Polygamy among immigrants is one cause of the rioting that has plagued France for the past two weeks, according to Gerard Larcher, the Employment Minister.

M Larcher was quoted as saying that large, polygamous families sometimes led to antisocial behaviour by youths who did not have a father figure in the home, making employers more cautious of hiring staff from ethnic minorities.

There are fears that M Larcher’s comments could further fuel the debate about the cause of the unrest and possibly outrage Muslim and anti-racism groups. Polygamy is banned in France, but an estimated 30,000 mainly African families have more than one wife.

The National Assembly yesterday approved a three-month extension to the state of emergency. (AFP)

Putin backs Serbs

Moscow: President Putin accused the international community of turning a blind eye to the forced exile of 200,000 Serbs from Kosovo, whereas the chasing out of ethnic Albanians in 1999 “was thought a great humanitarian catastrophe”. He spoke out at a meeting with President Tadic of Serbia. (AFP)

CIA in flights row

Madrid: Spain said that it would investigate claims that CIA aircraft carrying Islamic extremist suspects made secret stopovers on Spanish soil. The Spanish newspaper El País quoted a police report that said American aircraft made at least ten stops in the Balearic Islands. (AFP)

Parliament brawl

Kiev: A brawl erupted among MPs in the Ukrainian parliament, interrupting voting on a series of Bills needed for entry to the World Trade Organisation. Communists also used sirens to drown out the debate. One of eight Bills was passed but consideration of the other seven was postponed. (AP)

Activist jailed

Toulouse: The French anti-globalisation activist José Bové was given a four-month jail sentence by an appeals court for destroying genetically modified (GM) crops. Bové was accused of helping to uproot a field of GM maize near the southwestern city of Toulouse in July 2004. (AFP)

Holocaust jewels

Warsaw: Four survivors of the Holocaust have found jewellery and other precious objects that they and other prisoners buried 62 years ago near Majdanek concentration camp in eastern Poland. The four had travelled from Australia to take part in a documentary about Majdanek, which is now a museum. (AFP)

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