Broad Oak Magazine

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Central African Republic: Rain three months early

Garoua Boulai, Central African Republic - from Google Maps

It's not just in the UK and USA that we've been having unusual weather. Susan from the C.A.R. reported an unexpected tropical downpour on Thursday night - normally the dry season ends in April.

NPR News says experts don't know whether the apparently changing weather patterns are linked to the vagaries of El Niño * or claimed (and disputed) global warming, but reports that "since 1995, 70 percent of hurricane seasons have been busier than normal."

Or, since that makes 17 years so far, perhaps that's the new normal.
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* But a Bermudan insurer has decided it can predict weather events from sea temperatures.

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Cigarette packaging row - my art entry

Following yesterday's challenge, here's my first:

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Monaco - Grim Pix

See World Voices on the fightback against the media, here.

Monaco: Fighting Hollywood and Fleet Street

There's a whiff of invidious republicanism in the entertainment and news media, but the Empire fights back...

The Monaco Times reports that the Palace disapproves of the forthcoming film about the late Princess Grace. The Mail on Sunday today depicts it as a tale of imprisonment in the gilded cage of a sham marriage.

On a separate issue, the Murdoch-owned Sunday Times has lost a court case over its defamatory reporting of the wedding in 2011 of Princess Charlene and Prince Albert II, and has agreed to pay £300,000 in damages.

Covering both, and staunchly loyal to the House of Grimaldi, is "The Mad Monarchist" blogger, describing himself as "Unreconstructed reactionary ever plotting counterrevolution and the restoration of the Old Order."