PHILADELPHIA — Nikki Giovanni, the legendary poet and leader of the Black Arts Movement, died at 81 on Monday, Dec. 9, in Blacksburg, Virginia, after receiving a third diagnosis of cancer, according to news reports . Her longtime partner, Virginia Fowler, was by her side. The revolutionary writer who penned verses about Black life, feminism, politics, rage and love, was born Yolanda Cornelia Giovanni Jr., in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1943 and raised in Cincinnati. She spent many years in New York and Virginia, where she taught English at Virginia Tech for decades. Giovanni had many connections with this region, and notable Philadelphians shared their condolences on social media. Harriet’s Bookshop owner Jeannine A. Cook shared a photo of her cooking with Giovanni on a video call, writing, “May our good deeds add onto yours—thank you for teaching me how to make fried chicken among many other things. Long live the keepers of the word.” Questlove posted a photograph of a young Giovanni with her reading of the popular poem “Ego Tripping” playing in the background; he wrote, “Man: thank you for gifts Nikki Giovanni.” Early in her career, Giovanni spent time in Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. As she developed her first book, the self-published poetry collection "Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgement" (1971), Giovanni worked at a People’s Settlement House in Delaware. Around that time, she studied at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Work, pursuing a master’s of social work, and commuted into the city from Wilmington. She dropped out of the program and moved to New York, going on to become a prolific writer, outspoken activist, lesbian icon, and beloved English teacher. Giovanni returned to Philadelphia briefly in the 1990s, when she recorded her 1997 poetry album "In Philadelphia" at the historic Sigma Sound studio. She also served as the 1996 artist-in-residence at the famed Clef Club. Renowned for her disarming humor and incisive commentary across dozens of books, Giovanni appeared at literary events in Philadelphia throughout her career and found a deep and loving fandom of all ages. In 2010, North Philadelphia’s Art Sanctuary named her the recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award. One of her last trips to the city was captured in the Emmy-winning documentary "Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project" that screened at the 2023 BlackStar Film Festival (and is now streaming on Max). Speaking about her 2017 book, "A Good Cry: What We Learn From Tears and Laughter," Giovanni had a room full of teens laughing at the Free Library of Philadelphia and heard from several attendees, particularly Black women, who said she was their biggest inspiration. Some had named their children for her. “Philadelphia was the birthplace of the United States,” Giovanni told the Inquirer in a Zoom interview last year . “Having the documentary about me in Philadelphia is also saying that there is still a new world, there’s still something to create, still another step, or as the old spirituals used to say, we are climbing Jacob’s ladder.” During our interview, she introduced me to her loud Yorkie, Cleopatra, and showed off the “Thug life” tattoo that she got on her arm in honor of Tupac Shakur. In her later years, the poet was fascinated by space exploration (inspiring the documentary title). She called herself a “space freak” and told me about her wish for artists to be sent to the moon. She was also curious to learn more about potential new discoveries of alien life, which she welcomed. “If another life-form is coming to Earth, they can drop by my house, and I’ll do what Black women always do, ‘Come on in baby, are you hungry?’” she said. “Because that’s what Black women do, no matter what it is. We save life whenever we can, and we feed it, and we welcome that.” Fiercely determined to make every last minute count, Giovanni was still working during her final weeks. She’s expected to get the last word in the 2025 release of her forthcoming project, "The Last Book." ©2024 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Visit inquirer.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald has said she will not stand down as leader of her party if she fails to lead them into government after next Friday’s polling day. Despite a rough political year that has already seen her party crash in local elections, plunge in opinion polls and be mired in scandals, Ms McDonald , 55, has vowed to plough on. Ms McDonald was asked at the Sinn Féin manifesto launch this week whether if she failed to enter Government, she would ‘resign and pass on the leadership’. She said: ‘No... Sinn Féin decides at our Ard Fheis the leader of our party.’ Sinn Féin are preventing the press corps from observing Ms McDonald canvassing by refusing to release her schedule in advance. When asked her about this, she replied: ‘Far from dodging anything, I’m relishing this campaign.’ Despite this, Ms McDonald refused to explain why she made a personal commitment more than seven months ago to participate in a new Mail podcast, From Bomb To Ballot: The History of Sinn Féin , which was released on all major platforms yesterday. The podcast features the first-ever extensive interviews by a major news outlet with former IRA volunteers Martin Ferris and Dessie Ellis. For the first time, Mr Ellis discusses the Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombings for which he stood trial at the Old Bailey, while Mr Ferris gives a detailed chronicle of his participation in a compromised arms importation scheme on a trawler in 1984. Mr Ferris describes his transformation from IRA volunteer and promising Kerry footballer to peace negotiator in Downing Street. Current Taoiseach Simon Harris brings us up to date on the recent scandals that have rocked Sinn Féin and former taoiseach Bertie Ahern details negotiations with the party and Tony Blair during Good Friday Agreement talks. Former IRA men John Crawley and Anthony McIntyre tell of life inside the organisation. Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin gives a surprisingly candid interview, where he speaks of the ‘bad decisions’ that Ms McDonald and the rest of the party’s front bench made in the areas of referendums, immigration and candidate selection before campaigns. Mr Ó Broin features in Sinn Féin’s slickly produced one minute long party political election broadcast, notable for Ms McDonald’s absence. It was also noted Gerry Adams did not mention his successor by name in an opinion piece he wrote for the Irish Times newspaper on Thursday; Mr Adams has emerged on the campaign trail in recent days. A Sinn Féin source said: ‘This indicates we’re ensuring our core comes out.’ LISTEN: From Bomb to Ballot: The History of Sinn Féin – available wherever you get your podcasts
COP29, the UN Climate Change Conference, was held in Baku, Azerbaijan between 11 and 22 November. It took place under the shadow of significant temperature rises across the globe. It also took place in the wake of the US electing Donald Trump, a president who, among other things, is also a climate change denier and unlikely to accept any global consensus at COP29. Global warming, even for the countries in the freezing North, is no longer in the realm of scientific debate. It’s no longer a bunch of climate scientists sounding warnings about the impact of global warming in our lives. The results are clearly visible, with all temperature records broken not only in north India this summer but also in Europe. With many regions across the world having already seen a rise of 1.5oC this year, the target of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5oC has failed. We don’t actually say we have breached the 1.5oC mark because of a technicality: as per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), temperature rise is computed over a 20-year average. However, to wait 20 years to admit that we crossed the 1.5oC mark in 2024 is not very helpful. Just to put this in perspective, the world knew a temperature rise of this magnitude about 125,000 years ago, when homo sapiens was crossing over from Africa into Eurasia. In other words, we are tipping over into completely uncharted territory. High summer temperatures have a huge impact on agriculture, as well as the livelihoods of those forced to work in fields, factories and other occupations involving continuous exposure to heat. What’s striking is that over the past few years, rising temperatures have been accompanied by extreme weather events. Higher than usual winter temperatures lead to the melting of permafrost in the polar regions, releasing huge amounts of methane and flipping ocean currents with completely unknown consequences. Also Read: COP29: Instead of trillions, rich nations offer $250 bn per year by 2035 The Global North, meaning the US, Canada and Europe, has always believed that global warming is a problem specific to Africa, Asia and Latin America. A Canadian colleague once told me, “Canada could do with a little global warming.” This ‘kindness’ and blindness towards global warming and climate inaction is ironical. Rich countries are not immune to climate change. The US, that hotbed of climate change deniers, has seen 400 climate disasters with losses greater than $1 billion per event since 1980. COP29 began with the announcement of an agreement on carbon credits and the hope that it would revive carbon markets. While this path may have had something going for it when the world was debating how to fund green energy strategies, it has very little value today. We already know that most carbon credit projects are only on paper. At best, they help in generating some income for poor countries with forest cover. For example, 90 per cent of carbon credits sold by Verra, the world’s biggest certifier of carbon credits, did not reduce any emissions. All it did was make Verra richer. Let’s go back to what we know really works. For one, replacing coal, oil, and natural gas with green energy. This means producing electricity for the grid with solar and wind power, for which the costs have come down dramatically over the last decades. Transport, particularly cars, has seen a rapid increase in battery storage capacity at lower battery prices, making electric vehicles competitive with petrol-driven ones. Long haul goods transport by road is still a problem, as is replacing processes that release greenhouse gases in industries such as steel, cement and fertiliser production. China, currently the largest producer of carbon emissions, appears to have reached its peak emissions in 2023–24 though its commitment to meet this target was set for 2030. The magnitude of the investment that China has made in renewables can be seen from its investment in solar power, as it emerges as the leading supplier of solar cells. India has also expanded its renewable sector significantly and has ambitious plans for the future. Also Read: Delhi’s air pollution takes centre stage at COP29, experts call for action Earlier, the question was how to store electricity from renewables, given their variable output and our fixed daily demand profile. Building pumped hydro storage has addressed this problem. Grid-level batteries that were proposed earlier had high costs and limited storage duration. The Purulia Pumped Storage Project in West Bengal, built under the Left Front government, was the first such scheme in India. Unlike multi-purpose hydroelectric projects, which cause large submergence of land in order to store water for seasonal irrigation needs, meeting the daily fluctuations of energy needs requires much smaller storage and, therefore, very little submergence. The solar energy sector is clearly leading the energy transition in the world. What is surprising is not the scale or speed at which China is building up its solar energy sector but how far behind the others are. According to the New York Times (16 September 2024) China installed a total of 425GW of new solar power. The rest of the world installed only 162GW, with the US — the biggest economy in the world — accounting for a measly 33GW! India has set itself an ambitious target of 500GW of renewable energy, with 80 per cent of that coming from solar by 2030. This is doable if we also invest in our capacity to build the entire supply chain for solar energy. This includes the production of silicon wafers and solar cells, not just solar panels and solar plants. If the electricity sector is the number one emitter of greenhouse gases, the transport sector comes second. Electric vehicles (EVs) are at the forefront in personal transport today when it comes to combating greenhouse gas emissions from burning petrol or diesel. Again, China, with its focus on fundamental technologies, in this case, battery technology, has emerged as the global leader. The major supplier of grid-level battery storage in China, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) also supplies Tesla with its batteries. CATL and BYD (Build Your Dream) have emerged not only as leading battery makers globally but are also now entering the EV market as car makers — BYD on its own, CATL in partnership with other manufacturers. These Chinese companies have made heavy inroads into the European market. The response of the US and the EU has been tariff barriers to protect their own carmakers at the cost of sacrificing climate goals. Indian car makers are also actively entering the EV sector. Here too, the laggards seem to be the US, where the Elon Musk mystique seems to have blinded them to the reality that batteries alone account for 50 per cent of the cost of an electric vehicle. Tesla’s focus on the elite market has meant missing the mass market segment, with Musk in denial of the Chinese battery manufacturers being competition. Again, COP29 is unlikely to address any of the real issues of how to expand renewable electricity production and its use in transport and other industries. We aren’t even talking about carbon equity and rich countries taking steps to repair the climate damage they have done. All we want is for them to take some responsibility for the future. Shelling out some money in the name of climate finance just won’t cut it. The globe today is teetering on the edge of irreversible climate change. Yet, this is not an issue that rich countries prioritise. Their focus is on how to defeat Russia militarily in Ukraine, how to ring-fence China economically, how to use Israel to control oil-rich West Asia and how to continue to rule over the rest of the globe. With regard to global warming, the G7 has come up not only against what other countries want, but also against what nature wants. This is our challenge today: how to build a better world despite every effort by a handful of countries to sacrifice our future for the sake of their political and economic dominance. This article first appeared in Newsclick Follow us on: Facebook , Twitter , Google News , Instagram Join our official telegram channel ( @nationalherald ) and stay updated with the latest headlines
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On Tuesday night, Bayern Munich throttled Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 in a rare neutral site Champions League match in Gelsenkirchen. Michael Olise led the way with a brace while Jamal Musiala, Thomas Müller, and Konrad Laimer also scored in a variety of ways. Shakhtar scored first but Bayern gradually took over the game with a high effort performance. After Olise’s penalty kick in the 70th minute made it a two-goal margin, the cracks in Shakhtar’s defense shattered open. Jersey Swap: Kevin All should fear Brazilian players who refer to themselves by a single name. The 21-year old winger opened the scoring in the 5th minute by sneaking behind the Bayern defense, turning Kim Min-jae inside out, and calmly slotting his shot into the corner of the net. With a mere 30 touches, Kevin added three interceptions, won 50% of his dribbles and ground duels, and provided two key passes. Der Kaiser: Daniel Peretz The heir to Manuel Neuer’s throne has long been a question mark for Bayern. On loan at Stuttgart, Alexander Nübel has long been considered the favored option. After a rough outing against Heidenheim, Peretz came up with three saves against Shakhtar to maintain a healthy lead and appears to have shaken off the rust from a lack of game time. If Neuer misses extended time with his broken rib, Peretz’s performance should avoid another Yann Sommer situation where Bayern paid €6M to rent him for half a season. Der Fußballgott: Konrad Laimer The lack of communication between Laimer and Kim directly led to Shakhtar’s opening goal. Four minutes later, Laimer immediately redeemed himself by blasting a shot from close range to even the game. Laimer spent the rest of the match flying all over the pitch like a roaming goalie in a backyard game. With the forthcoming return of Josip Stanišić, Laimer is fighting for his place in the squad. His relentless effort will go a long way to maintaining his spot. Der Bomber: Michael Olise Olise was very efficient with his dribbling and passing on the right flank, winning 11 of 17 ground duels, completing 42 of 48 passes, and earning three fouls. But more importantly, he filled Harry Kane’s role of being in the right place at the right time. After Bayern went down early, Leon Goretzka fed Olise a nice ball in the box and Olise shifted it over to Konrad Laimer. In the 70th minute, Sacha Boey was fouled on a late challenge in the box and Olise was called upon for the penalty kick. The goalkeeper guessed correctly but his outstretched arms were defeated by Olise’s pinpoint shot. In second half stoppage time, Olise dribbled through the entire defense and walked the ball into the back of the net. Wow. Never underestimate the player who consistently makes the game looks easier than it actually is. Meister of the Match: Jamal Musiala It is increasingly obvious that the defensive game plan from opponents is to contain Musiala. He is constantly being fouled, grabbed, and double teamed the same way that a young Lionel Messi was treated. The referees refuse to give yellow cards unless the foul occurs in the final third, frustrating the 21-year old German phenom. It is equally apparent that Musiala is simply doing things that 99% of other players around the world are incapable of. He is constantly creating opportunities out of thin air, dribbling between double and triple teams, and opening space for others. The patience on his assist to Thomas Müller in the 45th minute completely changed the direction of the match. Bayern did not have to throw numbers forward to get a go-ahead goal but could play with the control and possession that was so desperately lacking in the wild second half against Heidenheim. Musiala scored in the 66th minute but the referee bailed out Shakhtar with a very questionable foul on Mathys Tel for whispering sweet nothings in the goalkeeper’s ear. Musiala was fouled in the box in the 86th minute but the referee disagreed, so Musiala got the ball a minute later and scored in open play from the penalty spot instead. Another world class performance. Servus, Jamal.The Conservatives have called on Sir Keir Starmer to reject an international arrest warrant issued for Benjamin Netanyahu as they accused the Government of holding a “nonsensical” position on the issue. In a letter to the Prime Minister, shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel and shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick claimed the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had “no proper basis in international law”. They said the UK’s refusal to explicitly say whether or not the Israeli premier would be detained if he arrived in the country “opens the farcical spectre of your Government trying to sanction the arrest” of an ally to Britain. Criticising the ICC warrant, the shadow ministers said: “It is hard to escape the conclusion this is an activist decision, motivated by politics and not the law.” They argued the court was established to pursue cases in instances where countries do not have robust and independent judiciaries, which could not be said of Israel. “The UK Government’s response to the decision has been nonsensical,” they said. “On Friday, the Home Secretary refused to say whether Mr Netanyahu would be detained if he travelled to the UK. “This opens the farcical spectre of your Government trying to sanction the arrest on UK soil of the leader of an ally of the UK, while you continue a diplomatic charm offensive with the Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. “It falls to you to clarify the Government’s position – now. The Government must make clear that it does not support an arrest warrant being issued which has no proper basis in international law.” Downing Street on Friday indicated that Mr Netanyahu could face arrest if he entered the UK, refusing to comment on “hypotheticals” but saying Britain would always follow its “legal obligations”. The International Criminal Court Act 2001 states that a Secretary of State must, on receipt of a request for arrest from the ICC, “transmit the request and the documents accompanying it to an appropriate judicial officer”. Asked whether the UK would comply with requirements under the Act, Sir Keir’s spokesman said: “Yes, the Government would fulfil its obligations under the Act and indeed its legal obligations.” The ICC has issued a warrant for Mr Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Number 10 previously said the domestic process linked to ICC arrest warrants has never been used to date by the UK because no-one wanted by the international court had visited the country. It added that Israel remained a “key partner across a range of areas”. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It is important that we have a dialogue with Israel at all levels to reach the ceasefire that we all want to see, to bring an end to the violence, to protect civilians and ensure the release of hostages.” The ICC also issued a warrant for Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’s armed wing, over the October 7 2023 attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza. A domestic court process would be required before Mr Netanyahu faced arrest if he set foot in the UK. The ICC said there are “reasonable grounds to believe” Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant were responsible for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts”. The court’s pre-trial chamber also found “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”. The impact of the warrants is likely to be limited since Israel and its major ally, the US, are not members of the ICC.SALTZMAN: Six hot – early – Black Friday tech deals
Ludhiana: A 25-year-old Haibowal resident was stabbed by three men in full public view at Kailash Chowk traffic lights on Monday night. The victim, Bilal Ahmad, was admitted in DMC hospital with multiple injuries. Division number 8 police lodged an FIR against the unidentified accused on the statements of Bilal Ahmad’s father, Abdul Mateen, a resident of Haibowal. The complainant told the police that his son was going towards Kailash Chowk on his scooter. When he stopped at the red light, three individuals, who were also on a scooter, engaged in a verbal spat with him. Following the argument, the accused stabbed Bilal multiple times and escaped. Onlookers informed the police and rushed the injured to Ludhiana civil hospital, from where he was referred to DMC hospital due to his critical condition. Inspector Balwinder Kaur, SHO, division number 8 police station, said that Bilal Ahmad might know the accused, but is not in a condition to record his statement. tnn We also published the following articles recently Two rape accused escape from police custody in Lalsot Two accused rapists, Manish and Akshay Meena, escaped from Lalsot police station in Dausa, Rajasthan, late Friday night. They overpowered Constable Ajit Singh after he removed their handcuffs to offer them water. Murder accused shot at by police Gopalganj police engaged in a shootout Tuesday night with suspects linked to the murder of police chowkidar Jhamendra Rai. Surendra Rai, a recently released liquor smuggler, and his son Vikesh were identified as the prime suspects. During the raid, Vikesh was injured in the ensuing exchange of fire and subsequently arrested along with his father. Shamanur criticizes Yatnal for divisive behaviour Shamanur Shivashankarappa, president of the All India Veerashaiva Lingayat Mahasabha, publicly rebuked BJP legislator Basanagouda Patil Yatnal for his inflammatory rhetoric. Shivashankarappa warned that Yatnal's behaviour, previously tolerated due to community ties, was now facing scrutiny and potential repercussions. He questioned Yatnal's true allegiance to the community, citing his disrespectful remarks about Basavanna and community leaders. Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , and Mini Crossword .