Some drivers decided to go on a hunger strike in the brutal heat and began coupling their contract demands with arguments about the abuse of the local population by Western interests and Algerians from the north, said people familiar with the events.

WSJ: Algeria Probes Possible Role of Local Workers in Attacks

There were brutal clashes between pickets and police but the strike eventually collapsed the following March.

BBC: Obituary: Margaret Thatcher

Warm winters also strike at the Alaskan psyche, shaped in large part by brutal cold.

ECONOMIST: The state is getting warmer and no one's happy