Facebook has restored access to an advertising account linked to the conservative children’s book publisher Heroes of Liberty — after the lockout sparked an outcry on social media.

Heroes of Liberty, which has published biographies of figures such as Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and former President Ronald Reagan, said it was told the account was locked for violating Facebook’s policy on “Low Quality or Disruptive Content.”

The publisher appealed to Facebook to reconsider but was rebuffed.

Facebook’s parent company Meta said Tuesday that it has now reversed course on the ban, which was first reported by Fox Business...read more.

The Omicron coronavirus variant might be less severe in humans because it attacks human lung cells in a different way, according to two laboratory studies published recently.

A group of 31 scientists from different universities collaborated on the project for the first study. The second study was authored by 34 scientists from Scottish and English institutes. Both studies were published in preprint form, which means they have yet to be reviewed by other scientists.

The researchers said that Omicron’s numerous mutations appear to have completely changed how it replicates itself in the body.

Omicron “is actually doing its own thing in many ways,” Ravindra Gupta, a leading variant researcher from Cambridge University and an author on the first study, told Insider…read more.

• Criminals have stolen close to $100 billion in pandemic relief funds, the U.S. Secret Service said Tuesday.
• The stolen funds were diverted by fraudsters from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and a another program.
• Recovered funds include more than $400 million from PayPal and Green Dot Corporation. The government has shelled out about $3.5 trillion in Covid relief money since early 2020, when the pandemic began.

Criminals have stolen close to $100 billion in pandemic relief funds, the U.S. Secret Service said Tuesday.

The stolen funds were diverted by fraudsters from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and a another program set up to dole out unemployment assistance funds nationwide.

More than $2.3 billion in stolen funds have been recovered so far, resulting in the arrest of more than 100 suspects who span the spectrum from individuals to organized groups, according to the agency. The government has shelled out about $3.5 trillion in Covid relief money since early 2020, when the pandemic began.

The Secret Service, which specializes in financial fraud in addition to its better-known role in presidential protection, also announced the appointment of a new national pandemic fraud recovery coordinator to oversee its sprawling investigations into the enormous number of fraud cases resulting from all that theft…read more.