Is Africa a victim of bias by international investors?

African leaders are flagging "unjustifiably" high borrowing rates charged by global investors. International organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank are equally complicit in perpetrating the bias, experts say.





The economic blow dealt by the coronavirus pandemic has reignited a sentiment that Africans have shared for years: Their growth is inhibited by widespread discrimination by the international investor community.

As the virus batters the continent's economy and throws government budgets into chaos, the spotlight has shifted onto the exorbitant amounts of money that African nations spend on debt repayments even as large creditors like China, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the G-20 nations offer debt relief to deal with the current predicament.

African countries on average spend more on interest payments than on doctors and clinics at home, with Ghana spending five times its health care budget on servicing debt. Africa's top oil producer, Nigeria, which is reeling from a crash in oil prices, could only manage to collect revenue equal to its debt-servicing costs in the first quarter.

Amid the economic pain, African leaders and experts are flagging the "unfair" risk premium put on African countries — which results in them having to pay more for debt than other emerging nations — as an unnecessary burden. They say the risk premium is rooted in bias and is often based on a misplaced presumption of risk by international investors.

"When you look at the risk premium put on African countries you just question, why," Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana's finance minister, told Bloomberg in July. "There is no basis for us borrowing at 6%, 7%, or 8% while other countries borrow at cheaper rates."

Africa has its problems: conflicts, political instability and rampant corruption in certain countries, lack of infrastructure, and stifling bureaucracy and regulations. But experts say that even if one accounts for all these factors, a 2.9% risk premium, as was revealed by a 2015 report, is unjustified.
Argentina vs. Angola

They cite the example of Argentina to stress their point. The Latin American country, which has reneged on its debt on nine occasions, issued a 100-year bond in 2017 with a coupon of 7%, which to the surprise of many was oversubscribed. By comparison, Angola hasn't defaulted since the end of its civil war in 2002 and yet is charged a higher rate of over 9% that too for much shorter-dated bonds.

"If this is a country [Argentina] with a history of defaulting on its loans, this is a country that's at junk status and is still capable of issuing $2 billion in debt that's oversubscribed up to $9 billion, and they don't have to pay back for 100 years. So, what exactly is the risk that is being built into the model when it comes to the African countries," said Gyude Moore, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development and former minister of public works in Liberia.

African economic powerhouse South Africa is also a victim of this alleged bias. The country is charged higher rates by bondholders than say a Brazil, which is assigned a similar credit score by S&P Global Ratings. Similarly, Kenya pays more for a 10-year dollar debt than similarly rated Bolivia.

Mma Amara, a research associate at the Center for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA), says this discrimination was one of the factors pushing African nations to borrow from China, which offers better rates than private creditors and lays down less stringent conditions than multilateral institutions like the IMF.

Africa's checkered credit history

One reason that experts give to justify this disparity is that the continent has a limited credit history and that too is checkered with credit reliefs, renegotiations and debt restructuring.

"Even though the entire world was hit by the virus, it's only African countries that have come out to say that they can't pay their debts," Amara told DW. "It just speaks to their sentiments. Investors feel that the African countries are susceptible to asking for debt restructuring or defaulting on debts or asking for more favorable terms."

The wrongful diversion of debt — often raised to finance infrastructure projects — to instead balance budgets and support currencies is another obvious red flag for risk. The IMF says in only one in four cases did they see the debt that was contracted was used for infrastructure.

Charles Robertson, the global chief economist at Renaissance Capital, says there is no "obvious" discrimination against African borrowers and cites the example of Morocco, which can borrow extremely cheaply. He attributes the low rate of domestic savings for high local borrowing costs in sub-Saharan Africa.

"This is not because locals discriminate against their own governments — it is because there are not many savings," he told DW. "If Morocco cannot borrow at 2-3% externally, it can borrow at 2-3% internally. But if Nigeria (or Ghana) cannot borrow at single-digit rates externally, their only alternative is to borrow at double digits internally."

He argues that some sub-Saharan countries in fact borrow at lower rates than they should as implied by their credit ratings because they help global investors diversify their loan book.
Lack of credible data

Moore rejects the savings argument, pointing that Angola's savings as a proportion of GDP were higher than that of Argentina. He blames credit rating agencies' "unfamiliarity" with the region as a key reason for the risk premium.

"The three rating agencies will at best have an office in South Africa that is responsible for the entire continent. So how much do they know," he told DW. "But there's a Fitch office for Mexico. There's one for Brazil. There's one for Chile."

The presumption of risk also emanates from a lack of credible information and data that investors in the West have about Africa, often prompting them to paint the entire continent with the same brush.

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'IMF data strengthens the bias'

Amara from CSEA blames a lack of representation of Africans in key decision-making roles in global financial institutions for the problem and goes to bat for a more inclusive governance framework.

Moore, however, stresses that lack of representation is not the issue, but it's the general perception of the continent in those institutions. He points out that a current deputy managing director of the IMF is a former Liberian finance minister and that the World Bank always has vice presidents for the region.

"It's not just the country of origin, it's the mindset of the institution. So, you can have African economies at the World Bank. If you think in the World Bank's mindset, then it doesn't matter if it's African or not," he said. "In these organizations, there is no reward for going against the grain. So, people working within those institutions are beginning to think and write in the way that the institutions think."

He says the IMF, which has far more access to African books than the rating agencies, is part of the problem. In December last year, the IMF warned that 40% of African nations were at moderate or high risk of distress. This after the continent raised $55 billion in international markets in the past two years, taking advantage of record commodity prices and yield-hunting investors in an ultralow interest rate environment. Some African analysts dismissed the IMF's concerns, citing the continent's relatively low debt levels. The debt-to-GDP ratio in most African countries is below the IMF's suggested 55% threshold.

"We have assigned way more responsibility to the rating agencies than we have to the IMF. The IMF ranks African governments in terms of the risks of debt distress and that ranking because of the access they have to our books plays a very big role in the decisions of rating agencies," Moore said.

"The data coming from the IMF strengthens the bias that already exists within the rating agencies."

Moore says African nations need to work in unison to expose the bias and call on international institutions, rating agencies and bond contractors to explain the rationale behind high risk premium.

"There ought to be an African push to be able to clarify the ratings and the costs of this. What is responsible for driving the premium on African debt? Because it can't simply be governance. It can't simply be lack of data."

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That sinking feeling: Canadians losing faith in price index and that has central bankers worried
MAGICKAL THINKING
Kevin Carmichael:
If we think prices are rising, they probably will, 
which means interest rate hikes sooner than BoC wants

Author of the article:Kevin Carmichael

Publishing date:Aug 26, 2020 • 

The Bank of Canada is in the middle of a major review of how it sets interest rates. 
PHOTO BY CHRIS WATTIE/REUTERS FILES

The Bank of Canada is starting to worry about inflation.

Not because it sees any, mind. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), in which the central bank insists that it still has confidence, suggests inflation is non-existent. The CPI rose only 0.1 per cent in July from a year earlier, suggesting deflation is a bigger risk than runaway prices.

That sinking feeling: Canadians losing faith in price index and that has central bankers worried

Still, Carolyn Wilkins, senior deputy governor at the Bank of Canada, conceded in a speech on Aug. 26 that a growing number of Canadians are losing faith in the CPI and therefore in the central bank’s assurances that inflation is under control.

That matters because there is a self-fulfilling element to cost dynamics: If we think prices are rising, they probably will. And if the central bank can’t control expectations, it might have to raise interest rates sooner than it would like in order to stay within range of its inflation goal, which at the end of the day is its only job.

“There is one area where we need to dig in more. That is the measure of our inflation target,” Wilkins said. “Many people feel that inflation is higher than reported.”

Wilkins’s comments are the clearest signal yet that policy-makers think they could have a problem on their hands that is separate from the immediate concern of facing down the COVID-19 recession.




The Bank of Canada is in the middle of a major review of how it sets interest rates. While holding consultations last year, it discovered that a critical mass of Canadians think the CPI is an abstraction that has little connection to their daily lives. The lockdowns exacerbated the problem, as shopping patterns shifted dramatically. We essentially stopped spending on recreation and travel, and instead bought more at grocery stores. Yet the CPI continued to factor in what was happening with movie tickets and restaurant meals even though those things no longer mattered to people.

“The price of meat has risen by more than four per cent since February,” Wilkins said. “That doesn’t feel like low inflation to me or to many families, yet measured inflation is close to zero when you consider the full basket of goods and services.”

Evidence that the public is becoming skeptical of the way statisticians measure inflation adds a new dimension to the Bank of Canada’s research program.

When policy-makers started thinking about the issues they should explore back in 2017, the emphasis was on whether there might be a better way to set interest rates than targeting an annual two-per-cent increase in the CPI, the Bank of Canada’s approach since the early 1990s.


It’s critical that we measure inflation as accurately as possible so Canadians have confidence in our target
CAROLYN WILKINS

That work is coming along. Rhys Mendes, the central bank’s managing director of international economic analysis, presented at a virtual conference on Aug. 26 an overview of preliminary results of the “horse race” officials are conducting between a set of popular theories on how central banks should conduct monetary policy.

So far, the current regime is performing well. Adding an employment goal to the inflation target also produces positive outcomes, as does a framework that attempts to achieve an average rate of inflation over a longer period of time. Mendes had fewer positive things to say about two other approaches that are popular with academics: price-level targeting, which would require setting interest rates to achieve a specific increase in the CPI rather than a rate of change; and the idea that central banks should target a certain change in nominal gross domestic product.

To be sure, the Bank of Canada’s research so far detects only marginal differences between all the approaches. “I’m not sure the gains would justify shifting away from the current mandate,” said Mendes, who early in his presentation made clear that he was speaking for himself and not Governor Tiff Macklem, Wilkins and the other members of the Governing Council.

The research is primarily based on models, including some that attempt to forecast how the various regimes would affect income inequality. But the Bank of Canada’s economists aren’t relying entirely on their mathematical prowess and the power of their computers. They also conducted human trials in which they explained the various policy regimes in detail and then gave subjects $25 to spend. The idea was to observe what actual people would do with real money based on their sense of how inflation would eat away at their present wealth. The result: mostly irrational behaviour, as participants tended to be more persuaded by “trends” than the calculations of central bankers and statisticians, among other things.

Wilkins pledged to make the CPI more believable. The central bank and Statistics Canada already are working on an alternate inflation measure that has re-weighted the items in the CPI basket to reflect current spending patterns. Last month, the Bank of Canada said the alternate calculations suggested inflation was a little hotter than the official reading, but not so much so that it was ready to abandon the CPI.

At least not yet.

“Last year during our consultations, we heard loud and clear that the measure of inflation needed to be considered,” Wilkins said. “This work continues now at an accelerated pace,” she added. “It’s critical that we measure inflation as accurately as possible so Canadians have confidence in our target; and we must address public perceptions in our analysis and communications.”

Financial Post

• Email: kcarmichael@postmedia.com | Twitter: CarmichaelKevin

Researchers Discover Method to Produce Plastics Without Using Fossil Fuels

Researchers have identified a formerly unknown method through which certain bacteria create the chemical ethylene

—a discovery that could pave the way for producing plastics without using fossil fuels.

Download PDF Copy
Written by AZoM Aug 28 2020

Ethylene production plants like this one may one day use bacteria rather than fossil fuels. Image Credit: The Ohio State University.

Recently published in the Science journal on August 27th, 2020, the study demonstrated that the microorganisms produced ethylene gas as a byproduct of metabolizing sulfur, which they require for their survival.

However, according to Justin North, the study’s lead author and a research scientist in microbiology at The Ohio State University, the process used by the bacteria to do that could render it highly useful in manufacturing.

We may have cracked a major technological barrier to producing a large amount of ethylene gas that could replace fossil fuel sources in making plastics. There’s still a lot of work to do to develop these strains of bacteria to produce industrially significant quantities of ethylene gas. But this opens the door.

Justin North, Study Lead Author and Research Scientist in Microbiology, The Ohio State University

The team from The Ohio State University worked on the new study with collaborators from Colorado State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

According to North, the chemical sector extensively uses ethylene to make almost all kinds of plastics. Ethylene has been utilized more than any other organic compound in manufacturing.

At present, oil or natural gas is used for producing ethylene. While other scientists have identified microorganisms that can also produce ethylene, there had been a technological hurdle to using this chemical—the requirement for oxygen as part of the procedure, stated Robert Tabita, the study’s senior author and professor of microbiology from The Ohio State University.

Oxygen plus ethylene is explosive, and that is a major hurdle for using it in manufacturing. But the bacterial system we discovered to produce ethylene works without oxygen and that gives us a significant technological advantage.

Robert Tabita, Study Senior Author and Professor of Microbiology, The Ohio State University

Tabita is also an Ohio Eminent Scholar.

The finding was made in Tabita’s laboratory at The Ohio State University when scientists were analyzing the Rhodospirillum rubrum bacteria. The team observed that the bacteria were getting the sulfur they required to grow from methylthio ethanol.

We were trying to understand how the bacteria were doing this, because there were no known chemical reactions for how this was occurring.

Justin North, Study Lead Author and Research Scientist in Microbiology, The Ohio State University

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That was the time when North decided to observe the kind of gases being produced by the bacteria—and identified that ethylene gas was one of them.

In association with collaborators from Colorado State University and the two national laboratories, North, Tabita, and other collaborators from The Ohio State University successfully identified the formerly unknown process

There is more: The team also noted that dimethyl sulfide was being used by the bacteria to make methane—a powerful greenhouse gas.

North added that the entire study was carried out in the laboratory; hence, it remains to be seen how common this process is in the actual setting.

However, the team has identified one scenario in which this recently identified process of ethylene production may have real-life impacts.

Ethylene is a crucial natural plant hormone that, in the correct proportions, is integral to the growth and health of plants. However, high quantities of this hormone are also dangerous to the growth of plants, stated Kelly Wrighton, the study’s co-author and associate professor of soil and crop science from Colorado State University.

“This newly discovered pathway may shed light on many previously unexplained environmental phenomena, including the large amounts of ethylene that accumulates to inhibitory levels in waterlogged soils, causing extensive crop damage,” stated Wrighton.

North added, “Now that we know how it happens, we may be able to circumvent or treat these problems so that ethylene doesn’t accumulate in soils when flooding occurs.”

According to Tabita, this research is the outcome of a happy accident.

“This study, involving the collaborative research and expertise of two universities and two national laboratories, is a perfect example of how serendipitous findings often lead to important advances. Initially, our studies involved a totally unrelated research problem that had seemingly no relationship to the findings reported here,” added Tabita.

While exploring the function of one specific protein in bacteria sulfur metabolism, the team observed that a completely different set of proteins was surprisingly involved as well. This resulted in the discovery of new metabolic reactions and the unanticipated production of huge quantities of ethylene.

“It was a result we could not predict in a million years. Recognizing the industrial and environmental significance of ethylene, we embarked on these cooperative studies, and subsequently discovered a completely novel complex enzyme system. Who would have believed it?” Tabita concluded.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Science Foundation funded this study.

Other co-authors of the study were Kathryn Byerly, Guanqi Zhao, Sarah Young, Srividya Murali, and John Wildenthal from The Ohio State University; Adrienne Narrowe from Colorado State; Weili Xiong and Robert Hettich from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and William Cannon from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Journal Reference:

North, J. A., et al. (2020) A nitrogenase-like enzyme system catalyzes methionine, ethylene, and methane biogenesis. Science. doi.org/10.1126/science.abb6310.

Source: https://www.osu.edu/

GAS MADE BY BACTERIA MAY ONE DAY REPLACE FOSSIL FUELS IN PLASTIC PRODUCTION, SCIENTISTS SAY 

BY KASHMIRA GANDER ON 8/28/20 

A type of bacteria can produce a key ingredient of plastics. That's according to scientists who hope their discovery may one day see fossil fuels replaced in manufacturing.

Ethylene gas is used in the manufacture of most plastic products, and is made from oil or natural gas. Bacteria examined in a study published in the journal Science gave off ethylene after metabolizing sulfur.

The team stumbled across the discovery by mistake. They were growing and observing Rhodospirillum rubrum bacteria and its relatives in a lab for an ongoing study, to understand what would happen if they did not have access to sulfur, which they need to live. The teachers noticed the germs were producing ethylene, among other gases.

To shed light on ethylene production, they then grew the bacteria in low and high sulfur environments and documented the proteins involved in these scenarios.

When the team turned off certain genes they thought were related to ethylene production in the bacteria, they stopped creating the gas.

Justin North, a research scientist in microbiology at Ohio State University who led the research said in a statement: "We may have cracked a major technological barrier to producing, a large amount of ethylene gas that could replace fossil fuel sources in making plastics."

He said: "There's still a lot of work to do to develop these strains of bacteria to produce industrially significant quantities of ethylene gas. But this opens the door."

Senior author Robert Tabita, professor of microbiology at Ohio State, said the bacteria produce ethylene without needing oxygen. This is important as bacteria had been found to create ethylene in previous research, but with the help of oxygen.

"Oxygen plus ethylene is explosive, and that is a major hurdle for using it in manufacturing," said Tabita. Bacteria creating the gas without oxygen "gives us a significant technological advantage," he said.

Ethylene is a plant hormone which can be harmful in large amounts. Kelly Wrighton, co-author and associate professor of soil and crop science at Colorado State University, said the study may also explain why large quantities of ethylene in waterlogged soil cause "extensive crop damage."

North said: "Now that we know how it happens, we may be able to circumvent or treat these problems so that ethylene doesn't accumulate in soils when flooding occurs."

This study is the latest example of scientists thinking about the relationship between plastics and bacteria. Earlier this year, scientists found a strain of bacteria that can feed off the material. According to the study published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, the Pseudomonas sp. TDA1 strain consumed what is known as polyurethane.

Co-author Hermann J. Heipieper, a senior scientist at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ in Leipzig, Germany, said in a statement: "The bacteria can use these compounds as a sole source of carbon, nitrogen and energy.


"This finding represents an important step in being able to reuse hard-to-recycle PU [polyurethane] products."

A stock image shows a collection of plastic bottles.GETTY

Scientists create ‘walking robot army’ in breakthrough - ‘Batteries and brains’

SCIENTISTS have created an army of minuscule walking robots in a new breakthrough.

By TOM FISH

PUBLISHED: Sun, Aug 30, 2020

The objects are the first microscopic robots that are made out of semiconductor components. This allows the bots to be controlled and forced to walk with standard electronic signals.

These let the machines to be integrated into more traditional circuits.

The authors’ robots, although not autonomous in their current form, can be seen as a platform to which ‘brains’ and a battery can be attached

Dr Allan Brooks and Dr Michael Strano

The researchers behind the discovery now hope they can be built into even more complex versions.

This could allow the robots to eventually be able to be controlled by computer chips and replicated en masse.


And they could also one day be built to allow them to travel through human tissue and blood, acting like surgeons.

Scientists have created an army of miniscle walking robots in a new breakthrough (Image: Getty)

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Scientists Allan Brooks and Michael Strano, who did not work in the study, wrote: “The authors’ robots, although not autonomous in their current form, can be seen as a platform to which ‘brains’ and a battery can be attached.”

The most significant area of the research saw the creation of tiny electrochemical actuators.

These were then used to form the legs of the robots.

Those legs are about 0.1mm in size, approximately the width of a human hair.

An array of microscopic robots before releas (Image: Marc Miskin)

Despite their tiny scale, the robots can be operated when stimulated with lasers, allowing them to walk.

Engineers are able to operate them by hitting the legs with an ultra-low current.

This process forced the legs to twist and then untwist, making the robots move.

The robots can be manufactured in huge quantities, with the researchers behind the new paper producing more than a million of the walking robots on just a four-inch area of silicon.

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The scientists behind the study think the robots are the first to be created that are smaller than 0.1mm that can be controlled with on-board electronics.

They are able to withstand harsh environments, continuing to work even in the face of highly acidic conditions and extreme temperature variations.

Because they can be injected through hypodermic needles, a version of the robot could be used to explore the inside bodies.

However, major limitations to the robots remain, the researchers accept.

The most significant area of the research saw the creation of tiny electrochemical actuators (Image: Express)

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They are also slower than other comparable robots able to swim.

And they are unable to sense their environments and they have to be controlled externally.

They are consequently something like ‘marionettes’, instead of fully autonomous.

While such an approach allows for impressive demonstrations of the technology, researchers note that some degree of autonomy will be required.

Killer robots could wipe out humanity, report says in terrifying AI warning

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) and killer robots could wipe out humanity, a new report has terrifyingly warned

By STEVEN BROWN

PUBLISHED:Mon, Aug 10, 2020

The research by Human Rights Watch found 30 countries had expressed a desire for an international treaty to be introduced banning the use of autonomous weapons. The weapons can engage with targets without human control.

The report, ‘Stopping Killer Robots: Country Positions on Banning Fully Autonomous Weapons and Retaining Human Control’, looked at policies from 97 countries opposed to the machines.

Although not naming the UK, it says British policy is there must always be “human oversight” when such weapons are being used.

However Britain is developing some weapons with “autonomous solutions”, the report found.

Mary Wareham, arms division advocacy director at Human Rights Watch and coordinator of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, said: “Removing human control from the use of force is now widely regarded as a grave threat to humanity that, like climate change, deserves urgent multilateral action.


Fears over killer robots have been raised (Image: Getty)


Human Rights Watch urge for international ban (Image: Getty)


“An international ban treaty is the only effective way to deal with the serious challenges raised by fully autonomous weapons.

“It’s abundantly clear that retaining meaningful human control over the use of force is an ethical imperative, a legal necessity and a moral obligation.

“All countries need to respond with urgency by opening negotiations on a new international ban treaty.”

Although the reports suggests a number of international organisations have backed the ban, a small number of military powers have rejected the proposals.

READ MORE: Rogue artificial intelligence could harm us if we don't act - expert

Fears over killer robots raised by organisation (Image: Getty)

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These countries include the US and Russia.

Ms Wareham continued: “Many governments share the same serious concerns over permitting machines to take human lief on the battlefield, and their desire for human control provides a sound basis for collective action.

“While the pandemic has delayed diplomacy, it shows the importance of being prepared and responding with urgency to existential threats to humanity, such killer robots.”

Global tensions have risen over recent weeks following the outbreak of coronavirus and fears of World War 3 have been raised.

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The largest militaries in the world (Image: Express)


China has been widely criticised on a global scale and accused of deliberately starting the deadly pandemic.

Tensions between Britain and Beijing have grown increasingly strained after China enforced the controversial Hong Kong security law.

The new legislation has been globally slammed and Prime Minister Boris Johnson publicly condemned the move by Chinese authorities.

Washington has also seen its relationship with Beijing deteriorate over recent weeks.


Autonomous weapons called to be banned (Image: Getty)

President Donald Trump and continually blamed the Communist nation for the deadly pandemic and criticised the World Health Organisation for being to “China-centric”.

Beijing and Washington have also increased their military presence in the South China Sea region amid fears of an outbreak of war.

While the likes of Moscow has come under scrutiny following the Russian report which suggested the Kremlin has had some involvement with UK democracy.

Although claiming it would "difficult - if not impossible - to prove" allegations Moscow tried to influence the Brexit vote from 2016, the report lashed out at the government for failing to recognise a threat posed by the Kremlin.

The Investigation and Security Committee (ISC) report said: “It is nonetheless the Committee's view that the UK Intelligence Community should produce an analogous assessment of potential Russian interference in the EU referendum and that an unclassified summary of it be published."

Andy Barratt, UK managing director of cybersecurity consultancy Coalfire, previously told Express.co.uk: “While ‘election tampering’ makes for good headlines, it’s almost certainly not the most critical cyber threat we face from foreign powers.

“There is a clear need for the government to drive the adoption of better security standards, not just in the public sector but across the private businesses that make up so much of the country’s critical infrastructure as well.

“As a country, we have to find a balance between being openly critical of other nations’ use of offensive cyber tactics while simultaneously pushing forward the capabilities we need to defend ourselves.”

Archaeology breakthrough: 1,200-year-old find 'implies Christianity founded before Islam'
ARCHAEOLOGISTS believe they have uncovered a giant cross in Pakistan that "implies Christianity was in the region before Islam", new reports claims.

By CLIVE HAMMOND
PUBLISHED: Sat, Aug 29, 2020

The 1,200-year-old cross - which is made of marble and weighs around four tons - was discovered by a team of experts from the University of Baltistan, Skardu, the Union of Catholic Asian News. Their report, entitled '1,200-Year-Old Cross Found in Pakistan Implies Christianity Was There 'Before Islam Came', claims that the find was made in the mountains of the Himalayan mountains and is around seven feet in size. Experts say that although no Christians live in the area of Skardu, it proved that worshippers of that religion were previously present in the region.

Pakistan is made up of around 96 percent of people who practise Islam, and shares its borders with Afghanistan, Iran, India and China.

The discovery was celebrated by Caritas Pakistan, a Catholic group, and executive director Mansha Noor said: “It is indeed great news for all of us that an ancient cross was found in Skardu.

“It shows that Christianity existed in this area and there must be a church and houses of Christians.

"There are currently no Christian families in that area, but they were once present.

Archaeology breakthrough: 1,200-year-old find 'implies Christianity founded before Islam' (Image: GETTY)


Archaeology breakthrough: 1,200-year-old find 'implies Christianity founded before Islam' (Image: GETTY)

“I request the authorities invite international historians to find out more about the accurate history of the cross.”

Reports by the Christianheadlines.com say that Christians in Pakistan are often faced with dire scenarios where they are persecuted as a result of their faith.

Beatrice Caseau, a byzantine history expert, argued that the find could prove that Middle East merchants brought "the gospel to the region".

She said: "Even if we lack the sources to know with certainty where they passed, we know that Christians from the Persian world, using the Syriac language, came to the Indus region between the fifth and eighth centuries, until the arrival of Islam."

Archaeology breakthrough: 1,200-year-old find 'implies Christianity founded before Islam' (Image: GETTY)


Another Pakistani Christian leader told Barnabus Fund: “Praise the Lord, this makes me very joyful.

"It will be a great encouragement to Christians in Pakistan to show that our faith was here many, many generations ago, before Islam came.

"This is amazing news. I am looking forward to what the research outcome will reveal about Christianity in Pakistan.”

The discovery comes after archaeologists made another breakthrough in Christian history with the find of a 1,300-year-old church in Israel, near to where the traditional site of Jesus' transfiguration was made.


Archaeology breakthrough: 1,200-year-old find 'implies Christianity founded before Islam' (Image: GETTY)


This site, experts claimed, "hints at the significance of Christianity" in the village it was found at Kfar Kama, around two hours away from north Jerusalem.

It includes "ornate mosaic floors" and is near what third-century theologian Origen suggested was where Jesus' transfiguration took place.

A release from the Israel Ministry of Foreign affairs added: "The new discovery hints at the apparent importance of the Christian village settled in the Byzantine period close to Mount Tabor, a site of primary religious significance for Christianity, identified as the site of the transfiguration."

Archaeology breakthrough: Bombshell discovery unearths third century 'human mountains'

ARCHAEOLOGISTS were left staggered by the discovery of a skeleton which a study claimed is from a person with gigantism.

By CHARLIE BRADLEY
PUBLISHED:  Tue, Jul 28, 2020

The discovery was made near Rome, as researchers came across the remains of a man that would have been classed as a giant when he lived in the third-century A.D.

It represents an incredibly rare find – as today gigantism affects about three people in a million worldwide.

The condition begins in childhood, when a malfunctioning pituitary gland causes abnormal growth.

Two partial skeletons, one from Poland and another from Egypt, had previously been identified as "probable" cases of gigantism, but the Roman specimen is thought to be the first clear case from the ancient past, study leader Simona Minozzi, a paleopathologist at Italy's University of Pisa said.

The figure stood at about 6ft 8 inches, classed as a giant in third century A.D when the average height for a man was 5ft 5 inches.

The unusual skeleton was found in 1991 during an excavation at a necropolis in Fidenae (map), a territory indirectly managed by Rome.

At the time, the Archaeological Superintendence of Rome, which led the project, noted that the man's tomb was abnormally long. It was only during a later anthropological examination, though, that the bones too were found to be unusual. Shortly thereafter, they were sent to Minozzi's group for further analysis.


Archaeology news: The researchers found a 'human mountain' (not pictured) (Image: getty)


Archaeology news: The figure has gigantism according to the study (not pictured) (Image: getty)


To find out if the skeleton had gigantism, the team examined the bones and found evidence of skull damage consistent with a pituitary tumor, which disrupts the pituitary gland, causing it to overproduce human growth hormone.

Other findings — such as disproportionately long limbs and evidence that the bones were still growing even in early adulthood — support the gigantism diagnosis, according to the study, published October 2 2012 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

His early demise — likely between the age of 16 and 20 — might also point to gigantism, which is associated with cardiovascular disease and respiratory problems, said Minozzi, who emphasized that the cause of death remains unknown.


Archaeology news: A statue of Maximinus Thrax (Image: getty)

Charlotte Roberts, an archaeologist at Durham University, said she was "certainly convinced with the diagnosis" of gigantism in 2012, but that she'd like to know more.

She said: "You can't just study the disease, you have to look at the wider impact of how people functioned in society, and whether they were treated any differently."

She added that one thing researchers to know is that the second century A.D. emperor Maximinus Thrax was described in literature as a "human mountain."

Archaeology news: Archaeologists have found other remains that could have been giants (Image: getty)


Archaeology news: (Image: getty)

Minozzi noted, though, that imperial Roman high society "developed a pronounced taste for entertainers with evident physical malformations, such as hunchbacks and dwarfs — so we can assume that even a giant generated enough interest and curiosity".e."

Archaeology mystery: Incredible discovery of 'sea monster' shipwreck sparked debate

ARCHAEOLOGISTS were baffled when they came across a "sea monster" figurehead from one of the world's best preserved shipwrecks.

By CHARLIE BRADLEY
PUBLISHED:  Tue, Aug 18, 2020

Baltic Sea: Medieval ship's figurehead found in 2015

The figurehead from a 15th century ship was recovered from the Baltic Sea near Sweden, more than 500 years after it sank. The Gribshunden is thought to be the world's best-preserved late medieval ship. Johan Ronnby, professor of marine archaeology, expressed the confusion researchers had when trying to decipher what exactly the figurehead represented. He said: ''It's a sea monster - and we have to discuss what kind of animal it is.

''I think it's some kind of fantasy animal - a dragon with lion ears and crocodile-like mouth. And there seems to be something in his mouth.

"There seems to be a person in its mouth and he's eating somebody."

Marcus Sandekjer of the Blekinge Museum added: "We don't have ships like this that have been recovered at all.

"It's something we haven't seen before, it's unique in the world and I think there will be more excavations around here with more unique objects.

"But this one we have today is just fantastic."
Archaeology news: (Image: Ingemar Jundgren)

Archaeology news: The figurehead was found in the Baltic Sea (Image: Ingemar Jundgren)

Mr Sandekjer also outlined the history of the ship, adding that it came from a time when historic explorer Christopher Columbus would have been active at sea.

He continued: "This ship comes from a time when Columbus was sailing across the ocean.

"This is the same period, so we can learn very much about how the ships were made and how they were constructed.

"Since there are no ships left from this time we just don't know how they were constructed."

Archaeology news: Marcus Sandekjer was amazed (Image: Ingemar Jundgren)

Mr Sandejker and Mr Ronnby discussed the Gribshunden in an interview with the BBC in 2015.

The Gribshunden, which belonged to Danish King John, is believed to have sunk in 1495 after it caught fire on its way from Copenhagen to Kalmar on Sweden's east coast.

The menacing appearance of figureheads on 15th century ships had the protective function of warding off evil spirits.

When divers first discovered the figurehead languishing at the bottom of the sea, they thought its snarl was similar to that of a dog.


Archaeology news: Johan Ronnby said it was a 'fantasy animal' (Image: Ingemar Jundgren)


Archaeology news: The Baltic Sea (Image: Ingemar Jundgren)

This fits with the name of the ship, the Gribshunden, which means griffon-dog.

Parts of armour and weapons have also been recovered, and are now on display in museums.

Researchers believe the ship was at the forefront of naval technology for its day.

The fire that sank it came at a time of political upheaval in the region, causing a major setback to King John's plan to unify Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Mr Sandekjer added: "The ship comes from a time just when Columbus was sailing across the ocean and Vasco da Gama also went to India, and this is the same period and we can learn very much about how the ships were made, how they were constructed since there are no ships left from this time."

Archaeology breakthrough: 'Hybrid beasts' discovered 'shedding new light' on bloody burial

ARCHAEOLOGISTS were baffled by the discovery of strange "hybrid beasts" found in the UK.

By CHARLIE BRADLEY

PUBLISHED: Fri, Aug 7, 2020

Such beasts were more synonymous with ancient Mediterranean cultures, who combined remains of animals to form mythical creatures. Examples included the half-lion, half-goat chimera or the half-lion, half-eagle griffin. But similar remains were found in the UK in Winterborne Kingston, Dorset. The startling find raised questions about the possibility that Britain’s ancient Celtic population had hybrid-animal monster myths similar to those of the ancient Greeks, and Egyptians.

The bones hinted at the possibility Iron Age Britons rearranged remains in order to create hybrid beasts.

The Dorset ‘hybrids’ all discovered by archaeologists from Bournemouth University, included a cow which, after probable sacrificial death, had had its own legs removed and deliberately replaced by four horse’s legs.

There was also a sacrificed sheep with two heads – its own somewhat fragmentary one and, protruding from its hind end, that of a bull.

Among the finds was a horse with a cow’s horn protruding from its forehead – with the horn pointing inwards, as well as a cow’s upper leg bone with a horse’s hoof.

They also found two bizarre examples in which a jawless cow skull had been deliberately paired with a horse’s lower jaw.

Archaeology news: Archaeologists found 'hybrid animals' (Image: Bournemouth University )


Archaeology news: They found a half cow half horse (Image: Bournemouth University )

Another find was a complete dog with three cow lower jaws radiating from it.

One of the strangest discoveries saw animal remains paired with a human skeleton.

The young woman appeared to have been sacrificed, as archaeologists found evidence indicating that her throat had probably been slit.

She was then buried on a "bed" of specially arranged cattle, sheep, dog and horse bones.

Archaeology news: The discovery was made in 2015 (Image: Bournemouth University )

Significantly these animal bones had been deliberately sorted to mirror the bones of the dead woman.

The animals’ skull fragments formed the surface her head rested on, while the animals’ leg bones formed the surface her legs rested on.

Dr. Miles Russell, the Bournemouth University archaeologist who has been co-directing the excavation in 2015, said the finds "transformed" his team's understanding of the time period.

Archaeology news: An aerial view of the excavation (Image: Bournemouth University )


Archaeology news: Hybrid beasts had been associated with ancient Greece (Image: Bournemouth University )


He said: “The discoveries are helping to transform our understanding of key aspects of Late Iron Age Britain – the type of society that existed just a couple of generations before the Roman conquest.

“Our investigations at the site suggest that life there was peaceful and prosperous.

"Although the settlement was relatively large, there appears to have been no defensive palisade or ramparts.

“The sacrifice of so many animals and the unusual treatment of their bones is likely to shed totally new light on Iron Age belief systems – and may suggest that the Ancient Britons had beliefs or mythologies which involved hybridized animals, just as the Ancient Greeks had.”