It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, January 08, 2021
Climate change: 2020 ties 2016 as hottest year on record
A warm winter and autumn have made the previous year the hottest ever recorded, the EU's climate change service has found. The Arctic continues to warm more quickly than the planet as a whole.
The last decade was the hottest on record globally
Last year was the hottest year on record, tying with 2016, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Friday.
Average global temperatures in 2020 stood at 1.25 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) higher than pre-industrial levels, according to the service.
The years from 2014 to 2020 were the hottest on record with both 2020 and 2016 hitting the record for the single hottest year.
Scientists urged governments and corporations to drastically slash their emissions in order to have any chance of achieving the 2015 Paris Agreement and to avoid a catastrophic climate change crisis.
"The extraordinary climate events of 2020 and the data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service show us that we have no time to lose," said Matthias Petschke, Director for Space in the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.
Europe had an even hotter year with an increase of 0.4 degrees over the record from 2019, while Germany saw its second-hottest year on record, according to the German Metereological Service. Extreme weather in a warming world
2020 saw an increase of 0.6 degrees over the average temperatures between 1981 and 2010.
The biggest jump was seen in the Arctic Ocean and the north of Siberia, where temperatures soared to an unprecedented six degrees above the former average.
The report also revealed that carbon dioxide emissions continued to rise, reaching a new high of 431 parts per million by the end of the year.
The figures are particularly alarming because, unlike in 2016, they were reached without the help of the El Nino weather event which added up to two tenths of a degree to the record four years ago, according to NASA and the UK's Met Office.
The increase in temperature has brought with it other extreme climate events such as droughts, heatwaves and floods.
In 2020 the world was also hit by a record number of hurricanes in the Atlantic, to the extent that the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ran out of letters to name them. Time to turn off the tap
In 2015, the world agreed to keep global temperature increases "well below" two degrees and below 1.5 if possible. A report by the UN's climate advisory panel, the IPCC, left no doubt that an increase of 1.5 would be disastrous.
The 2020 record came despite global lockdowns which led to a dramatic 7% drop in emissions.
"Since CO2 accumulates in the atmosphere like water in a bathtub, if we turn down the tap by 7%, the CO2 level just rises a bit more slowly," Stefan Rahmstorf, head of Earth system analysis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told AFP.
"We need to shut off the tap to get a stable climate again."
However, emissions followed an upward trend during 2019 and the desire of governments around the world to return to "business as usual" does not bode well.
Even if every country were to stick to their pledges from the Paris Agreement, global temperatures would still reach an increase of 3 degrees C by the end of the century.
"The world has been warming at a steady rate of around 0.2C per decade since the 1970s due to human emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases," Zeke Hausfather, director of climate and energy at the Breakthrough Institute in Oakland, California, told AFP.
"If we continue at our current rate we will pass 1.5C in the mid-2
Africa to Trump: Who's a sh*thole now?
Africans are responding to the chaos at the US Capitol with irony, sarcasm and humor. #Trump started trending on Twitter in places like Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya as the platform blocked the US president.
Supporters of US President Donald Trump take part in a pro-Trump rally in Washington
Africans are astonished at the disarray around the US seat of power — especially those Africans familiar with the playbooks of leaders who refuse to concede defeat, who carry out coups or who incite political violence.
The continent's leaders have so far stayed mute on Wednesday's events in Washington, which saw Trump supporters storm the Capitol building.
But former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who famously made a phone call to concede his defeat and congratulate his successor, Muhammadu Buhari, in what was an unprecedented move for the country, gave Trump a stern reprimand.
Trump could be an African leader
As for average Africans, many seemed unable to resist having a little fun at the expense of the outgoing US president.
"Trump should just pull off his mask and tell us which African country he's from," a Twitter user in Zambia remarked.
Trump never visited the continent but famously called African nations "sh*hole countries" in 2018. He also made unkind comments about prospective immigrants to the US from Nigeria.
Some Nigerians drew parallels to what has happened in their own country, which is notorious for election disputes.
Unlike Goodluck Jonathan, most often losers don't accept defeat, meaning many election results are contested in court.
As a result, Nigerians look enviously to the US as a country with a exemplary transition system. Not any more, though.
Nigerian Salihu Yakubu expressed surprise to DW's Hausa service that "America's present democracy is no different to Africa's."
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has targeted Bobi Wine, his much younger main opposition and those who support him, ahead of the January 14 presidential vote
Storming of Capitol building was an 'attempted coup'
"What happened when the Trump mob stormed and stopped Congress from certifying the results of a duly elected president was an attempted coup," Museveni ally and campaigner Morrison Rwakakamba told DW.
"What happened in the United States is not only bad for the United States, it is bad for the world."
In Somalia and elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, people followed the events in Washington in horror, disbelief and bewilderment.
"What was so shocking is the behavior that was displayed by most of the leadership of the Republican Party in the US," Adam Ow Hersi told DW in Mogadishu. "We could see some of them were enabling, others were indifferent and others were outright inciting the violence in Capitol Hill."
Like Uganda, Somalia and Ethiopia are gearing up for elections this year. Some opinion makers in the Horn of Africa have expressed concern that the incident in the US might set a bad precedent for the region.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country with a history of coups, political turmoil and violence, citizens told DW correspondents what they thought of Wednesday's events.
"This is proof that electoral processes are not only being attacked in Africa," said Mukubua.
Dina, another Congolese, quipped: "Stay calm, otherwise we'll send you our electoral commission to sort everything out."
Call in the African peacekeepers
In South Africa, Floyd Shivambu, deputy to Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party leader Julius Malema, sparked lively discussion with his many tweets.
"If these domestic terrorist and extremist activities were happening in any of the countries in the Global South, these imperialist nations would have condemned and threatened intervention by now. Where are our leaders in the African Union?" one of them read.
Twitter users responded to Shivambu with calls for the AU to send peacekeepers.
Others pointed out that Africa doesn't always come out worse when it comes to supporting democratic institutions.
"Worth noting that when [former South African President Jacob] Zuma made similar noises ahead of being ousted, South Africa's military very decidedly came out in favor of law and order," local commentator Verashni Pillay wrote.
Romanus Msigala in Tanzania, meanwhile, just appeared perplexed: "Do the US security forces not exist?"
To sanction or not to sanction?
For Zimbabwe, the developments at the US Capitol meant the shoe was suddenly on the other foot. The contentious issue of longstanding and crippling US sanctions on the southern African country triggered some irony and provoked much laughter.
On Twitter, President Emmerson Mnangagwa stated: "Last year, President Trump extended painful economic sanctions placed on Zimbabwe, citing concerns about Zimbabwe’s democracy. Yesterday’s events showed that the US has no moral right to punish another nation under the guise of upholding democracy."
The Twitter hashtags #America, #Trump, #TheUS #Democracy were trending for Zimbabwe and jammed WhatsApp traffic within the diaspora. And many were delighted at the news that someone born in Zimbabwe is a spokesperson for the DC National Guard mobilized after the Capitol storming. 'All is not lost' for the US
Abuu Ali in Tanzania said he believed that Trump's goal had been to undermine the peace and stability of the US and "to incite hatred between whites and Americans of African descent in order to gain strength and stay in power."
Hamad Said, also in Tanzania, called the developments "a great shame for the American nation that calls itself the mother of democracy in the world."
Donald Trump has never touched African soil, although he has met with African leaders, such as Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta
But in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, Nyaigoti Chacha told DW Kiswahili that all is not lost, "although Donald Trump had tried so hard to undermine the country’s democracy."
"I think we can still say that US is still a role model of democracy," Chacha said. "After today's riots we have seen the Senate and Congress certify President-elect Joe Biden's victory and therefore he will be sworn in by the 20th."
In Ghana, citizens are preoccupied with the outcome of their own presidential election. On Thursday, days after the opposition challenged the vote in court, incumbent Nana Akufo-Addo is being sworn in for a second term.
When Trump expressed his disdain for Africa with an expletive, Akufo-Addo famously shot back: "We will not accept such insults, even from a leader of a friendly country, no matter how powerful." Ann Wanjiku-Schulte, Muntaqa Ahiwa, Babu Zingo, Alex Gitta, Khadar Hared and Sandrine Blanchard contributed to this article.
SpaceX Will Try to ‘Catch’ Its Starship Boosters Instead of Landing Them
Conceptual image showing Starship atop its Super Heavy booster. Image: SpaceX
Not content to keep things simple or easy, SpaceX plans to catch its upcoming Super Heavy booster rockets at the launch tower, allowing for subsequent relaunches a mere one hour later.
Not to be confused with the Falcon Heavy, the Super Heavy will serve as the booster stage for SpaceX’s upcoming Starship system. The second stage of the system will be Starship itself, which is designed to launch and land on its own. When paired with the booster, however, Starship will be transformed into a formidable launch system, capable of delivering cargo and dozens of passengers to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars.
The Super Heavy, like the Starship second stage, is still in development, and specifications are very much in flux. Originally, the Super Heavy booster was supposed to land with retractable legs similar to those seen on the company’s Falcon 9 reusable rocket. But as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk explained in a recent series of tweets, they’ve rejigged the concept.
“We’re going to try to catch the Super Heavy Booster with the launch tower arm, using the grid fins to take the load,” he tweeted in response to an inquiry. “Saves mass & cost of legs & enables immediate repositioning of booster on to launch mount—ready to refly in under an hour,” added Musk
Update 6:15 p.m. ET: The Starship prototype launched and ascended to high altitude, but it crashed…Read more
That SpaceX is designing a system capable of launching Starships at one hour intervals points to the company’s future ambitions. It remains to be seen if these gigantic boosters—which will measure 230 feet tall (70 meters) and 30 feet wide (9 meters)—can indeed be caught in this way, but Musk’s impressive track record means we need to take this prospect seriously.
Equipped with over two dozen Raptor engines, the Super Heavy booster will exert over 16 million pounds of force. By comparison, Block 2 of NASA’s upcoming SLS system will provide 9.5 million pounds of thrust.
On December 12, SpaceX performed a high-altitude test of a Starship prototype rocket, which blew to pieces while attempting a landing. Musk described it as a “successful ascent,” adding that “we got all the data we needed.” New Starship prototypes are currently being readied for further testing, but no dates for these launches have been released.
Neil Young sells 50 percent of publishing rights to his entire song catalog to investment fund
Young has never licensed any of his songs for commercial use and that this is unlikely to change. “There will never be a ‘Burger Of Gold,'" the investment firm said.
Neil Young performs at the BottleRock Napa Valley Music Festival
in Napa, Calif., on May 25, 2019.Amy Harris / Invision/AP file
Jan. 6, 2021, 7:00 AM MST / Source: CNBC.com By Elliot Smith, CNBC
Legendary folk rocker Neil Young has sold 50 percent of his song catalog to the Hipgnosis Songs Fund, a U.K. investment vehicle founded by music industry veteran Merck Mercuriadis.
The deal gives Hipgnosis the rights to the worldwide copyright and income interests from 1,180 songs composed by Young, and has been reported to have cost around $150 million.
“I bought my first Neil Young album aged 7. ‘Harvest’ was my companion and I know every note, every word, every pause and silence intimately,” former talent manager Mercuriadis said in a statement Wednesday.
Young has never licensed any of his songs for commercial use and that this is unlikely to change. “There will never be a ‘Burger Of Gold,'" the investment firm said.
“Neil Young, or at least his music, has been my friend and constant ever since.”
Hipgnosis floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2018 and acquires music royalties with a view to generating income streams. On Tuesday, the fund announced that it had acquired the entire catalog of Fleetwood Mac lead guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham.
It has also invested in the rights to songs from artists such as Mark Ronson, Chic, Barry Manilow and Blondie.
Young has never licensed any of his songs for commercial use and Mercuriadis indicated that this is unlikely to change. Recommended
“I built Hipgnosis to be a company Neil would want to be a part of. We have a common integrity, ethos and passion born out of a belief in music and these important songs,” he said.
“There will never be a ‘Burger Of Gold’ but we will work together to make sure everyone gets to hear them on Neil’s terms.”
This is a reference to Young’s hugely popular song “Heart of Gold,” from the Canadian singer-songwriter’s iconic 1972 album “Harvest.”
Hipgnosis Songs acquires catalogue of Fleetwood Mac lead guitarist and vocalist After buying 25% share of the catalogue in September, the investor now owns all of Buckingham’s music publishing rights, as well as a 50% share of any unreleased compositions
Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited (LON:SONG) announced that it has acquired a catalogue from Lindsey Buckingham, the lead guitarist and vocalist of Fleetwood Mac.
After buying a 25% share of the catalogue in September, the investor now owns all of Buckingham’s music publishing rights, including his Publishing and Writer's Share of his entire catalogue comprising 161 songs, as well as a 50% share of any unreleased compositions.
Starting his music career in the early 70s, Buckingham released his debut album 'Buckingham Nicks' in 1973 with his then partner, Stevie Nicks.
Following 'Buckingham Nicks', the duo joined Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Christine McVie to create the most famous version of Fleetwood Mac.
In 1975, Fleetwood Mac released their self-titled album which launched the band to musical stardom.
The album, which reached Number 1 on the US Billboard 200 chart, was ranked 182nd by Rolling Stone Magazine on its "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" chart, and has been certified 7 times platinum in the US.
Buckingham's second album with Fleetwood Mac, 'Rumours', has sold over 45mln copies worldwide making it one of the nine bestselling albums of all time. Fleetwood Mac has more than 22mln monthly listeners on Spotify alone and Buckingham's four songs from 'Rumours' have collectively been streamed more than 1bn times on that service alone.
As a member of Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and in 2011 was listed in Rolling Stone Magazine's '100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time'.
In addition to his work with the band, Buckingham has released five solo albums including 'Out of the Cradle', 'Under the Skin', 'Gift of Screws' and 'Seeds We Sow'.
"Lindsey Buckingham is one of the greatest guitarists, songwriters and producers of all time yet is still so underrated,” said Merck Mercuriadis, founder of the company, in a statement.
“His work with Fleetwood Mac has brought the world unparalleled joy over the last 45 years and he belongs in any discussion featuring Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney.”
Music investment fund Hipgnosis snaps up producer Jimmy Iovine's entire back catalogue
with 259 songs from artists including U2, Patti Smith and Tom Petty
The portfolio includes 259 songs along with lovine's royalties for the film '8 Mile'
Hipgnosis is co-founded by a former manager of Elton John
It has already invested almost £1.2billion in procuring over 110 catalogues
lovine will use funds from the acquisition to build a high school in inner-city LA
PUBLISHED 4 January 2021 American music producer Jimmy lovine
Music rights investment fund Hipgnosis Songs has snapped up the entire back catalogue from renowned producer Jimmy lovine for an undisclosed sum.
The portfolio includes 259 songs, from artists including Patti Smith, Tom Petty, Dire Straits and U2, along with lovine's film production royalties for '8 Mile' and 'Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
This is the latest move for Hipgnosis, co-founded by a former manager of Elton John, and it has already invested almost £1.2billion in procuring over 110 catalogues that count songs from artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Blondie, and the Kaiser Chiefs.
Many of those catalogues were purchased in the period covering its latest half-year results, which were published in December 2020 and showed its revenues almost doubling from £22.6million to £44.8billion in the six months to the end of September.
During that time, it raised £426million from two placings in July and September and obtained 63 new catalogues.
In the run up to Christmas the music fund celebrated chart success, as Mariah Carey's song 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' made it to number one in the UK charts for the first time in its history. Hipgnosis only acquired rights to the festive hit in September and it remains the most popular Christmas song on Spotify.
The deal with lovine will further bolster the company's portfolio.
Lovine rose to prominence as an engineer working with John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen before exploring the role of producer.
He produced Patti Smith's critically acclaimed, 'Easter' in 1978 and the UK Top 5 hit single 'Because The Night'. Following on from this success, he went on to work with dozens of artists.
Moving away from production Iovine co-founded Interscope Records in 1990 which saw him become one of the most prominent figures in the music industry, developing the careers of Tupac, Dr Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent, Nine Inch Nails, Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga and many more.
He went on to co-produce the box office hit '8 Mile' in 2002 starring Eminem which grossed over $240 million and sold over 15 million copies globally.
Adding another string to his bow, lovine co-founded Beats Electronics and Beats Music with Dre in 2008.
Lovine's portfolio includes 259 songs, from artists including Patti Smith, Tom Petty, Dire Straits and U2 (pictured)
In 2016 he sold the firms to Apple for $3 billion and he became the executive force for the launch of Apple Music and Beats 1.
He left this post in 2018 and has since dedicated his time to smaller passion projects.
He will use the funds from the Hipgnosis acquisition to build a high school in inner-city Los Angeles.
Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis says he is a major fan of lovine's work and he applauded the producer's philanthropic work.
Looking ahead, he says his firm has 'an incredible pipeline and [we] are very excited for 2021'.
The Canadian-born music industry executive started the investment business with Chic's Nile Rodgers after years of managing a vast roster of platinum-selling bands and solo artists like Guns 'n' Roses, Iron Maiden, Beyonce, and Morrissey.
After years of working with platinum-selling musicians like Iron Maiden, Canadian-born Merck Mercuriadis (right) co-founded Hipgnosis with songwriter Nile Rodgers of Chic (left)
His fund co-owns four of the Top Five Billboard Songs of the 2010s: Mark Ronson's Uptown Funk, Ed Sheeran's Shape of You, Closer by electronic duo The Chainsmokers, and Maroon 5's Girls Like You.
The group's financial success is partly predicated on the belief that earnings from songs will remain strong because people will always want to listen to music regardless of broader economic circumstances.
'While we would not have wished for a pandemic to demonstrate this, it has indeed done exactly that, and that has been reflected in our strong performance,' Mercuriadis commented.
Hipgnosis sometimes buys royalty rights directly from musicians. In August, they bought all of Barry Manilow's worldwide recording royalties as well as the 197-song catalogue of new wave band Blondie.
Last year, Leeds-based rock group Kaiser Chiefs also traded the master rights to their first four albums, along with their greatest hits and live albums, which include their popular singles Ruby, Modern Way, and I Predict a Riot
UCP, SHANDRO, KENNEY TO BLAME
An Edmonton woman in her 50s is the second health-care worker to die from COVID-19 in Alberta.
Health Minster Tyler Shandro announced the death Tuesday, saying his thoughts go out to the family of the woman. This is the second death Shandro has reported among health-care workers in the past 48 hours. Joe Corral, a health-care aide in Calgary, was the first known death.
“I just want to say to these two families, I want them to know that we thank these two people for their service to the province and we join you in honouring their memory,” said Shandro. “The pandemic has brought too many stories of tragedy to too many families. But it’s also brought examples of the hard work and commitment of the people in the health-care system.” Michael Parker, president of the Health Sciences Associations of Alberta, said the woman was not a member of his union but that her death shows all front-line health-care workers need to be immunized.
“This is why we have been so desperately asking for all of our front-line members to be vaccinated immediately, including our paramedics,” said Parker. “No more blaming, get the damn vaccine out and available to our front-line people immediately.” Twenty-six deaths were reported in Alberta on Tuesday, bringing the total of fatalities counted in the past 48 hours to 122. Monday’s update presented online included data from Dec. 30 to Jan. 3. A total of 1,168 Albertans have died as a result of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced 843 new cases on Tuesday after 10,301 tests were completed. There are 13,411 active infections across Alberta, including 5,794 in the Edmonton Zone.
The number of completed tests dropped over the holidays, leading Shandro to say there is some “uncertainty” around recent case numbers. He said the provincial emergency management committee will be meeting either this week or next week to review the latest data.
“The reliability of some of the holiday testing has to be looked at, in a particular way, because not as many people wanted to get tested during the holidays,” said Shandro.
Prior to the holidays, 15,000 to 20,000 tests were completed daily. By comparison, 12,719 tests were completed on Jan. 1, 8,112 on Jan. 2 and 11,963 on Jan. 3.
Current restrictions on businesses will be in place until at least Jan. 12. Shandro said the management committee will be reviewing the restrictions before then but said they will be in place until the government decides they are no longer necessary.
Hinshaw said there has been a stabilization of new cases in the province but once again warned that lower testing numbers over the holidays may have contributed to decreasing numbers.
“Overall, new case numbers, hospitalizations, and ICU admissions for COVID-19 are still very high in our province,” said Hinshaw. “While we work to offer vaccine to those at highest risk, we must continue to act as the vaccine for each other right now. Please keep following the public health measures in place and limit your in-person interactions whenever possible.”
There are 919 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, including 140 in intensive care units.
Shandro warned cases could climb in the coming days. The province saw a steep increase after Thanksgiving and health officials have warned daily case counts could break into the 2,000s if large portions of the public attended social gatherings.
“There’s a real risk of an increase due to the holidays,” said Shandro. “But we turned the corner on cases before Christmas and lower case numbers and lower case numbers have also changed the curve of cases coming into hospitals. They’re still far too high, but they’re flattening and if we stick at it, they’ll come down.”
