EU Commission Forecasts Deep Recession for Cyprus
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, NOVEMBER 8 — The Cypriot economy is expected to see an intensified recession, with an economic contraction of -2.3%, said the European Commission in its Autumn Forecast for 2012. The economy is expected to shrink by 1.7% in 2013, and by 0.7% in 2014. The government’s deficit is set to be 5.3% of GDP, and could rise to 5.7% of GDP in 2013 and to 6% in 2014. General government debt will rise from 71.1% in 2011 to around 90% of GDP in 2012, after Laiki Bank was nationalised.
Government debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to reach 96.7% in 2013 and 102.7% in 2014. Cyprus’ application to the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) reflects signficant downside risks for public finances and the financial sector, testing the economy’s sustainability, said the Commission. “Failure to raise the required capital and to put policies back on a sustainable path could dramatically worsen the outlook,” says the forecast. The island’s financial sector is negatively affected by Greek debt and volatility in the European markets, said the Commission as CyprusNewsReport.com writes. The crucial construction sector, normally a source of strong economic development, is expected to continue to weaken in 2012 and 2013, said the Commission. This is in spite of the reconstruction work at Vasiliko power plant, which was critically damaged in the explosion in 2011. The labour market is expected to worsen in 2012 and subsequent years, reflecting the slowdown in economic activity, says the survey. Job losses will be extreme in construction and trade, and the unemployment rate will rise from 7.9% in 2011 to 12.1% in 2012 and to 14% by 2013. Wage growth will be negative, and the freezing of public sector wages until 2014 will affect wages in the economy as a whole, said the Commission. Economic and fiscal imbalances added to widespread loss of confidence among economic agents along with a high degree of economic uncertainty have weighed on private consumption, says the survey. Domestic demand will be markedly weaker, driven by weaker consumer confidence and lower disposable income. Bright spots are in tourism and business services, which are expected to perform well in 2012 and in the coming years, reflecting increased numbers of Russians and other countries.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France Heading for Recession: Bank
The French economy is heading for a slight recession at the end of the year, the Bank of France forecast on Friday.
It estimated that output would shrink by 0.1 percent in the last quarter, after an estimated setback of about the same amount in the third quarter.
This outlook underlines strains in the economy and comes in a week marked by a big effort by the government to reverse the falling competitiveness and a huge structural trade deficit.
The main thrust of new measures is to switch the cost of paying for social security and health benefits from employers to a wider tax base, and also to reduce public spending.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Services, Industry to Cut 120,000 Jobs in 4th Quarter
Only 19% of new hires to have long-term contracts, report says
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 9 — The Italian services and industry sectors will slash a net 120,000 full-time jobs in the fourth quarter of this year, according to a report released on Friday by Unioncamere, the Italian Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Crafts.
The sectors will benefit from some 218,000 new hires in the last three months of the year, though only 19% of the new hires will have a long-term contract.
The rest will have short-term or flexible contracts.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Economic Policies Explained for Earthlings
The mind-numbing re-election of President Obama in the wake of trillions of dollars in new debt created by the man is the death knell for fiscal responsibility in the United States of America. Only under Obama does Big Government not only think it can spend money more wisely than the businesses and workers from which it confiscates wealth; it also believes government is so wise and arrogant that it can confidently spend trillions of dollars today which have yet to be confiscated from taxpayers in the future!
[…]
The answer, we are led to believe, is that America hasn’t been expanding government quickly enough. That’s what Obama means when he says he needs four more years to “finish his work” in America. As long as there’s still at least one private sector company, entrepreneur or industry that hasn’t been taken over by the giant sucking sound of Big Government, the work of socialism never really is done, is it?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[Video] Prof Praises Stalin — Never Committed ‘1 Crime’
(CampusReform) A professor at a public university recently denied Soviet Union Leader Joseph Stalin was responsible for the murder of millions, saying he has “yet to find one crime — one crime that Stalin committed.”
“I know they say he killed 20, 30, 40 million people,” continued Grover Furr, a professor in Medieval English at Montclair State University. “It’s bullsh*t.”
Furr made the comments at a campus debate featuring three individuals supposedly representing conservative, liberal, and libertarian political views.
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Assange Says Obama is “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”
(AGI) London, Nov. 7 — Speaking from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has been granted asylum since June, Julian Assange commented on Barack Obama’s re-election saying he is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”. Wikileaks’ founder believes the president will continue to attack his website due to the publication of secret documents containing revelations against the American government. The 41-year-old Australian added that a sheep dressed as a wolf is better than a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” stating that all activity against Wikileaks has occurred during the Obama presidency.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Big Pharma Testing Oxycontin on Children as Young as 6 to Keep Patent
You’ve likely heard of OxyContin; it’s that heavy duty narcotic painkiller, the one that has spurred the prescription drug addiction problem to new heights over the past several years. It’s highly addictive. So addictive, in fact, that it is said to lead people to using heroin in order to get a cheaper high when their budget can’t keep up with their Oxycontin habit. (This move only became more pronounced after the maker of Oxy changed their formula to reportedly discourage addiction).
Well, the maker of this wonder-drug, responsible for countless overdose deaths, is so concerned with their patent running out, that they’ve decided to test the drug on children as young as six years old.
The company is Purdue Pharma LP. And their concern isn’t in helping children overcome some deadly illness or debilitating pain, but instead lies (not surprisingly) with their bottom line. The patent of OxyContin is set to expire in August of 2013; when that occurs, other Big Pharma companies will be able to make generic versions of the pricey narcotic and sell them for much cheaper, taking some away from Purdue’s pockets.
By starting new trials on children, Purdue Pharma is able to extend their patent by six months. They are able to do this with a program from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that actually encourages drug companies to test their poisons on the youngest members of our communities.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Blood-Drenched Naked Man ‘Murdered Woman, 62, On a Violent Rampage When He Was High’
[WARNING: Disturbing content.]
A blood-drenched naked man was arrested after he allegedly murdered a 62-year-old motel employee when he was high.
Andrew Carreiro, 25, from Sacramento, was arrested after police were called to a disturbance involving a naked man at the Hacienda Inn on Saturday night.
When they arrived, they found the victim, a woman, half naked and covered in blood. Her name has not been released.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: A Time for Courage, And Action
Mtt Romney wasn’t a bad candidate. He ran a fairly strong race. He made a few errors. And he made many good moves.
Certainly he was adequate. And he was probably the strongest Republican candidate among the primary field of contenders. That is, he was the best man available to run against Barack Obama.
And he did a pretty good job.
Obama, on the other hand, was a horrible candidate. He was mean and vindictive. He was contemptuous and superficial. He ran on irrelevancies like abortion and a fictitious Republican war against women. He didn’t give his supporters any reason to feel good about themselves.
Instead, he used class warfare to stir them to hatred of their countrymen.
Yet Obama won. And Romney lost.
In retrospect it is possible that the race was over before it began. A strong case can be made that Obama secured his reelection in 2009 when he bailed out the US auto industry and so temporarily stanched the hemorrhage of jobs in Ohio and Michigan. And maybe, with the youth of the 1960s now the Medicare recipients of the 2010s and ‘20s, there are simply too many Americans dependent on government handouts to care about what happens in the future.
An equally strong case can be made that Romney lost the election before he secured the Republican nomination. He may have squandered his chances when he took a strong position against illegal immigration in one of the early Republican primary debates and so arguably made winning Florida, and perhaps Colorado, a mathematical impossibility…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Did Prop 37 Really Lose or Was it Vote Fraud?
[Comment: Prop 37 Yes vote means “Yes, I want Gentically Modified ingredients/product to be labelled as such.]
On election night, not long after the polls closed in California, the announcement came out: Prop 37 was losing. A little while later, it was all over. 37 had gone down to defeat.
But is that the whole story? No.
As of 2:30PM today, Thursday, November 8th, two days after the election, many votes in California remain uncounted.
I tried to find out how many.
In just 4 four of 58 counties, 1.6 million votes remain uncounted.
Yet, the California Secretary of State’s website indicates that Prop 37 is behind by 559,776 votes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Have You Heard About ‘Spigot Cities’ That May Pump Votes to Obama?
President Barack Obama’s campaign team could have more control over the outcome of the 2012 election than you think, according to a report by TheBlaze documentary team that reveals the potential for highly targeted voter fraud in key cities that could determine who gets the electoral votes from many swing states.
The potential fraud would be focused on major, decisive cities that are believed to help keep states blue, and therefore earning them the electoral college’s votes. They’re called “spigot cities.”
J. Christian Adams, an author and former attorney for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, spoke about the spigot cities on the BlazeTV documentary — “The Machine” — which delves into various forms of voter fraud and how it’s being perpetuated. Many believe it is ultimately resulting in a loss of freedom through a corrupt voting system.
Adams believes spigot cities are managed by the Obama campaigned with some involvement by the Voting Section of the Justice Department.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Naked Man ‘Goes on Drug Rampage Around Apartment Complex Punching People and Demanding Oral Sex’
A man who allegedly rampaged around an apartment complex completely naked assaulting people and screaming obscenities has been arrested.
Michael Wofford, 33, was high on the drug PCP when he tore around the complex in northwest Oklahoma City on June 20, according to his girlfriend.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Homeland Security Council Developed
President Barack Obama has announced a federal partnership among government agencies, law enforcement and the private sector to improve coordination of homeland security challenges.
The president’s order sets forth a framework for a homeland security partnership to “enhance our ability to address homeland security priorities, from responding to natural disasters to preventing terrorism, by utilizing diverse perspectives, skills, tools, and resources.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A rampaging naked car-jacker wearing only his socks ran amok in Scottsdale, Arizona today, causing two terrific car collisions that injured seven people and shut down most of the city’s roads during rush hour.
Witness photos of the destruction caused by the man show him standing triumphantly on top a SUV while debris from the smash litters the roadside.
The first car crash was reported to the police at 1.30 p.m. after which the man is said to have left his vehicle, stripped naked and car-jacked a Toyota Prius, pulling the female passenger from the car.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Petraeus Resigns as Director of C.I.A., Citing Extramarital Affair
David H. Petraeus, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, resigned on Friday after issuing a statement saying that he had engaged in an extramarital affair.
The sudden development came just days after President Obama won re-election to a second term. Mr. Petraeus, a highly decorated general who had led the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, had been expected to remain in the president’s cabinet.
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Proof: Obama is Coming for Your Guns
While ignorant Obamanoids can’t get past “their” victory in re-electing the president they identify with, our Constitutional republic is quickly crumbling under a second term authoritarian no longer restricted by the prospect of facing another election.
The Obama Administration has openly announced their intent to bring back the Assault Weapons Ban that was “law” for ten years, but this time Dianne Feinstein and the gun-grabbing liberals aren’t just restricting new weapons & ammo purchases, but seeking legislation to require arms be turned in and private sales be barred. Simultaneously, the Obama Administration is helping to revive the United Nations Small Arms Treaty, which will undermine the sovereignty of the 2nd Amendment by putting international control over the flow of weapons and civilian ownership, inevitably affecting gun rights inside the U.S. particularly in border zones.
This is not speculation, this is not hyperbole, this is not myth— but the admitted plan now underway. We must awaken to this authoritarian control measure and stop it through political pressure before it is too late.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Republican Campaign Failed to Confront Media Bias
The simple explanation for what happened on Election Day is that the American people voted for President Barack Obama because they didn’t understand the nature of his Marxist agenda. But it is inconceivable that the public would, on a fully informed and rational basis, choose a political ideology that guarantees American economic decline and foreign policy retreat.
Fortunately, there is a record of how this happened. The New York Daily News said that GOP strategist Karl Rove, who raised $330 million for his Super PAC to guarantee Mitt Romney’s victory and win Republican control of the Senate, had been advising Republicans to avoid calling Obama a socialist or left-winger. Rove believed that undecided, moderate or left-leaning voters would jump to Obama’s side if that charge were leveled against him.
“If you say he’s a socialist, they’ll go to defend him,” Rove said. “If you call him a ‘far out left-winger,’ they’ll say, ‘no, no, he’s not.’“ Rove said Romney had to remain “focused on the facts and adopt a respectful tone” toward Obama.
We see where this got Romney. He was respectful toward Obama, especially in the third presidential debate, but got savaged by the media in the process.
A wake-up call to Romney came on September 21, when Democratic consultant Pat Caddell gave a speech at the AIM “ObamaNation” conference and basically warned Romney and his advisers that he had to confront liberal media bias immediately and alert the American people to the facts about the national security crisis in the Middle East that were being carefully concealed and covered up.
In this riveting speech, which went viral on the Internet, Caddell called the media an enemy of the American people and said it was absolutely imperative that Romney and his campaign understand they were up against two major forces in society—the Democratic Party and the media. But it didn’t happen. There was no urgency. It was if Romney and his advisers thought he could coast to victory.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ted Nugent: Four More Years of Debt and Class Warfare
We have fallen far and fast.
Instead of electing a serious-minded, proven professional, America went once again with a guy whose most impressive qualification is that of a questionable “Chicago” community organizer. I don’t mean Chicago in a geographic sense.
President John F. Kennedy would have been appalled. Instead of asking not what our country can do for us but what we can do for our country, in just 50 years since Kennedy uttered that famous phrase, it appears that a majority of Americans now demand that their country do for them. It’s America turned upside-down.
We have decayed into a nation of gluttonous, soulless pigs who feast on whatever Fedzilla provides by taking from one group of Americans (the producers) and giving to others (the takers) who haven’t earned it and don’t deserve it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A 16-year-old girl was injured after a man, police suspect was under the influence of cocaine and heroin, crashed his SUV into her living room as she watched TV with her mother.
Paige Brucker and her mother Kristina Brucker, 37, were both rushed to the hospital late on Monday after the terrifying intrusion at their home in Indianapolis.
Police have arrested the 21-year-old driver of the black GMC Envoy, Devon Sylvester, and said they found heroin on Sylvester in addition to four syringes, a small metal spoon, a bottle cap and a nail.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Slow Death of White America
How will the great melting pot adapt to the millions of black and Hispanic voters who swept Obama back to power, asks TOM LEONARD
For Republicans struggling to understand their defeat at the polls, the most chilling statistic in this week’s presidential election was this: Mitt Romney won the biggest share of the white vote that any Republican White House contender ever has — and he still lost.
In an election battle that was defined as much as anything by race, Mitt Romney won the support of 59 per cent of whites, but just 27 per cent of Latinos, 26 per cent of Asian-Americans and 6 per cent of African-Americans.
Thirty years ago, being unpopular with ethnic minorities would hardly have stopped a white establishment candidate like Romney from trouncing Barack Obama. But back then, whites accounted for almost 90 per cent of voters. Now they make up just 72 per cent of the electorate, and that figure is shrinking by the year.
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Vegas Employer: Obama Won, So I Fired 22 Employees
A Las Vegas business owner with 114 employees fired 22 workers today, apparently as a direct result of President Obama’s re-election.
“David” (he asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons) told Host Kevin Wall on 100.5 KXNT that “elections have consequences” and that “at the end of the day, I need to survive.”
Here’s an excerpt from the interview. Click the audio tab below to hear even more from this compelling conversation:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vote Fraud Expert: Romney Votes Not Counted in Key States
Florida and Ohio called for Obama before substantial number of ballots checked
Vote fraud expert Bev Harris told the Alex Jones Show that a substantial number of votes for Mitt Romney in the key battleground states of Florida and Ohio, both of which went to Obama, were not even counted before the result was announced.
Harris, the founder of non-partisan elections watchdog Black Box Voting Inc., is a well known vote fraud expert whose work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine, CNN, ABC, MSNBC, CBS, Fox News, and NBC.
Harris said that a number of problems with voting in the days after the election came “flooding in” from across the country. As we previously highlighted, reports of electronic voting machine irregularities were widespread almost as soon as voting began on Tuesday.
Harris pointed to the actions of Karl Rove, who confronted Fox News for calling Ohio for Obama when only a mere fraction of the votes had been counted and the two candidates were separated by just 100,000 votes.
Rove attempted to explain to Fox News anchors that there were far too many outstanding votes left to be able to call Ohio for Obama, at least half a million and many in Romney strongholds, but his concerns were instantly dismissed.
“Based not on actual votes, but on projections from a single private entity, the National Election Pool (NEP), we were all told what the election results were going to be. When Rove pulled out his notes and calculations, he was basically told “Shut up, this is a science,” writes Harris.
[…]
“Nobody knows anything about elections nowadays, what we are doing is watching the TV networks announce to us who the winner is based on a single private organization called NEP,” said Harris.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Belgium Will Become an Islamic State’
by Soeren Kern
The statements of Mark Elchardus, author of a 426 page study, who linked Islam with anti-Semitism, earned him a lawsuit filed by a Muslim group, which said that his comments violated Belgium’s anti-discrimination law of 2007, which forbids discrimination on the basis of “religious convictions,” and Article 444 of the Belgian penal code as his statements appeared in a newspaper and were therefore repeated extensively in print. Belgian law, however, apparently did not prevent Muslims from resorting to anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.
Two Muslim politicians, who just won municipal elections in Belgium’s capital, Brussels, on October 14, have vowed to implement Islamic Sharia law in Belgium.
The two candidates, Lhoucine Aït Jeddig and Redouane Ahrouch, both from the fledgling Islam Party, won seats in two heavily Islamized municipalities of Brussels, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean and Anderlecht, respectively.
During a post-election press conference in Brussels on October 25, the two future councilors, who will be officially sworn in on December 3, said they regard their election as key to the assertion of the Muslim community in Belgium.
“We are elected Islamists but above all we are Muslims,” Ahrouch said. “Islam is compatible with the laws of the Belgian people. As elected Muslims, we embrace the Koran and the tradition of the Prophet Mohammed. We believe Islam is a universal religion. Our presence on the town council will give us the opportunity to express ourselves,” said Ahrouch, who refuses to shake hands or make eye contact with females in public.
A one-hour video of the press conference in French has been posted on YouTube. At one point in the video (0:07:40) Ahrouch, 42, says he will strive to make sure that the town council’s “motions and solutions are durable and definitive and will emanate from Islam.”
Ahrouch, who was sentenced to six months in prison in 2003 for the assault and battery of his disabled wife, also spends considerable time talking about ethics in politics and “respect for the other.”
Elsewhere in the video (0:25:40), Aït Jeddig, 50, commends Islam as having paved the way for “the emergence of European civilization.” (He makes no mention of Europe’s Judeo-Christian or Greek-Roman roots.) He also insists that Islam is compatible with freedom and democracy.
The video ends with an interview of a third Islam Party candidate, Abdelhay Bakkali Tahar, 51, who did not garner enough votes to secure a seat in the district of Bruxelles Ville…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Bildt Bashes New Sweden Democrat Poll Rise
Yet another poll has found the far-right Sweden Democrats are the country’s third-largest political party, prompting claims by Foreign Minister Carl Bildt of the Moderate Party that the Sweden Democrats “damage Sweden”.
In a poll carried out by the Demoskop polling firm and published on Friday in the Expressen newspaper, the Sweden Democrats were shown to have support of 9 percent of Swedish voters, an increase of 1.9 percent compared to results from the previous month.
Two weeks ago, another poll carried out by the Ipsos research firm also found the Sweden Democrats to be the country’s third-largest political party amid an effort by party leader Jimmie Åkesson to rid the party of the image that its members are a bunch of “angry young men”.
The recent Sweden Democrat poll surge doesn’t sit well with Bildt, who expressed concerns about what the far-right party’s advance might mean for Sweden.
“They are trying to isolate Sweden from the rest of the world. That can’t happen,” he told Expressen.
According to Bildt, the Sweden Democrats have “no other solutions” other than isolationist policies that would “cause serious damage to Sweden”.
Support for Bildt’s own Moderate Party dropped by 1.6 percent in the Demoskop poll, landing at 30.3 percent.
Meanwhile, support for the Social Democrats crept up 0.5 percent to 33.1 percent, allowing it to maintain its claim as Sweden’s largest political party.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Breivik: I Can’t Keep Moisturizer in My Cell
Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik’s complaints about prison life range from a lack of moisturizer in his cell to the temperature of his coffee, according to extracts from a 27-page letter published on Friday.
“I highly doubt that there are worse detention facilities in Norway,” the right-wing extremist, who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting frenzy in July last year, wrote in the letter to Norway’s correctional services, according to tabloid Verdens Gang (VG).
One of Breivik’s lawyers had revealed on Thursday that his client believed his prison conditions “breached human rights”.
In excerpts from the letter quoted by VG, the 33 year-old, who is being held in near complete isolation at a high security prison outside Oslo after being sentenced in August, outlined a catalogue of complaints that ranged from everyday annoyances to more serious issues.
Breivik said he was not getting enough butter to spread on his bread, was having to drink his coffee cold and was not able to keep a moisturizer in his cell, which, to his dismay, is sparsely decorated and has no view.
He also complained that the handcuffs he has to wear when being transferred are razor sharp and “cut into his wrists.”
Breivik earned international notoriety last year when he detonated a bomb outside the centre-left government’s headquarters on July 22nd and then went on the rampage at a youth camp on the island of Utøya, killing 77 people, many of them teenagers.
Tord Jordet, one of his lawyers, confirmed the letter’s authenticity to AFP. Norway’s justice ministry declined to comment.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Five EU Members ‘Blocking Aid for Emilia Quake’
670 mln euros earmarked from solidarity fund
(ANSA) — Brussels, November 9 — Five European Union members — Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Britain — are blocking aid to Emilia Romagna for reconstrcution after this year’s devastating earthquake, EU sources said Friday on the sidelines of a budget meeting.
The five are reportedly reluctant to release 670 million euros from the EU’s solidarity fund earmarked to compensate Italy for the quake damage.
The May 20 and May 29 quakes killed 27 people, destroyed and damaged many historic buildings and artworks and left the region’s economy on its knees.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France: Bishop Warns of ‘Catholic Islamophobia’
In comments that will add to pressure on President François Hollande to respond to demands from France’s large Muslim community to speak out on the issue, the Bishop of Angoulême, Claude Dagens, said he was profoundly concerned by recent developments.
“It is with much pain that I notice the emergence of a Catholic Islamophobia, in the same way that there has been a Catholic anti-semitism for centuries,” Dagens told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of an assembly of French bishops here.
Dagens said his concerns had been heightened by the controversial “Muslim demographics” presentation made at the Vatican last month in which Cardinal Peter Turkson predicted that Islam would eventually become the dominant religion in Europe.
The Vatican subsequently distanced itself from a film which included a claim that France could have a majority of Muslims within four decades, but Dagens acknowledged that the episode reflected a worrying shift in attitudes.
“We are living in a society where fear is seeping into every corner. That’s true for Muslims but also for Catholics.”
Dagens comments, echoed by a number of his colleagues here, came in the wake of a call by France’s Muslim Council, the main representative body for the country’s estimated five million Muslims, for the President to publicly condemn Islamophobia.
Behind the call lies resentment based on a perception that Hollande and his ministers have given greater priority to combatting a recent rise in anti-semitism than they have to defending the Muslim community in the face of a parallel trend.
Earlier this month, Hollande vowed that France would wage a relentless fight to eradicate anti-semitism from society, describing it as a “national cause.”
Abdellah Zekri, one of the leaders of the Muslim Council, called for France’s Islamic community to be offered similar support.
“Given the rise in the number of Islamophobic acts and anti-Muslim racism, we want a formal declaration from the President of the Republic that includes the Muslims of France in this national cause,” Zekri said.
Government ministers have issued strong condemnations of high-profile anti-Islamic acts such as the desecration of mosques and pledged to do more to address the economic and social problems that afflict the country’s Muslims more than the rest of the population.
But government pronouncements on the subject have almost invariably been qualified by warnings that the Islamic community must be vigilant about the development of radicalism within its ranks, which it has linked to both an emerging threat from homegrown terrorism and to the resurgence of anti-semitism.
Fears that a militant minority of young French Muslims represent a security threat have been fuelled by Islamist gunman Mohammed Merah’s killing of seven people in Toulouse in March and by last month’s dismantling of what the authorities described as an Islamist terrorist cell.
These episodes are seen as having hardened the attitudes of many French people towards their Muslim compatriots while exacerbating the minority community’s sense of their culture and religion being under siege from the authorities and the rest of society.
Many Muslims have been angered by legislation which bans women from wearing full veils, arguing that it has led to increased hostility to any public display of their faith, while this year elections were marked by a divisive debate over the use of halal methods of animal slaughter.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Halal Toothpaste to be Produced in Central France
A factory in the centre of France has been given the green light from Brussels to start producing Europe’s first halal toothpaste, due to be available in shops later this month.
From November 23, the halal toothpaste will be available in specialised shops for €1.45 per tube — until now all halal beauty products in France had been imported from Belgium, Indonesia and Australia.
To obtain the official European halal label, the production and storage areas of the product are inspected by an imam to ensure they are free of any pork produce.
But because of press attention in France, the factory making the toothpaste wanted to remain anonymous, “because our other big-name cosmetic clients do not wish to have their brand associated with halal,” the director told le Parisien.
Halal brand director, Nabil Hadj-Chikh, admits pork-free beauty products are not a big issue for all Muslims in France.
“Some find this kind of thing is going too far, for others it is a sin to consume pork in any product, especially after we find out pork is in that product,” he said.
Pork fat, usually in the form of glycerine, is used as the base of a few cosmetics on the market — its use increased after the mad cow crisis, when lipstick and nail varnish manufacturers stopped using beef fat.
According to world market leader Colgate, much of the glycerine used in its products comes from vegetarian sources or beef fat, but pork-based glycerine is sometimes used.
In France, it is estimated about 1 million Muslims buy halal cosmetics. For the factory producing the toothpaste, its biggest source of business will be exporting to Muslim countries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Anti-Fraud Squad Arrests Nine Doctors in Modena
(AGI) The Italian Anti-Fraud Police in Parma have arrested nine cardiologists from the Modena Hospital Cardiology Department. A total of 67 individuals and 12 companies (of which six foreign companies) are under investigation, and have been banned from contractual activities with the Public Administration. The operation began early this morning (Nov. 9). Following instructions from the Prosecutor’s Office in Parma, 150 policemen from the anti-fraud squad and the regions arrested nine doctors, carried out 33 searches and banned 12 companies producing medical equipment from any contractual activities with the Public Administration. Seven people have been professionally struck off. The individuals arrested, all doctors who have worked or are working at the Cardiology Department of Modena Hospital, are charged with conspiracy, embezzlement, corruption, falsifying public documents, fraud and carrying out unauthorised clinical tests. The details of the investigation will be released at a Press Conference in Modena due to take place at 10.45am on Nov. 9.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Police Divers Scour Naples Sewers for Arms, Drugs
Camorra ‘defence systems’ dismantled
(ANSA) — Naples, November 8 — Italian police divers scoured the sewer network in central Naples Thursday in search of drugs and arms belonging to the local Camorra mafia.
Police said they also dismantled “defence systems” in notorious drug-peddling districts like Scampia.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Man Identified as Rom Dies After Police Shootout
Officers say car refused to stop at roadblock near Naples
(ANSA) — Naples, November 8 — A man who police have identified as “most likely Rom” died after he was shot on the outskirts of Naples when the car he was in ran a police roadblock Thursday.
Police said a shootout began after the car the man was in allegedly refused to stop when it reached a police blockade.
Shortly after the shooting, the man was left at the Giugliano hospital in Naples, where he died from gunshot wounds.
Police said that approximately 10 family have members arrived at the hospital from the nearby Ponte Riccio Roma camp following the death of the man, as of yet unidentified by authorities.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Police Nab Tax-Dodging Loan Shark Worth 100 Mln Euros
Hotel, two malls and a supercar seized
(ANSA) — Naples, November 8 — Police on Thursday seized 100 million euros in assets from a Naples man claiming a government pension and allegedly loaning money at exorbitant interest.
Among the property seized from Nicola Di Maio were a hotel, two shopping malls, two sports clubs and a Jaguar XJ220, one of only 281 that exist in the world and valued at 800,000 euros. The supercar was parked inside the lobby of his hotel as a collector’s item. One of the victims of Di Maio’s alleged loan-shark racket attempted suicide, police said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Over 200 Self-Declared Poor Busted by Police
Investigators say that welfare recipients falsified certificates
(ANSA) — Rome, November 9 — Rome police on Friday said they busted over 200 welfare recipients fraudulently claiming State benefits based on self-certifications of poverty.
Many of the claimants receiving social services like school-tax exemptions, scholarships and free legal aid owned “villas and luxury cars,” police said. Investigations took place in Rome’s 13th district, the beachfront community of Ostia and suburb Casal Palocco. Those being investigated face charges of false certification and fraud against the State.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Nationalist Acquitted Over Anti-Minaret Stunt
The president of the extreme right-wing Swiss Nationalist Party (PNOS) has been acquitted of defamation and racial discrimination charges stemming from an anti-minaret rally.
A regional court in Burgdorf, in the canton of Bern, found Dominic Lüthard not guilty of the charges relating to a 2010 rally of around 150 people protesting the construction of a minaret in Langenthal.
In a well-publicized stunt, Lüthard used a broom to brush away cardboard models of five minarets placed on the Swiss national flag while supporters applauded.
Justice authorities pressed charges, accusing the politician of comparing a religious symbol with dirt that needed to be cleared away.
Testifying in court Lüthard explained that he took the action because “minarets have no business in Switzerland”, according to a report from the SDA news agency.
He said the idea came to him spontaneously on the day of the demonstration, although he discussed it first with a lawyer who gave him the green light.
Lüthard said he was unaware that his own party had been convicted of using a poster conveying the same image in 2005 or that it was similar to one used by the 1930s National Front, a far-right party known for its anti-Semitism and similarities to the Nazis in Germany.
He told the court he was focused on the buildings and not trying re-enact a poster image.
A lawyer for the Islamic Community of Lagenthal accused Lüthard of disparaging a symbol of Islam by deliberately wiping the model minarets into the dirt.
Swiss voters approved a ban on the construction of new minarets in Switzerland in 2009, approving an initiative launched by right-wing groups.
The Islamic community of Lagenthal, which had received local permission to build a minaret before the vote, has sought legal avenues to have the ban set aside, but so far without success.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt’s Attorney General Bans Pornographic Websites
(AGI) Cairo, Nov. 7 — Egypt’s Attorney General Abdel Meguid Mahmud, one of Hosni Mubarak’s people who is still in power, has issued an order to censor all pornographic websites. A number of analysts believe this decision was made as an attempt to gain favour with President Mohamed Morsi, an important member of the Muslim Brotherhood. The directive has been sent to the ministries of the Interior, of Telecommunications and Informations, to ensure “they take they necessary steps to block all pornographic images on the Internet.” A similar order had been issued in 2009 but was never respected.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Thousands Protest in Tahrir Sq to Call for Sharia Law
Salafis want it to be basis of Constitution
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO — Thousands of protesters gathered Friday in Cairo’s Tahrir Square calling for the introduction of Sharia law in Egypt. Groups of Salafis asked for it to be the principle source of legislation in the country’s constitution.
Protesters, including many men with long beards and women in veils, are collecting signatures for a petition in which they ask for the Sharia to become “the basis of all laws”.
“Those who accept a constitution that renounces the Sharia will be considered a traitor of God and the prophet,” said a preacher from a stage set up in the large square, a symbol of the revolution that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. “Liberals and seculars are plotting against Islam to delete the Islamic identity of the country. They are only merchants of power, we can compare them to Satan and we must resist them and the Western plots”, said Mohamed el Sagher. “Islam is not a chocolate bar with a sell-by date. It should always be applied and we will return to the principles of our forefathers,” he added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ramallah Hip Hop Video Against Honor Crimes
By band called ‘Dam’; 32 women killed 2004-2006, UN report
(ANSAmed) — RAMALLAH — To start a debate within Palestinian society on the issue of so-called honor killings: this is the objective of a music video by Palestinian hip hop group Dam, titled ‘If I Could Go Back in Time’.
Produced in collaboration with UN Women, the UN agency for gender equality and female empowerment, which also financed the shoot, the video does not cover a specific event, “but describes the phenomenon of honor killing in general,” said Tamer Nafar, the leader of the band.
An honor killing is the murder of a family member by other members, due to the perpetrators’ belief that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family or community. Directed mostly against women and girls, honor killings are most prevalent in Middle Eastern and South Asian Islamic cultures.
Presented by the band at a press conference in Ramallah, the video tells the story of a Palestinian girl that gets killed by her family, in what appears to be a run-of-the-mill case of domestic violence. “Killing in the name of honor is the most extreme form of discrimination against women. Every woman has the right to life and the right to a future,” Alia El-Yassir, the special representative from UN Women in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, told reporters at the press conference. With input from Palestinian President Abu Mazen (Mahmud Abbas), the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) a year ago issued a decree canceling juridical dispositions that allowed courts to treat murderers in honor killings with more leniency than those in cases of straightforward homicide.
But the government decree has so far remained a dead letter: between 2004 and 2006 there were 32 honor killings in the Palestinian Territories, and 12 women were murdered by male family members between January and August of this year, according to a UN report. Directed by Jackie Salloum with assistance from Suhail Nafar, the video is already online and has been seen by thousands of viewers. The video, said the Dam band leader, is aimed at wider public than just the Palestinian one. “It is a message to my people, to all Arabs. The Arab Spring revolutions are not just against oppression by dictatorships,” he said. “They must be revolutions that place civil rights and equality between men and women center stage.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Free Syria Army Leader: “We Will All Turn Into Terrorists”
Gen. Mustafa al-Sheikh, head of the Free Syria Army’s military council, has warned the West that if the CIA (and MI6 and British SAS) supported rebels trying to overturn the rule of Bashar al-Assad in Syria are not supported soon, his mercenaries “will all turn into terrorists.”
“If you apply the pressure that’s been applied to Syria, it will explode in all directions. Terrorism will grow quickly,” he said during an interview with the Daily Telegraph.
In October, the New York Times admitted that “hard-line Islamic jihadists” are receiving most of the arms shipped into Syria by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Women Must Unveil Their Face for Identity Checks
Currently there is only a picture of the designated “guardian” and only the names of family members. But from now on woman officials will see the uncovered faces of Saudi women.
Riyadh (AsiaNews / Agencies) — Saudi women will be able to put a picture of their identity documents and will have to show their face to agents (woman) in charge of checks. The order came from the Shoura Council, the highest advisory body to the country that has rejected a proposal that would allow women to keep her face veiled, while their identity should be verified by fingerprints.
The Shoura has instead accepted the request that female officers see the uncovered faces of Saudi women.
Currently, ID cards are issued to the “guardian” (male) with his photo. There are only names of other family members (wives, daughters, sisters, etc..).
The Minister of the Interior is responsible for the implementation of the project to put the pictures of women on identity documents. Initially it will focus on candidates for female colleges, women who are seeking employment, social insurance and women who want a passport.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Erdogan Thinks He’s Ottoman Sultan, Says Assad
Syrian president sees no war with Turkey on the horizon
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, NOVEMBER 9 — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan thinks he is a “caliph”, Syrian President Bashar al Assad said in an interview with Russian television broadcast Friday.
“In his heart, Erdogan thinks he is a caliph, the new sultan of the Ottoman (empire) and that he can control the region like it was during the Ottoman empire”, Assad told state-run Russia Today television. However, Assad also said that he does not see “a war between Syria and Turkey on the horizon” and gave assurances that no artillery fire was shot intentionally by the Syrian forces towards Turkish territory. Furthermore, he stressed that the majority of Turkish population does not want a war. Assad would not rule out the hypothesis that the bombs landed in Turkey “by mistake” or “because terrorists launched them”. He again proposed Ankara to form a joint commission with Syria to inquire on the matter.
According to Syrian president, no Western leader has contacted him to discuss the situation to find a solution. He also accused Western intelligence of offering the know-how support for the terrorists via Turkey and Lebanon.
As for the future leader of Syria, Assad said that “only the ballot box can determine the future of the president” and he warned about the possibility of a long, drawn-out conflict with rebels if they continue to receive foreign backing.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Coffee Vies for UNESCO Cultural Heritage List
(ANSA) — Ankara, November 9 — Turkey is applying to have its famous coffee added to the UNESCO register of Intangible Cultural Heritage, local media reported Friday. According to the Andolu agency, the culture ministry is preparing an official petition to the Paris-based agency to recognize Turkish coffee — a thick, black brew prepared without filtering the grounds and enjoyed with sugar — as “a living expression” of the country’s heritage. The petition also includes a request for special recognition of Mesir Macunu, a medicinal paste made from plants and spices, common in the city Manisa.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Asia: Anti-Christian Persecution Up by 400%
Christians in Asia
Alarming data of “Gospel for Asia”, an organization dedicated to spreading the Gospel in Asia, and the situation of Christians
Marco Tosatti, Rome
“Gospel for Asia”, an organisation which aims to spread the Gospel’s message in Asia and deals with the Christian situation, has confirmed that in the last ten years the persecution of various denominations that follow the evangelical message has increased in a ratio of 10:40. In India alone there has been a “400% increase” in the number of assaults against Christians. This result was reached by taking into account all countries that had at least heard the announcement of the Gospel.
The President of “Gospel for Asia”, K P Yohannan said people who had not experienced persecution first hand “cannot fully understand what it means to receive threats against your life, to have your house destroyed, your own rights violated and your loved ones taken away from you and imprisoned; and all this because of your faith in Jesus Christ. In the fourteen countries in which we are present, persecution has become the norm, especially for those who are directly involved in missionary work.”
The Christians which the “Gospel for Asia” report refers to have had their homes destroyed or have been put behind bars, with all sorts of accusations being made against them, including “forced conversions”. Forced conversions are the main instrument used by Hindu nationalists to prevent the spread of Christianity. Many have been killed for believing in Christ and others have been forced to live a clandestine life.
K P Yohannan added: “The rise in this kind of persecution should not surprise us when it is witnessed in parts of the world that are hostile towards the Gospel. “Jesus sent his disciples out like sheep among the wolves. Historically and from a biblical point of view, persecution is only part of what it means to serve God.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India’s Thorium-Based Nuclear Dream Inches Closer
SINCE India began its nuclear programme in the 1950s, it has aimed to tap the ample thorium reserves that lie within its borders. Construction is finally set to begin on a reactor that will produce electricity from India’s most convenient fuel for the first time. But with a checkered past on the subject, the country’s promises of a new dawn for nuclear rest on shaky ground.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Lampung: Islamic Violence: Mob Sets Fire to Houses and Buildings
A stand off between two villages, inhabited by natives and migrants of Javanese origin. Clashes sparked by death in mid-October of a thief caught stealing a cow. The relatives seek revenge unleashing a ferocious attack. Police have launched an investigation for attempts to foment interfaith tension.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Fresh episodes of sectarian violence have broken out in Lampung province, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where last night the inhabitants of two villages clashed, one Muslim — majority in the country — and the other consisting of Javanese “migrants “. According to an initial toll dozens of houses were set on fire and public buildings damaged by the mob. The clashes, focused yesterday in Central Lampung regency, continue across the region despite the signing of a peace agreement in Kalianda that aimed to put an end sectarian hatred.
The protagonists of the latest episodes of violence villagers of Buyut Udik and Kusumadadi. The former are majority Muslim natives of Lampung, the latter consists of the descendants of Javanese “migrants”. As often happens, the assault unleashed on the night was sparked by a fabricated rumour spread by “provocateurs” who have a vested interest in fueling the conflict.
According to reports, on 18 October a Buyut Udik villager allegedly stole a cow owned by a Kusumadadi farmer. In Indonesia, it often happens that a thief or a pickpocket caught stealing will be “punished” on the spot, without courts or trials, and in some cases locals take justice into their own hands, going so far as to kill the criminal.
This is what happened, and the thief was killed by a group of people on the spot. Now, after a few weeks, the criminal’s family unleashed a counterattack in response to his death, which ended up with dozens of houses burnt and severe damage in the area.
However, questions remain to which police will try to find an answer: first, why did the retaliation only take place three and a half weeks after the episode. And again, is there someone who has “orchestrated” this massive attack, using the theft as an excuse to hit other targets and unleash a bloody feud. Among the issues at stake, the religious hatred between Muslims and Hindus, combined with ethnic divisions among native Lampung and “migrants” from Java.
The authorities have deployed hundreds of agents in the area, and have cracked down on any further outbreaks of violence. Meanwhile, appeals have been made to the central government in Jakarta, to take serious and effective measures to “prevent the destruction of homes and public buildings.” Already at the end of October, Lampung province was the scene of heavy sectarian fighting, triggered by trivial reasons, that caused the deaths of at least 14 people (see AsiaNews 10/30/2012 Lampung: 14 dead and thousands displaced following clashes between natives and Balinese migrants).
The province of Lampung is a territory with a Muslim majority, across which non-native populations also reside, who have different religious beliefs, ethnicities and traditions. The origin of this mixture is the policy of “transmigration” promoted by President Suharto in power between 1966 and 1998, aimed at clearing the most densely populated areas like the island of Java, to “fill” others with a much lower population density. These include the provinces of Bengkulu, Riau, South Sumatra and, of course, Lampung where migrants have established their homes, opened activities and practiced coexistence.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Reinfeldt to Meet With Burmese Opposition
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt will meet with Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi when he visits the country next week, his office said on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China to Put Nuclear Weapons on Submarines
Permanent at-sea deterrent: India and Russia will now worry too
Reuters) China appears to be within two years of deploying submarine-launched nuclear weapons, adding a new leg to its nuclear arsenal that should lead to arms-reduction talks, a draft report by a congressionally mandated U.S. commission says.
China in the meantime remains “the most threatening” power in cyberspace and presents the largest challenge to U.S. supply chain integrity, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in a draft of its 2012 report to the U.S. Congress.
China is alone among the original nuclear weapons states to be expanding its nuclear forces, the report said. The others are the United States, Russia, Britain and France.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Japan: Thyroid Abnormalities Found in 43% of Fukushima Kids Declared ‘OK’ By Gov’t
[…] Dr. Suzuki who has been running the Health Survey along with Dr. Yamashita […] claimed it is unlikely thyroid cancer rates would rise and that the results found so far where over 43% of children had abnormalities were “ordinary”. […]
These statements by Suzuki defy the evidence. Over 43% of the children with abnormalities is quite different from the 1.6% or less of children in the Nagasaki study. Suzuki has also held the opinion that thyroid cancers won’t show up for 4 or more years citing Chernobyl. This conflicts with Suzuki’s claim that is it unlikely cancer rates would rise. Further evidence shows thyroid damage was actually occurring right after Chernobyl, it just took years for studies to actually be done. […]
While the Health Survey claims everything is fine in Fukushima, parents are documenting quite a different reality. Ian Thomas Ash has been producing a serial documentary series on life after the Fukushima disaster. In his most recent filming he has been interviewing parents in Fukushima City and Date City. What he found is astonishing. Children with considerable thyroid abnormalities, some were declared “ok” by the Health Survey only to find out otherwise when they obtained a second opinion from a doctor. That is for those lucky enough to obtain a second opinion, some were denied treatment by doctors after the central government ordered them to stop examining patients for thyroid disorders.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Argentines Flood the Streets to Protest Against President Cristina Fernandez
An estimated 700,000 people gathered around the city’s landmark obelisk and other main avenues to march towards the Casa Rosada, the Argentine seat of government.
High crime, inflation of roughly 25 per cent a year, and a possible bid by government allies to reform the constitution to allow Ms Fernandez to run for a third term are also stoking unrest, particularly among middle-class Argentines. Her government has virtually banned dollar purchases and it limited imports this year, worsening a steep economic slowdown.
Protesters in neighbourhoods throughout Buenos Aires waved signs demanding freedom, transparency and an end to crime and corruption.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Foreigners Make Up More Than a Quarter of London’s Crime Suspects
Figures: around 25 per cent of London’s most dangerous gang members and about 15 per cent of sex offenders are foreign
More than a quarter of all criminal suspects arrested in London are foreign nationals with around half coming from the EU, Scotland Yard revealed today.
Intelligence also shows around 1,400 foreign suspects are classified as “high harm offenders” with links to gangs, violence, sex offences or burglary.
The figures emerged as Scotland Yard revealed details of a joint operation with the UK Border Agency to target the 200 foreign nationals arrested every day in the capital.
Police have drafted in immigration officials to all of its 72 custody suites in London to help gather intelligence on foreign suspects.
The figures show that in the five weeks since the Operation Nexus was launched the Met arrested a total of 25,968 people, of whom 6,988 were identified as foreign nationals.
Of these 155 were immediately identified as breaching immigration rules and detained by the UKBA. Around a quarter of these people have already been deported. Forty three of the 155 were arrested for violence, 13 for sex offences, 18 for drugs and 27 for theft.
Intelligence shows that around 1,400 are high harm offenders who are associated with crimes including gangs, violence, sex offences or burglary.
Around 25 per cent of London’s most dangerous gang members and about 15 per cent of sex offenders are foreign.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Moroccan ‘Hero’ Caught Pushing Drugs
Illegal immigrant granted 6-mth permit after saving family
(ANSA) — Avezzano, November 9 — Italian police on Friday arrested on drugs charges a Moroccan man who became a hero after saving a family when their car crashed into a canal in Abruzzo last month.
Abderrahim Adoiou, 43, an illegal immigrant, was granted a six-month residence permit for humanitarian reasons after the October 17 incident.
On Friday police said they caught him pushing drugs in the street and found 20 grammes of cocaine in his house.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Maya Civilization Disappeared Due to Climate Change
(AGI) The disappearance of the classical Maya civilization could constitute one of the first signs of the impact of climate change on modern society, according to a study, due to the famines and wars that broke out after the shift from humid weather to dry.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
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