The study raises questions about the development of vaccines focusing on the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Would, for instance, basing research on what may be a less infectious or dominant form of the virus be a waste of time? However, experts told Newsweek it is unlikely the mutation will affect the process, although it is important to monitor such changes. The authors originally released their work on the pre-print website bioRxiv in May (meaning it hadn’t been peer-reviewed) prompting debate online....

The WHO joined TikTok on Friday, the same day that the organization upgraded the global risk of the coronavirus outbreak to “very high” which is its top level of risk assessment. The WHO TikTok account has approximately 160,500 followers, 1.2 million likes and nearly 50 million views across the two videos. The first video from WHO is captioned: “We are joining @tiktok to provide you with reliable and timely public health advice!...

The “contest” claims to be hosted by the CEO of Walter Craig Jelinek in honor of Costco’s birthday and pretends to be giving away free groceries and a voucher. The Facebook post from a page that fraudulently claims to be linked to Costco says: “COMPETlTlON ALERT! My name is Walter Craig Jelinek and I’m the CEO of Costco. “To celebrate our Birthday, Every single person who shares and comments in the next 24hrs will get one of these Christmas Food Box delivered straight to their door on Saturday 28th November....

That’s how a Massachusetts defense attorney who regularly works cases in the same courthouse in which Hernandez was arraigned believes Hernandez’s defense will interpret Friday’s indictment of Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace. “I think they were going to go with the theme that this was a rush to arrest (Hernandez). I think this enhances their argument that it was a rush to arrest, then investigate later,’’ said Michael DelSignore, a Bristol, Mass....

The last name feels … surprising, right? Ohtani won last year’s AL MVP award and Harper won the NL award. Judge makes sense because the ESPY timeline includes the 12 months leading up to the late-July awards show; Judge finished fourth in the AL MVP voting last year and is on a Ruthian home run pace in 2022. MORE: 21 reasons why Braves’ 2021 World Series title was so unexpected...

On Sunday afternoon, 75,000 supporters padded down to the Waterfront Bowl in the fair city of Portland, Ore. for the Illinois senator’s largest rally to date. Sixty thousand got in; the remaining 15,000 watched from outside the gates. The opening act was The Decemberists, a bespectacled indie-rock band that laces its bookish songs about legionnaires and architects with words like “palanquin” and “fontanelle”; John Mellencamp they are not. With its backdrop of twee little tugboats and sprawling audience of mellow, well-read young urbanites, the event neatly reinforced the conventional wisdom–i....

Several weeks have passed since West began making headlines, first for his controversial Yeezy fashion show in Paris, where he debuted his line of shirts with the phrase “White Lives Matter,” and more recently, for remarks he made that were criticized as antisemitic. The rapper and fashion designer, who legally changed his name to Ye, has been locked out of his Twitter and Instagram accounts for the remarks, and several brands have terminated business deals with him in response, but is there more that can or should be done?...

Meanwhile, NEWSWEEK has learned, White House officials are circulating a draft of a secret presidential directive returning control of counterterrorism operations to the National Security Council. After the Iran-contra scandal (when counterterrorism policy was run out of the NSC by Oliver North), the Reagan administration gave State the job of coordinating Washington’s response to terrorists abroad. Now State, Pentagon and FBI officials are fighting the White House plan, fearing it could breed the kind of off-the-books operations that embarrassed Reagan....

An actual wedding took place at halftime of the Patriots-Bills game at Orchard Park in Buffalo. In true Bills Mafia fashion, Buffalo legend Jim Kelly gave the bride away, while retired defensive tackle Kyle Williams presided over the nuptials. Retired running back Thurman Thomas and retired receiver Steve Tasker were also in attendance — along with thousands of screaming fans. According to WIVB-TV, Mackenzie Park and Jordan Binggeli of Rochester, N....

The Tate County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) said Child Protective Services alerted officials about a case of suspected child abuse on Tuesday. Authorities became concerned after a child told their teacher at East Tate Elementary School that they were placed in a cage when they got in trouble, Fox13 reported. TCSO officers carried out an investigation at the children’s home in the 400 block of Turner Road in Coldwater, and found a wire cage with a locking device....

Autumn Knepper and Adam Marsh told KGW-TV this week that Executive Roof Services (ERS) sued them for $112,000 after they each left one-star reviews of the company’s services. Knepper and Marsh were reportedly served a lawsuit by ERS that accused them of defamation and intentional interference with business expectancy. Knepper and Marsh wrote in their respective online reviews that the receptionist of the roofing company, which was sent to their home by their landlord to fix a leak, was “rude” and that ERS allegedly didn’t follow through on the services they were tasked with completing....

Wanda Wold was 96 years old when she passed away at the Concord Care Center in Garner, Iowa, after suffering from Alzheimer’s for several years. Just a few hours later, her 94-year-old husband James “Jim” Wold also died in the same room he shared with his longtime partner at the nursing home. Candy Engstler, one of the Wolds’ three children, told KCCI how she got a call around 4 a....

The state Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a complaint from Donna Brandenburg asking for her to be listed as a candidate for governor in the August 2 Republican primary. The court’s ruling is the latest setback for multiple Republicans hoping to topple Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic governor of a key swing state. In Michigan, candidates for governor must submit petitions with enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. The Michigan Board of State Canvassers last month deadlocked on certifying five Republican candidates for governor, reports the Michigan Advance....

The ACC sued Maryland after the school said last November it was leaving for the Big Ten Conference. That lawsuit came after the ACC voted to increase the exit penalty to three times the conference's operating budget, which the appeals court calculated at nearly $52.3 million. A state Court of Appeals panel rejected Maryland's bid to dismiss the lawsuit. It was filed in Greensboro, where the ACC is headquartered. The three-judge panel's unanimous decision means Maryland has no automatic right to a state Supreme Court appeal....

The Stamford Bridge side had to settle for 10th place in the table last term, having won the title the previous season, and were heavily criticised for their poor performances. The Blues more than made up for it under Antonio Conte in 2016-17, though, and were crowned champions again on Friday following a 1-0 win over West Brom. Tevez a colossal waste of money in China “We had a bad season....

The Belgian goalkeeper has made no secret of his desire to head back to La Liga having previously enjoyed three productive years on loan at Atletico Madrid. Courtois made that move while waiting for an opportunity to present itself at Stamford Bridge and he is planning to tread a similar path in the future. The 25-year-old is yet to agree an extension to a Chelsea contract which is due to expire in 2019 and Real have been heavily linked with an approach for his services for some time....

Researchers at China’s Aerodynamics Research and Development Center in Sichuan province have developed a new captive trajectory system (CTS) that holds an aircraft in place using robotic arms, according to the South China Morning Post, enabling them to test how the craft pitches and rolls in all possible directions at extremely high speeds, as well as how the high speeds affect the release of objects like missiles. This gives them the ability to test a prototype hypersonic bomber, the newspaper said....

China initiated the emergency use program in July. The program so far includes three vaccine candidates for essential workers and high-risk individuals, although clinical studies have not yet proved the vaccines’ safety and efficacy, according to Reuters. Two vaccine candidates are developed by Sinopharm’s subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG), and the third is developed by Sinovac Biotech. All three vaccines have been used for China’s emergency program. “In terms of emergency use, the vaccines were applied to nearly a million people and there has not been a single case of a serious adverse event....

Trump has continued to shift blame for the coronavirus pandemic to China, where the virus originated at the end of last year. Draconian restrictions quickly shut down China’s internal outbreak but did nothing to stop its international spread. Trump has been widely criticized for his slow and confused response to the crisis. The president also repeatedly downplayed the scale and severity of the pandemic, even after contracting the disease and being hospitalized....

In a pilot project, China Pharmaceutical University in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, has set up cameras that use facial recognition software. The system will be used at the university gate, as well as at entrances to the dormitory building, library, lab, and two classrooms. Xu Jianzhen, director of the university’s library and information centre, told news website Thepaper.cn that the technology can make it easier for managers “to track their students....