A NEW SATELLITE CAN PEER INSIDE BUILDINGS, DAY OR NIGHT (Source FUTURISM)

A few months ago, a company called Capella Space launched a satellite capable of taking clear radar images of anywhere in the world, with incredible resolution — even through the walls of some buildings. And unlike most of the huge array of surveillance and observational satellites orbiting the Earth, its satellite Capella 2 can snap a clear picture during night or day, rain or shine. “It turns out that half of the world is in nighttime, and half of the world, on average, is cloudy a former system engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion laboratory, told Futurism. “When you combine those two together, about 75 percent of Earth, at any given time, is going to be cloudy, nighttime, or it’s going to be both. It’s invisible to you, and that portion is moving around.” On Wednesday, Capella launched a platform allowing governmental or private customers to request images of anything in the world — a capability that will only get more powerful with the deployment of six additional satellites next year.

“There’s a bunch of gaps in how we’re currently observing Earth from space — the majority of the sensors we use to observe earth are optical imaging sensors,” he said. “If it’s cloudy, you’re going to see the clouds, not what’s happening under the clouds. And if there’s not much light, you’re going to have a really hard time getting an image that is useful.” By contrast, Capella can peer right through cloud cover, and see just as well in the daylight as in total darkness. That’s because instead of optical imaging, it uses synthetic aperture radar, or SAR.

Coca-Cola laying off 2,200 workers

(Source Associated Press)

The Coca-Cola Co. said Thursday it’s laying off 2,200 workers, or 17% of its global workforce, as part of a larger restructuring aimed at paring down its business units and brands. The Atlanta-based company said around half of the layoffs will occur in the U.S., where Coke employs around 10,400 people. Coke employed 86,200 people worldwide at the end of 2019. The coronavirus pandemic has hammered Coke’s business, as sales at places like stadiums and movie theaters dried up due to lockdowns. Its revenue fell 9% to $8.7 billion in the July-September period. The downturn forced the company to accelerate a restructuring that was already underway. “We’ve been challenging legacy ways of doing business and the pandemic helped us realize we could be bolder in our efforts,” Coke Chairman and CEO James Quincey said during an earnings call in October. Coke is reducing its brands by half to 200. It shed multiple slow-selling brands this year, including Tab, Zico coconut water, Diet Coke Fiesty Cherry and Odwalla juices. The company said it will use the savings to invest in growing brands like Minute Maid and Simply juices and fund the launch of new products like Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, Coca-Cola Energy and Aha sparkling water.

Anthony Fauci Issues Christmas COVID-19 Warning: ‘We Have A Big Problem’ (Source HuffPost) Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, on Wednesday urged Americans to have a low-key Christmas to avoid spreading the coronavirus. “I’m going to be with my wife — period,” Fauci told The Washington Post. “The Christmas holiday is a special holiday for us because Christmas Eve is my birthday. And Christmas Day is Christmas Day. And they are not going to come home. That’s painful. We don’t like that. But that’s just one of the things you’re going to have to accept as we go through this unprecedented challenging time.” Fauci turns 80 on Dec. 24. He has three adult daughters and none will visit him or his wife Christine Grady over the holidays. The United States currently has “a big problem” as daily new infections, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 continue to surge, Fauci continued. “Look at the numbers — the numbers are really quite dramatic.” The pandemic has now killed more than 300,000 people nationwide. Wednesday saw 244,365 new cases reported and 3,607 deaths. Fauci last week revealed that the 32-year-old brother of his daughter’s boyfriend died after contracting COVID-19. He encouraged people to “stay at home as much as you can, keep your interactions to the extent possible to members of the same household

Microplastics in Our Drinking Water – Significant Source of Microplastics in Human Diet

(Source scitechdaily.com)

Emerging environmental contaminants, both chemicals, and particulates, have been a concern for risk scientists for many years. Methods for reducing health and environmental risks from particles are still evolving. Micro/nanoplastic particles are one environmental contaminant that has recently received research and media attention, and scientists are only beginning to study their potential for adverse environmental and human health effects. In an effort to understand the potential risks associated with exposure to micro/nanoplastics, the Emerging Risks of Micro/nanoplastics: Perspectives From Diverse Sectors symposia at the 2020 Society for Risk Analysis virtual Annual Meeting, December 13-17, 2020, aims to highlight the current state of knowledge associated with physical and chemical transformation, hazard characterization, environmental effects, social implications, and policy limitations. Scott Coffin, Ph.D., California State Water Resources Control Board, will present the world’s first regulatory investigation of microplastics in drinking water.

Global Stablecoins Could Eventually Become Reserve Currencies: IMF Paper

(Source coindesk.com) Titled “Reserve Currencies in an Evolving International Monetary System,” the departmental paper looks at shifts in the global monetary system and factors that might influence the U.S. dollar’s role as the dominant reserve currency, including new payments systems and digital currency.

While their study concluded overall that the dollar is safe for now, the authors said the reserve currency landscape would likely shift. They posited that private digital currencies could “emerge as important international currencies,” with libra/diem possibly becoming the first example of a global stablecoin. Global stablecoins (or GSCs) could also increase the demand for reserve fiat currencies they’re backed by, according to the paper.

“But GSCs do not need to be backed by existing fiat reserve currencies and could themselves attain reserve currency status,” the authors write. “It is also conceivable that more than one global stablecoin could become a reserve asset.”

The paper theorizes that rather than be differentiated by macroeconomic factors, digital currency competition would differentiate along network lines and by users. And while digital currency “may cut across borders in ways that existing currencies do not,” different regulatory frameworks might lead to increased fragmentation, said the IMF.

Putin deflects interference allegations with own claims of U.S. efforts to undermine Moscow

(Source Washington Post) At his annual marathon news conference, Putin cast a wide net with unsupported assertions that U.S. hands were behind some of the most high-profile troubles for the Kremlin, including accusations that Russian agents were behind the August nerve agent poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

But Putin did not expand on Kremlin denials that Russian government hackers were behind a recent digital spying operation that hit the Department of Homeland Security, the State, Treasury and Commerce departments, and the National Institutes of Health. Russian authorities often seek to portray the West as steeped in anti-Russian bias and working to undermine Moscow. Putin’s latest deflections also could reflect his growing domestic difficulties, including an economy in tatters from low oil prices and the pandemic. Putin, however, expressed some hope of better relations with the incoming Biden administration, just days after issuing a belated congratulations to the president-elect. Putin took it a step further and answered a question on recent Russian media investigations into the financial activities of Putin’s family and entourage by alleging U.S. interference in Russia’s domestic affairs. “That’s the State Department and U.S. security services. They are the real authors. Anyway, this has clearly been done on their orders. This is absolutely obvious,” Putin said, without offering evidence. He added that “the goal is revenge and attempts to influence public opinion in our country in order to interfere in our domestic life.”

Billions Spent on U.S. Cyberdefenses Failed to Detect Giant Russian Hack (Source New York Times)

Over the past few years, the U.S. government has spent tens of billions of dollars on cyberoffensive abilities, building a giant war room at Fort Meade, Maryland, for U.S. Cyber Command, while installing defensive sensors all around the country — a system named Einstein to give it an air of genius — to deter the nation’s enemies from picking its networks clean, again. It now is clear that the broad Russian espionage attack on the U.S. government and private companies, underway since spring and detected by the private sector only a few weeks ago, ranks among the greatest intelligence failures of modern times. Einstein missed it — because the Russian hackers brilliantly designed their attack to avoid setting it off. The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security were looking elsewhere, understandably focused on protecting the 2020 election.

The new U.S. strategy of “defend forward” — essentially, putting American “beacons” into the networks of its adversaries that would warn of oncoming attacks and provide a platform for counterstrikes — provided little to no deterrence for the Russians, who have upped their game significantly since the 1990s, when they launched an attack on the Defense Department called Moonlight Maze.

Coronavirus tracked: US sees more Covid deaths in a single day than 9/11 (Source independent.co.uk)

More people have died of Covid-19 in the United States in one day than the total number of victims from the 9/11 terror attacks. The country’s death toll climbed to 3,124 on Wednesday, marking a record high for a single day anywhere in the world. The tally also ranks as the third deadliest day in the history of the US from a single cause, behind the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and the Battle of Antietam during the American Civil War in 1862. The daily number of reported coronavirus deaths in the US initially peaked in April before dipping between May and June. After rising briefly in July and dipping between May and July and early August, the number of daily deaths declined again until a huge surge in November. The daily average is now more than three times higher than it was just two months ago.

The latest figure takes the total Covid-19 death toll in the US to 289,000 – more than 100,000 more than the next worst affected country. Meanwhile confirmed cases are also at record highs in the US, with more than 200,000 people currently testing positive for the deadly virus every single day.

More than 100,000 people in the US are currently being treated in hospitals, putting significant strain on healthcare facilities and professionals.

The Crack-Up at the Federal Reserve Is Coming. Decline of US Dollar, Rejection of Its World Reserve Currency Status (Source globalresearch.ca)

Concerns over the effects of the US government’s debt, the precarious American economic condition, and growing resentment of US foreign policy have led to a decline in the dollar’s international value. Eventually, these factors will lead to a rejection of the dollar’s world reserve currency status.

Rejection of the dollar’s reserve currency status abroad and the crack-up at home will cause an economic meltdown worse than the Great Depression. Among the problems this will lead to is increased violence as some Americans who believe they are entitled to live off the stolen property of others cut out the government middleman and start stealing from their fellow citizens. The only way to avoid this fate is to spread the ideas of liberty among the people. A strong liberty movement that can pressure politicians to cut spending, audit and end the Fed, legalize competing currencies, and stop promoting divisive identity politics is the key to peacefully transitioning away from the Keynesian welfare-warfare state to a free society.

China Overtakes the US to Become EU’s Biggest Trade Partner as Beijing’s Economy Continues to Boom Post-COVID while the Rest of the World Slides into the Red(Source globalresearch.ca)

China has overtaken the U.S. to become the EU’s biggest trade partner while the rest of the world slides into the red due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

 The country pushed past the United States in the third quarter to become the European Union‘s top trade partner, as the pandemic disrupted the US while Chinese activity rebounded. Over the first nine months of 2020, trade between the EU and China totalled 425.5 billion euros ($514 billion), while trade between the EU and the United States came in at 412.5 billion euros, according to Eurostat data.