the island. It's this unusual mix of
:05:37. > :05:43.warm currents and cooler waters which create the ideal conditions
:05:43. > :05:48.for marine life to settle - species like grey seals, lobsters to sunset
:05:48. > :05:53.corals and sponges. Now this place is a marine conservation zone, the
:05:53. > :05:57.only one in England. There is to fishing. Divers aren't allowed to
:05:57. > :06:02.collect any crustaceans. All of those plants and animals and
:06:02. > :06:08.creatures can be left to their own devices with very minimal impact to
:06:08. > :06:12.us. That's why Lundy has made it on to the Wild 5 card. The Government
:06:12. > :06:19.decided the marine life here was so special it needed protecting.
:06:19. > :06:25.Groups like the Marine Conservation Society decide which sites are
:06:25. > :06:28.protected. The Government will decide on 127 sites next year.
:06:28. > :06:32.They're putting pressure on the Scottish Government to name sites
:06:32. > :06:36.there. People in Wales are set to have their say on sites this spring.
:06:36. > :06:40.All week I have been on my journey around coastal Britain and I have
:06:40. > :06:42.seen some of the challenges it's facing, but with so many people
:06:42. > :06:45.working hard to protect their coastlines, there is no reason
:06:45. > :06:48.marine life across the UK shouldn't keep going from strength to
:06:48. > :06:54.strength. Nice one.
:06:54. > :06:58.If you missed any of Leah's Wild 5 series, catch up on our website. Do
:06:58. > :07:02.it this weekend! Finally, remember that solar storm we told you might
:07:02. > :07:07.cause big problems for satellites? So far there's not been much
:07:07. > :07:10.disruption but it did result in these amazing sightings of the
:07:10. > :07:14.Northern Lights over Sweden. Unfortunately, the full moon in the
:07:14. > :07:20.UK means you probably won't be able to see the same thing here. It's a