So many people in France believe that the world is about to end that a government agency yesterday alerted the country to the risk of mass suicides by converts to prophesies of imminent Armageddon. Natural disasters, the internet and French fears of economic doom are conspiring to lend credence to predictions that the planet will self-destruct on December 21, 2012, said Miviludes the government body that monitors cults and suspicious spiritual activities.

There have been 183 false predictions of the end of the world since the Roman Empire collapsed and these are multiplying with new technology and a global climate of fear, it added.

Read the complete story(Some news sites require registration)