[Perspectives] Is my cough COVID-19?
Eric J Topol | thelancet.com | 2020-12-12
Imagine that even if you have no symptoms of COVID-19, the sound of your forced cough transmitted to your smartphone or smart speaker, processed by an algorithm, could provide a 98 ∑5% accurate diagnosis. That's what a study involving more than 4000 people suggested might be possible. And it could be done anytime, free of charge, with immediate turnaround of results. It's one of many proposed uses of artificial intelligence (AI) for COVID-19. However, such technology will clearly require further research and independent replication to be refined, accepted, or implemented.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32589-7/fulltext?rss=yes

Iran not like regional countries that are subject to US will
Mehr News Agency | en.mehrnews.com | 2020-12-12
TEHRAN, Dec. 12 (MNA) — In reaction to Pompeo's recent remarks on Iran's parliamentary nuclear bill, Guardian Council spokesman said that Iran is not like the countries in the region that are subject to the illegitimate will of the American regime.
en.mehrnews.com/news/167049/Iran-not-like-regional-countries-that-are-subject-to-US-will

Go Vote Yourself a Raise, Georgia — You've Long Earned It
Ralph Nader | counterpunch.org | 2020-12-11
All political eyes are on Georgia's runoff election on January 5th, 2021. Two Senate seats are up for grabs and will decide whether the evil Trumpster and corporatist Senator Mitch McConnell stays in total control of the U.S. Senate or not. If the Democrats win both seats, the Senate would be split, 50-50. Vice President…
counterpunch.org/2020/12/11/go-vote-yourself-a-raise-georgia-youve-long-earned-it/

Podcast Panel: US Meddling In Venezuela Elections, Economic Warfare & COVID-19
Mnar Muhawesh Adley | mintpressnews.com | 2020-12-11
Observed by 1,500 international election observers from 34 countries, elections in Venezuela handed Nicholas Maduro a clear victory, sending a message to the US that it failed to influence the same elections that Mike Pompeo called illegitimate.
mintpressnews.com/podcast-panel-us-meddling-in-venezuela-elections-economic-warfare-covid-19/273567/

Podcast Panel: US Meddling In Venezuela Elections, Economic Warfare & COVID-19
Mnar Muhawesh Adley | mintpressnews.com | 2020-12-11
Observed by 1,500 international election observers from 34 countries, elections in Venezuela handed Nicholas Maduro a clear victory, sending a message to the US that it failed to influence the same elections that Mike Pompeo called illegitimate.
mintpressnews.com/podcast-panel-us-meddling-in-venezuela-elections-economic-warfare-covid-19/273567/

Supreme Court Weighs Corporate Liability For Child Laborers On Cocoa Farms
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-12-11
Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments about whether the world's largest cocoa corporations are liable for child slavery in their supply chains. For 15 years, six citizens of Mali who were trafficked as children to work on cocoa farms have sought legal damages from Cargill and Nestle USA under a 240-year-old anti-piracy law. | The plaintiffs' attorney told the court that the corporations "maintain a system of child slavery and forced labor in their Ivory Coast supply chain as a matter of corporate policy to gain a competitive advantage in the U.S. market."
popularresistance.org/supreme-court-weighs-corporate-liability-for-child-laborers-on-cocoa-farms/

Israel-Morocco normalisation deal condemned online
Yasmina Allouche | middleeasteye.net | 2020-12-11
Israel-Morocco normalisation deal condemned online | Using the hashtag 'Moroccans Against Normalisation', many have blasted the deal as a loss for Sahrawis and Palestinians alike | Yasmina Allouche | Fri, 12/11/2020 – 15: 05 | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Morocco's King Mohammed VI. The countries have shared nearly six decades of close cooperation on intelligence and military matters in secr…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-morocco-deal-normalisation-condemned-online

'Serious escalation': Pompeo claims Iran would be closer to nuclear WEAPONS with new uranium enrichment bill
rt.com | 2020-12-11
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned that Iran could be a step closer to obtaining nukes if it enriches uranium at a higher purity and continues to frustrate international efforts to search its nuclear sites. | "A reduction in Iran's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or enrichment to the 20 percent level would constitute a serious escalation that moves Iran closer to the ability to obtain a nuclear weapon," he said in a statement on Friday. | Last week Iranian MPs passed a new law, requiring the country to "produce and store 120kg per year of uranium enriched to 20 percent"
rt.com/news/509441-pompeo-iran-nuclear-weapons/

Rebekah Jones, Florida's COVID-19 whistleblower, says Gov. DeSantis has health officials "terrified"
Matthew Rozsa | salon.com | 2020-12-11
After campaigning for transparency in COVID-19 case reporting, Jones' home was raided by armed agents…
salon.com/2020/12/11/rebekah-jones-floridas-covid-19-whistleblower-says-gov-desantis-has-health-officials-terrified/

Artificial intelligence improves control of powerful plasma accelerators
imperial.ac.uk | 2020-12-11
Researchers have used AI to control beams for the next generation of smaller, cheaper accelerators for research, medical and industrial applications.
imperial.ac.uk/news/210313/artificial-intelligence-improves-control-powerful-plasma

Spain's ruling PSOE, Podemos use "anti-disinformation" tool for internet spying
wsws.org | 2020-12-11
The ELISA tool aims to detect "disinformation seeking to generate polarisation" amid mounting social anger at austerity and official handling of the pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/12/11/elis-d11.html

The Approaching Crunch in US Policy Towards China
Dennis Argall | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-11
The Republican and Democrat leaders of the US Senate Intelligence Committee have issued a joint statement of intense hostility towards China. This posture is a threat to Australia's national security… and the world. An attempt to tear China down will …
globalresearch.ca/approaching-crunch-us-policy-china/5731921

Royal commission into New Zealand terror attack whitewashes government agencies
wsws.org | 2020-12-10