The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine provides almost complete protection against severe disease caused by the coronavirus, including two variants of concern, according to a study published Wednesday. The study, which is based on the real-world use of the vaccine in Qatar, found that the vaccine does not provide complete protection against being infected with B.1.1.7, the variant first identified in the U.K., or B.1.351, the one first identified in South Africa. What it does provide is extraordinary protection against the worst outcomes, including severe pneumonia and death. “This is really good news,” said Dr. Annelies Wilder-Smith, an infectious disease researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “At this point in time, we can confidently say that we can use this vaccine, even in the presence of circulating variants of concern.”

A series of Instagram ads run by Signal got the messaging app booted from the former’s ad platform, according to a blog post Signal published on Tuesday. The ads were meant to show users the bevy of data that Instagram and its parent company Facebook collects on users.

Retired Navy SEAL Chief Eddie Gallagher—who was acquitted of murdering a 17-year-old ISIS prisoner in 2017—has admitted to deliberately killing the unarmed soldier, Task & Purpose reports. In 2019, Gallagher was charged for stabbing the ISIS fighter to death in Iraq, and was ultimately found not guilty of murder in a case that attracted the attention of President Trump. But during a recent interview with “The Line” podcast, Gallagher conceded, “We killed that guy...Our intention was to kill him. Everybody was on board.” Gallagher’s defense had always claimed that the ex-special operations chief and his team had given the captured ISIS fighter medical help, but were unable to save him. Several members of his platoon testified against him at trial, accusing him of murder. In the podcast interview, Gallagher said he and his team planned to render “medical treatment on him until he’s gone.” “I mean, he was going to die, regardless,” he said. “We weren’t taking any prisoners.” He also claimed that all of the SEALs involved agreed to torture the soldier until he was dead. “I didn’t stab that dude. That dude died from all the medical treatments that were done—and there was plenty of medical treatments that were done to him,” he said. Gallagher added that he cut an “airway” in the teen’s throat “just for practice. I was practicing to see how fast I could do one in.” The ex-SEAL’s attorney has maintained that the comments made during the podcast do not change the outcome of the trial. Regardless of what the soldiers did to the ISIS soldier, “cause of death was Hellfire missile,” he said.

A second member of the Boogaloo Bois in Minnesota pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to provide materials to support Hamas...

It will be the largest licensing program in Denver.

Nasty replies on Twitter will require a little more thought to send. The tech company said Wednesday it was releasing a feature that automatically detects "mean" replies on its service and prompts people to review the replies before sending them. "Want to review this before Tweeting?" the prompt asks in a sample provided by the San Francisco-based company. Twitter users will have three options in response: tweet as is, edit or delete.

A toddler laid to rest with their head on a pillow in a cave in eastern Kenya is thought to be the oldest human burial ever found in Africa. The remains of the child, who was between 2 ½ and 3 years old, date back 78,000 years and were found buried at the mouth of the Panga ya Saidi cave, according to new research published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Los Angeles sheriff deputies frequently harass the families of people they have killed, including taunting them at vigils, parking outside their homes and following them and pulling them over for no reason, according to a new report from the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The LA sheriff’s department (LASD), which has faced national scrutiny for its corruption scandals and killings of young Black and Latino men, has routinely retaliated against victims’ relatives who speak out, the groups said in the report released on Tuesday. The authors collected detailed accounts of alleged harassment from the families of Paul Rea, an 18-year-old killed during a traffic stop in 2019, and Anthony Vargas, a 21-year-old shot 13 times in 2018. The report, also produced by Black Lives Matter LA and Centro Community Service Organization, alleges: LASD deputies regularly drive by or park in front of the Rea and Vargas families’ homes and workplaces and at times have taken photos or recorded them for no reason. Deputies have repeatedly pulled over relatives, searched their cars and detained and arrested them without probable cause, allegedly in retaliation for their protests. Officers have shown up to vigils and family gatherings, at times mocking and laughing at them or threatening to arrest them, and have also damaged items at memorial sites.

In a major reversal, Peloton announced Wednesday voluntary recalls of both its Tread+ and Tread treadmill machines over safety concerns.

Low pay and the company’s disrespect for its workers led to employees quitting en masse last Monday and Tuesday in Eliot, Maine

But are unemployment payments the culprit here? “It doesn’t stand up to scrutiny as a real driving factor,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute. “There is basically a lever employers can pull if they truly are facing a labor shortage of some kind: They can pay more to either attract new workers into the labor force or poach workers who are already in the labor force.” Shierholz noted there have yet to be signs of significant wage growth in the industries where workers are purported to be in severe shortage, and that previous data during the pandemic and the 2008 economic recession demonstrated that expanded unemployment benefits had minimal to no impact on whether workers returned to work.

The curious reappearance of the man at the heart of a mostly forgotten conspiracy theory.

“The Beast” would like to be California’s next governor.

The Facebook Oversight Board announced today that it was upholding the social media giant's decison to ban former President Donald Trump.

There are no Food Crimes, only Gastrogrammatical Rebellion!

There's no reason to take the coup-plotting agency at face value, but many commentators have done just that for the past week.

How moderates’ fear of the Congressional Budget Office screws students and shrinks ambitious policy, all to protect the fabled “taxpayer”

In February 2020, a judge presiding over aclass-action lawsuit on behalf of former students found the staff at Grenville Christian College responsible for systematically abusing girls and boys who attended the boarding school in the 1970s, '80s and '90s. The school's appeal is being heard in court.

According to officials, two Asian women in their 60s and 80s were at a bus stop when they were attacked. A witness says after the stabbing, the suspect did not run, that "he walked away like nothing happened, like Sunday morning."

Dozens of people in New Brunswick are showing symptoms of the devastating new condition.