Gold is trading at USD 1,623.80, EUR 1,177.95, GBP 1,027.01, JPY 124,535.72, AUD 1587.39 and CNY 10,354 per ounce.
Gold’s London AM fix this morning was USD 1,623.00, GBP 1,027.02 and EUR 1178.14 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,629.00, GBP 1,033.24 and EUR 1,180.17 per ounce.
U.S. M2 Money Supply: Accelerating Sharply in 2011
Gold prices are mixed today as markets remain on edge due to increasing divisions amongst European leaders on how to solve the intractable Eurozone debt crisis. There continues to be very strong demand for physical bullion globally and support is strong at the $1,600 level due to this demand.
The sharp fall of copper yesterday, by 6%, is an indication that the US, Chinese and indeed global economy is very fragile and may soon begin to contract.
Physical demand in Asia, mainly India and China, has entered the traditional peak season with Indian festivals and the increasingly important Chinese New Year.
This is reflected in premiums in Asia which remain good. There are reports of massive physical buying out of China on gold’s fall close to $1,600 yesterday. The most active Shanghai gold futures traded at a premium of more than $10 over spot prices earlier today. The contract stood at 335.22 yuan a gram, or $1,634 an ounce, at a premium of $3.
The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees in Gaza reported Thursday that Zionist regime is still holding captive 5300 Palestinian detainees, including 22 elected legislators.
Wall of photos of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel
In a press released, Riyad Al Ashqar, head of the media department at the Ministry of Detainees in Gaza, said that “after the release of 477 detainees under the prisoner-swap deal, the number of detainees is now 5300”. Al Ashqar added that detainee Kareem Yousef Younis is now the oldest Palestinian detainee. He was not included in the deal and has been in prison since 29 years as he was taken prisoner on January 6, 1983; he is serving a life-term. Younis is from the 1948 territories.
The former oldest detainee, Nael Barghouthi, was released under the prisoner-swap deal between Israel and Hamas. Barghouthi was kidnapped on April, 04, 1978, when he was 19 years old.
Al Ashqar said that, list of detainees imprisoned by since before the Oslo peace agreement of 1993 has dropped from 299 to 126.
The list of old detainees (who have been impassioned since 20 or more years) has dropped, after the swap-deal, from 145 to 51 detainees, including 12 from the 1948 territories, 4 from Al-Quds, 7 from the Gaza Strip, and 28 from the West Bank.
The number of captives who have been imprisoned by Israeli since 25 years or more dropped from 45 to 22. Four detainees who spent more than 30 years behind bars were released under the deal.
22 elected legislators, and nine the remaining 9 female detainees were not released under the deal, while the Hamas movement is trying to secure the release of the remaining female detainees in the second phase of the deal.
There are 280 children who are still imprisoned by Zionist regime in violation to International Law. Israel is also holding captive five residents from the Gaza Strip under what it dubs as “Illegitimate combatants” as none of them was part of the swap-deal.
The Ministry of Detainees stated that the swap-deal is a historic achievement for the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance, adding that this deal “sets a new stage in the struggle against the occupation”.
“This deal does not mean the Detainees File is closed now”, the Ministry said, “There are thousands of detainees still imprisoned by Israel they need our support by all mean, diplomacy and military actions, we must ensure they receive their freedom from occupation prisons”.
Was Mossad using Fox and Werritty as 'useful idiots'? Ex-Ambassador reveals how links made by 'advisers' set alarm bells ringing.
The real reason Liam Fox had to resign was not a grubby little money scandal about firms funding Adam Werritty as he jetted round the world with the Defence Secretary. It was much more important, and much worse, than that.
Last Sunday, ‘friends of Liam Fox’ were letting it be known that the investigation of Werritty would bring up nothing scandalous.
These friends were widely reported as saying that Werritty’s funding came from those wishing to promote U.S. and Israeli interests to the British government.
Vulnerable: Defence Secretary Liam Fox, (seen left) during a tour of Afghanistan, potentially compromised national security through his relationship with Adam Werritty
Yet that ‘defence’ of Fox touched on precisely the point that had started alarm bells ringing among senior civil servants throughout Whitehall.
Not only was Werritty being paid to act as an unofficial part of the Defence Secretary’s entourage, the money was coming from people who may have been ready to promote the interests of certain
foreign governments, particularly the United States, Israel and Sri Lanka.
While the United States is a very close ally, its commercial and other interests are not always identical to UK interests.
Israel is not a military ally of the UK. There are often tensions between its interests in the Middle East and the UK’s interests, as in the attack on the Gaza Aid convoy which resulted in the death of Turkish citizens. Turkey is an ally of the UK, being a vital member of NATO.
As for the Sri Lankan government, there are serious concerns over its human rights record, particularly after major hostilities with Tamil rebel fighters had ceased.
The British Defence Secretary should be exclusively concerned with the interests only of Britain.
'It is plain as a pikestaff that Fox had retained his effective partnership with Werritty in lobbying activities that not only were concerned with Israel and Sri Lanka, but which actively sought to promote the geo-strategic interests of those countries – for money.'
But it is plain as a pikestaff that Fox had retained his effective partnership with Werritty in lobbying activities that not only were concerned with Israel and Sri Lanka, but which actively sought to promote the geo-strategic interests of those countries – for money.
I was contacted early last week by a senior Whitehall source – somebody I have known for more than a decade – who has access to the Cabinet Office investigation.
They were worried the Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell’s investigation was being misdirected onto only the very narrow question of whether Werritty received specific payments for setting up specific meetings with Fox – playing into Fox’s extraordinary House of Commons defence that Werritty was ‘not dependent on any transactional behaviour to maintain his income’.
But my source told me that what really was worrying senior officials in the MOD, FCO and Cabinet Office was the possibility that Fox could be being used as a ‘useful idiot’ by Mossad, Israel’s far-reaching and extremely effective intelligence service.
Key funding sources for Werritty were from the Israeli lobby and a rather obscure commercial intelligence agency.
Might Mossad be pulling Werritty’s strings, with or without his knowledge?
On Friday, two senior Fleet Street journalists also reported hearing similar concerns from other Whitehall officials about possible Israeli intelligence service involvement with Fox and Werritty.
By working closely with an unofficial aide with extraordinary access but no security vetting and murky funding sources, Fox had potentially compromised national security. That is the real story here.
Let us hope that Fox’s fall will remind future Defence Secretaries that there is only one country whose interests they should seek to defend – and that is this one.
In this exclusive footage obtained on the scene by Tracey Shelton of GlobalPost, Col. Muammar Gaddafi is caught by fighters for the new Libyan government.
The shock discovery of the former dictator, found cowering in a water drain on Thursday in his hometown of Sirte, was captured by Ali Algadi, a rebel fighter, with an iPhone just seconds after Gaddafi was dragged from the drain in which he was hiding. This is the earliest footage to emerge so far.
Although clearly injured, Gaddafi is still alive during the capture. His captors can be heard shouting, "Dont' kill him! Don't kill him! We need him alive!" throughout the footage.
According to an official statement by the National Transitional Council, Gaddafi was shot before his capture and died from his wounds on route to Misrata.
Fighters at the scene said he was injured in the shoulder and leg when he was found. Blood also appears to be flowing from a head injury. So far reporters and human rights groups have been blocked from viewing the body but footage has emerged showing bullet wounds to the torso and head which may cast doubt on the statement released by the interim government.
A crew of doctors leaving a family home where Gaddafi’s body was temporarily being held said they had performed DNA tests but did not have any results to release at this time. Gaddafi’s son Muttasim was also killed while trying to escape nearby.
I remember clearly the first time I learned that the Third Reich, at least on paper that is scrupulously kept from eyes beneath raised eyebrows, still exists. You didn’t know that – did you? I didn’t – until fairly recently.
"Whatever You Say Darling"
The legendary German attorney, Horst Mahler, now serving a lifetime sentence for having rushed in bravely where angels fear to tread, called me one merry morning right after my husband was kidnapped by agents of my government to please the Noisy Lobby, and gave me the low-down on this.
In Horst’s own words, since tauntingly repeated to much judicial and editorial squirming in several recent thought-crime trials in Germany, including the ghastly show trial that cost Ernst Zundel five years:
“The German Reich, including its people, never surrendered! Only the Wehrmacht did.”
Matt Cardle has aired his views on the conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11 (PA)
Matt Cardle has taken a break from promoting his album Letters to reveal his views on the conspiracy theories behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US.
The X Factor winner told the Big Issue magazine that something is 'not quite right" about the 'whole 9/11 thing'.
'I think the way it was portrayed on TV and who was responsible and the way it happened was not the way it happened. It's just not what they say it is.'
The Run For Your Life singer said that some of the conspiracy theories surrounding the attacks on the US over ten years ago 'may be bulls**t', as well as the particular theory he believes to be true.
'But all I do know is what they're [the US government] saying is bulls**t.
'From the things I've seen... I don't care what anyone says. To not question it is silly, I think,' he continued.
A career in politics may be in front of the singer/songwriter after it was revealed earlier this week that his album is being outsold by almost two copies to one by Noel Gallagher's debut solo album.
But, the X Factor winner said he's not concerned where his single and album end up in the charts, saying: 'I just want to do the best I can. I know that's a cop out to say but I've always been dreaming big and wanting to achieve the best I can.'
At least the Metro didn't totally try and make him look like a...
"wiskey drinking loud-mouth" as the UK's favourite source of Cat Litter Box Liner THE SUN tried to do (below)
MATT Cardle must have been on the whisky to talk of conspiracy theories behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The X Factor winner gave the baffling chat to Big Issue magazine.
Why he didn't stick to his specialist subjects — music, booze and girls — is beyond me.
He told the mag: "The whole 9/11 thing... something's not quite right there.
"I think the way it was portrayed on TV and who was responsible and the way it happened was not the way it happened. It's just not what they say it is."
Thankfully he then attempted to downplay his claims — but that didn't stop the hole he was digging from getting any deeper.
He said: "Other conspiracies might be true and the one I believe might also be bulls**t.
"But all I do know is what they're saying is bulls**t.
"From the things I've seen... I don't care what anyone says. To not question it is silly, I think."
The odd quotes aren't quite in the same league as Lee Ryan's 9/11 conclusion — saying the attacks weren't as newsworthy as the plight of whales — but they're not far away.
Matt is a decent bloke and probably didn't mean to come across in the manner he has.
Hopefully in future he'll let his music do the talking and leave the crackpot theories to others. His debut album, Letters, is likely to get to No2 in the charts this weekend which is a big achievement.
THERE were tears and cheers on Tuesday night as more than 1500 members of the Jewish community and their supporters gathered at locations in Melbourne and Sydney to watch Gilad Shalit finally return to Israel after over five years in captivity.
The release of the soldier, who had been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 1941 days, brought to a close one of the most painful chapters in the Jewish State’s history.
But while Gilad’s parents embraced their son and campaigners across the globe cheered and sobbed as they watched live feeds of his return, emotional wounds were reopened for the families of hundreds of Israeli terror victims who had opposed the release of 1027 convicted Palestinian terrorists in order to secure his release.
The initial 477 pardoned prisoners were bussed to Gaza and the West Bank throughout the day. Israel has promised to release an additional 550 Palestinian prisoners in the coming months as part of the deal.
“Citizens of Israel, today we are all united in joy and in pain,” Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, opening a short address acknowledging the bittersweet character of the exchange at a press conference at Tel Nof Air Force Base in central Israel.
Earlier, Shalit, who had been been transferred from Gaza over to Israel via Egyptian intermediaries in the Sinai, was flown by helicopter to the base.
In images and video released throughout the day, Shalit appeared malnourished, pale and weak. In a television interview that Shalit was apparently coerced to do for Egyptian television during the transfer process, the 25-year-old appeared lucid but suffering from emotional trauma.
Once back on Israeli soil, however, Shalit’s demeanour rapidly improved.
In an iconic moment captured on film, Shalit, who had reportedly asked to change back into his IDF uniform immediately upon his arrival in Israel, smartly saluted the Prime Minister.
It was also there, at Tel Nof, where Shalit enjoyed an emotional reunion with his parents, Noam and Aviva, who had devoted their lives in the five years since their son’s capture to marshalling support for his release.
Following an intensive examination by IDF doctors, Shalit was flown to his home village of Mitzpe Hila, where the streets had been lined with flower petals and signs in his honour.
With the protection of the Israeli police, who sealed off the town to protect the Shalit family’s privacy, Shalit entered his home, and thus began a new count of days for the freed soldier – that of the rest of his life as a private citizen.
In Melbourne, hundreds of people crowded into Beth Weizmann for an event organised by the Zionist Council of Victoria.
The gathering, which began in suspense with anxious faces and hushed whispers, eased as it became apparent Shalit was alive, and able to walk and talk without much difficulty.
Every new piece of good news reported elicited spontaneous applause from the community, which reached its apex when Israeli media reported Shalit was confirmed to be back on Israeli soil.
As photos and video images of the soldier were broadcast, many viewers hugged and were moved to tears.
Among the political personalities in attendance were MP for Caulfied David Southwick, his predecessor Helen Shardey, and MP for Isaacs Mark Dreyfus.
At the same moment, at Central Synagogue in Sydney, approximately 1000 people were riding the same emotional roller-coaster, at an event organised by the Zionist Council of NSW.
Children as young as five joined grandparents as the community gathered as one to watch the live feed from Israeli television.
Zionist Council of NSW honorary life president Ron Weiser addressed the gathering and said it was a special night for Jewish people across the world.
“There are some moments in which people remember exactly where they were, and this is one of those moments this evening,” Weiser said.
Zionist Federation of Australia president Philip Chester said Shalit’s release is a testament to the values of the State of Israel and the commitment to take care of every single soldier. “The Australian Zionist community has been campaigning for Gilad’s release and raising awareness about his plight since he was abducted,” Chester said.
THE medicines watchdog has revealed it knew two years ago that a child flu vaccine withdrawn last year had been linked to a high rate of fever in children, but it took no action at the time.
Therapeutic Goods Administration national manager Rohan Hammett told a Senate estimates hearing yesterday that CSL had advised in 2009 of a study that showed the rate of fever in children using the vaccine had nearly doubled to 39.5 per cent between 2005 and 2006.
The watchdog took no immediate action because the fevers were mild or moderate, and for decades the flu vaccine had been considered safe, Mr Hammett said.
Researchers were examining the 2009 study in light of the high rate of febrile convulsions that occurred with last year's child flu vaccine, which triggered fits in one in 100 children.
Despite referring the 2009 study to the TGA, CSL has not updated its own product information to include the new data.
The TGA has asked CSL -- which recently left Australia with just two weeks' supply of a key penicillin drug -- to explain what it knew of problems with the child flu vaccine and when it learned of them.
The committee heard CSL was being audited monthly after a number of problems were identified at the company's plant by the US Food and Drug Administration and the TGA.
The FDA's audits last year and this year of CSL, released to The Australian last month, cite a string of "objectionable conditions and practices" used by CSL to make vaccines.
They included the failure of laboratory staff to wear masks while dispensing and mixing vaccines, "deficient" tests to check whether viruses were properly split to prevent side-effects and "inadequate" investigations of product failures.
Mr Hammett said the TGA's audits had found problems at CSL but they did not affect product safety.
CSL chief executive Brian McNamee said the firm was "talking" to the FDA every month and was "working diligently" to resolve its concerns. "So we need to document better some of our processes and we are working hard to ensure we have training of all of our staff," he said after the CSL's annual general meeting in Melbourne. "We have a very experienced staff from an Australian and a European regulatory perspective but we need to do a lot more to make sure we meet the FDA's requirements (from a) training, documentation and validation perspective."
This is the moment a Marine sergeant confronted police during the weekend's Occupy Wall Street march on Times Square.
Marine Corp Sergeant Shamar Thomas, whose nickname is Thor, yelled at a crowd of New York police officers who he thought were acting dishonourably by being too aggressive against peaceful protesters.
'There is no honour in this! There is no honour in this!' Mr Thomas screamed over and over.
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO
Aghast: Sergeant Shemar Thomas verbally accosts a group of policemen when he thought they were being to aggressive towards protesters in Times Square
'This is not a war zone! These are unarmed people. It doesn't make you tough to hurt these people!'
Mr Thomas is qualified to make that distinction, having served in the Marine corps from 2003 and did two tours in Iraq, in 2004 and 2006, before being honourably discharged in 2007. During his time in Iraq, he served as the non-commission officer who ran a small detention facility in Rutbah, which earned him a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
In the video, it is clear that Mr Thomas is appalled by the police behaviour in Times Square, and lashes out at a group of about nine officers.
All about honour: Sgt Thomas yelled at officers saying they were acting dishonourably
'How do you do this to people? You're here to protect them! You're here to protect us! This is the United States!' Mr Thomas screamed.
'If you want to go hurt people, go to Iraq!'
'They don't have guns- why are you hurting these people?'
Family history: Four generations of Thomas' family have served the country, including 14 months he spent in Iraq
Mr Thomas later spoke on Keith Olberman's Current TV show Monday night to clarify his position, saying that there is a major difference between the level of acceptable behavoir in a peaceful protest and that of a warzone like he saw in Iraq.
'We had rocks thrown at us, after the rocks were thrown we didnt go beating up people and arresting people you know what I mean? We kind of treated it with a level of humility,' Mr Thomas said of his time in Iraq
.
Starting young: Thomas said he spent time recruiting Marines, though now he and both his parents who 'have 20+ years' experience each are looking for other work
'I saw a cop punching a woman up in the face [in Times Square],' he continued.
'When the situation arises where the crowd starts getting frantic, thats when its time to say 'You know, the crowd is getting frantic'. When people are just shouting 'We are the 99 per cent, come join us,' these are not chants that incite violence,' Mr Thomas said Monday night.
Clashes: Mounted police stop Occupy Wall Street participants trying to break through police barricade set to stop them from taking their demonstration onto the street on Times Square
Police attempt to maintain order with megaphones and barricades amidst the crowds of Occupy Wall Street
More than 40 people were arrested in New York's Times Square as protesters jostled with police on Saturday after thousands marched from the city's Financial District to midtown Manhattan.
The protesters swamped Times Square, stopping traffic as the numbers swelled to 20,0000 in what was thought to be the largest 'Occupy' demonstration in the U.S. so far.
Though the videos of Mr Thomas do not show him ever being touched by officers, he seems to have been upset by their treatment to the other protesters.
In the heart of the Big Apple: Protesters cram into Times Square and are met with a heavy police presence
'How do you do this to people? You're here to protect them! You're here to protect us! This is the United States!' Mr Thomas screamed.
Mr Thomas' national pride is clear, as he touts both his own military service and that of his parents. His mother served in Iraq at the same time as he did in 2004, along with his father, step-father, and grandfather who have all worked in the military in various positions.
'My whole family protected this country!' Mr Thomas said in Times Square.
He thinks that it is important for him to wear his military uniform, even though he is no longer an active member of the Marine Corps, in order to encourage others to join the protests.
'I want to inspire the veterans to come out because a lot of veterans have this thing where they don't want to speak against the government. They're so trained like 'Oh no, speaking against the government is wrong because we have a chain of command'. I don't think its about a chain of command, it's about a way of life,' he said Monday.
This video was recorded by Occupy San Diego last week. They interviewed Susan Brinchman, who has been at the forefront of the fight against ‘smart’ meters in Southern California. Her organization, The Center for Electrosmog Prevention, has been making waves and countering utility company lies all over the southern part of our state. More and more people are catching on to the corrupt, damaging nature of the ‘smart’ meter program, and adopting these evil little devices as a symbol of where our system has gone horribly wrong. Here’s to the fighters who just won’t quit and the people risking arrest!
Yokohama, Oct. 15 — Mochizuki of the Fukushima Diary website is reporting on a June 2011 document that has been “leaked on the internet” which reveals that Plutonium-238, -239, -240, and -241 were released “to the air” from Fukushima Daiichi during the first 100 hours after the earthquake.
The amount of plutonium released is said to be 120 billion Becquerels.
It also states there was a release of 7.6 trillion Becquerels of Neptunium-239. As neptunium-239 decays, it becomes plutonium-239.
Mochizuki says this report was made by Tepco for a press conference on June 6 and the media knew and “kept concealing the risk for 7 months and kept people exposed”.
It's not only Western leaders like Julia Gillard and Barack Obama who face fierce resistance from climate sceptics as they try to lay out policies to tackle global warming.
In China, where carbon emissions have surged despite tough government constraints and targets, President Hu Jintao is having to stare down claims that human-induced climate change is an elaborate American conspiracy.
''Global warming is a bogus proposition,'' says Zhang Musheng, one of China's most influential intellectuals and a close adviser to a powerful and hawkish general in the People's Liberation Army, Liu Yuan.
Mr Zhang told the Herald that global warming was an American ruse to sell green energy technology and thereby claw its way out of its deep structural economic problems.
A year ago Mr Hu committed to lower the ''carbon intensity'' of economic output by 40-45 per cent by 2020 from 2005 levels.
China appears on track to meet the target but that may still not be enough to save the world from destructive climate change, thanks to faster-than-expected Chinese economic growth.
A new study by the Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency shows China now emits far more greenhouse emissions than any other country, with emissions doubling between 2003 and 2010.
China's carbon emissions rose 10 per cent last year alone, to 9 billion tonnes, compared with 5.2 billion tonnes for the United States.
The report showed India's emissions also rose rapidly, by 9 per cent, although its total emissions are still only one-fifth of China's.
The most startling finding, however, is that China's per capita emissions are now higher than several rich nations including France and Italy.
China's per capita emissions could even overtake the US within six years, the study said.
But they may never catch up with Australia. Australia's total emissions plummeted by 8 per cent last year, according to the report, beginning to reverse a two-decade long rising trend.
But Australia's per capita emissions are the highest of any substantial economy at 18 tonnes.
In London on Thursday, the former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull praised China's incentives for renewable energy, which has seen its installed wind and solar capacity double in each of the past six years.
These achievements have been lauded abroad but sullied at home by governance, efficiency and even environmental problems, leading to allegations that China has been duped.
Mr Zhang, whose father was secretary to China's former premier Zhou Enlai, blasted Chinese policy makers for encouraging Chinese companies to buy foreign intellectual property in order to manufacture vast quantities of renewable energy equipment.
The Chinese-made equipment helps the environment in other nations while leaving China with only financial and environmental costs, he said.
''Lots of solar panels are made in China and the pollution is left in China but they are used overseas,'' Mr Zhang said. ''The low-carbon economy, carbon politics and carbon taxes are actually driven by the West as the foundation for a new cycle of the virtual economy.''
Mr Zhang's comments provide a window into a contemporary internal Communist Party dynamic where no leader can afford to be accused of making ''soft'' compromises with American negotiators.
It helps explain how Mr Hu's carbon commitment last year was overshadowed at the Copenhagen climate summit by China's abrasive diplomacy and its refusal to submit to international monitoring.
Whether China can help avert a global climate disaster may hinge on whether its green policies can offset deep economic distortions and governance problems that tend to encourage resource-intensive investment.
''If the current trends in emissions by China and the industrialised countries including the US would continue for another seven years, China will overtake the US by 2017 as highest per capita emitter among the 25 largest emitting countries,'' said the Netherlands report, which was sponsored by the European Commission and is based partly on BP energy consumption statistics.
Polar bears and other animals are shrinking due to the affects of global warming on their living conditions, according to a new study.
Researchers found that species from micro-organisms to top predators are now growing to smaller sizes because of global warming.
Nearly 45% of the species involved in the review grew smaller over multiple generations, the study published in the Nature Climate Change journal said.
Those affected include polar bears, red deer, soay sheep, gulls, lizards and the common toad as well as many plants such as tiny plankton.
The changes could have far-reaching consequences, including a serious impact on human food sources because of smaller fish supplies and less reliable crops.
Dr David Bickford and Jennifer Sheridan of the National University of Singapore wrote: "The consequences of shrinkage are not yet fully understood, but could be far-reaching for biodiversity and humans alike.
"Because recent climate change may be faster than past historical changes in climate, many organisms may not respond or adapt quickly enough. This implies that species may go extinct because of climate change."
The changes could lead to smaller fish supplies
The pair looked back at scientific writings on the past effects of climate change and decided fossil records unambiguously showed marine and land organisms had become smaller as temperatures rose.
During a warming event 55 million years ago - often seen as a parallel for current climate change - beetles, bees, spiders, wasps and ants shrank by 50 to 75% over a period of several thousand years.
Mammals including squirrels and woodrats also diminished in size by about 40% during what is known as the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM).
But the pace of current warming is far greater than its predecessor and the new research showed it has already started to shrink species.
The study examined 85 examples, of which 55% were affected. Of those a fifth had grown but four-fifths had become smaller.
The scientists were shocked because they had thought plants would increase in size due to the increased amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
"Many organisms may not respond or adapt quickly enough. This implies that species may go extinct because of climate change."
Dr David Bickford and Jennifer Sheridan
Findings suggested that for every 1C increase in temperature, the metabolism of cold-blooded animals roughly increases by 10%.
This means they use more energy and therefore grow to smaller sizes.
Global average temperatures have risen by around 1C over the past century and experts predict they could rise by between 4C and 7C by 2100.
A major concern is that species will become extinct because they will not be able to adapt quickly enough.
It is also feared that animals and plants will shrink at different rates, which could have a destabilising affect on sensitive ecosystems.
The study said: "We do not yet know the exact mechanisms involved, or why some organisms are getting smaller while others are unaffected.
"Until we understand more, we could be risking negative consequences that we can't yet quantify."
Gold is trading at USD 1,623.80, EUR 1,177.95, GBP 1,027.01, JPY 124,535.72, AUD 1587.39 and CNY 10,354 per ounce. 
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