International
U.S. Ambassador: China must be honest about COVID’s origins
February 28 |
The U.S. ambassador to China says Beijing needs to be more forthcoming about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, a day after reports that the U.S. Department of Energy concluded that the outbreak likely began because of a leak at a Chinese lab.
Nicholas Burns said Monday at a US Chamber of Commerce event via video link that China needs to “be more honest about what happened three years ago in Wuhan with the origin of the COVID-19 crisis.” Wuhan is the Chinese city where the first cases of the new coronavirus were reported in December 2019.
His comments come a day after U.S. media reported that the Department of Energy determined that the pandemic likely stemmed from a lab leak in Wuhan.
The department made its judgment in a classified intelligence report provided to the White House and key members of Congress, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the development, citing people who read the report.
The WSJ said the Energy Department’s intelligence agency was now the second U.S. intelligence agency after the FBI to conclude that a leak at a Chinese lab was the likely cause of the pandemic, although U.S. spy agencies remain divided over the origins of the virus.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby echoed that sentiment.
“There has been no definitive conclusion or consensus in the U.S. government on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Kirby told reporters Monday when asked about the WSJ report.
The Energy Department’s assessment was made with “low confidence,” while the FBI’s conclusion was determined with “moderate confidence,” according to the WSJ. Four other U.S. agencies reportedly determined with “low confidence” that the virus was naturally transmitted through animals, while two other agencies remain undecided.
The reports bring national attention back to the question of what caused the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Energy Department’s conclusion marks a shift from its earlier position that it was undecided about how the virus began. U.S. officials did not disclose what new intelligence prompted the change. The Energy Department’s analysis came from its network of national laboratories, giving it a different perspective than more traditional intelligence assessments.
On Sunday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN that “there are a variety of views in the intelligence community.”
“Some elements of the intelligence community have come to conclusions on one side, some on the other,” he said.
Scientists have also been divided on the issue, with some pointing to the live animal market in Wuhan as the most likely place where the virus emerged, noting that animal-to-human transmission has been the pathway for many previously unknown pathogens. However, other scientists have given credence to the laboratory escape theory, noting that no animal source has been found and that Wuhan is a major site of coronavirus research.
The question of how the virus began has also exacerbated political divisions in the U.S., with Republicans more likely to back the lab leak hypothesis.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton was one of the first high-profile politicians to express the theory that the virus originated in a laboratory, commenting in February 2020, when the prevailing view was that the virus had been transmitted by bats and spread at a food market in Wuhan.
After a growing number of scientists urged serious consideration of both hypotheses, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered an intelligence review of the origins of COVID-19 in May 2021.
An intelligence assessment declassified in October 2021 indicated that both hypotheses were plausible, but that intelligence agencies remained divided over which theory was correct. The report said there was consensus among intelligence agencies that the pandemic was not the result of a Chinese biological weapons program.
China has repeatedly denied that there was a lab leak in Wuhan. It has placed limits on World Health Organization investigations to determine the origin of the virus.
Some of the information in this report came from Reuters.
International
Fire in India’s Jhansi Hospital kills 10 newborns
At least 10 newborns have died following a fire in the neonatal unit of a hospital in Jhansi, India, which was attributed to a faulty oxygen machine, authorities reported on Saturday, adding that 39 babies were rescued.
“Unfortunately, 10 infants have died,” said Brajesh Pathak, Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, regarding the fire that occurred on Friday night.
The fire started at 10:30 PM (17:00 GMT) at the Maharani Lakshmibai Medical University in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
The rescued babies, all only a few days old, were moved to another area of the hospital for treatment.
Dr. Narendra Senga, the director of a medical faculty attached to the hospital, also confirmed the death toll of 10 infants.
International
Seven british citizens arrested in Spain for hashish trafficking 1.2 tons seized
Seven British citizens were arrested in Spain for hashish trafficking in an operation that led to the seizure of 1.2 tons of the drug, which is made from cannabis resin, the Spanish Ministry of the Interior reported on Saturday.
“National Police agents, in collaboration with the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the UK, have dismantled an organization allegedly dedicated to transporting drugs in trucks in Marbella and Elche,” the ministry stated in a press release.
“Agents seized 1,200 kilos of hashish and arrested seven British citizens,” the report specified.
The drugs were found in Marbella and Fuengirola, in southern Spain, as well as in Elche, in the southeastern region.
Part of the hashish was hidden in “large plastic barrels filled with fine mortar sand.”
In addition, the police seized over €63,000 in cash, five passenger vehicles, and a heavy-duty truck.
All of the detainees have been placed in pretrial detention.
Spain serves as the gateway for most of the hashish sold in Europe, due to its proximity to North Africa, the main production area.
In 2022, Spain seized 324.7 tons of hashish, according to the latest available official annual data.
International
Sinaloa cartel network dismantled in Spain following kidnapping and ransom incident
Fourteen members of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel were arrested in Spain following an investigation that began with the kidnapping and murder of an associate, the Spanish National Police announced on Sunday.
“The dismantled criminal network, based in Catalonia, is allegedly involved in the kidnapping and death of a man whose body was found in a wooded area of the region,” explained the National Police in a statement. The victim had traveled from Italy to meet with some of the leaders of the gang.
The criminal organization was “mainly composed of Mexican individuals” and was “linked to the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.”
The victim, a 46-year-old man, was allegedly working for the organization and had traveled to Barcelona from Italy to meet with leaders of the criminal network. The kidnapping took place between late May and June, and the victim’s family in Kosovo alerted the police after receiving a ransom demand of €240,000 (approximately $253,000). The family paid part of the ransom, $32,000 in cryptocurrency.
The victim’s body, whose nationality was not disclosed, was found in August in a forest, showing signs of violence and in an advanced state of decomposition.
The arrested individuals are allegedly connected to drug trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping, and murder. They received packages from Mexico containing methamphetamine soaked into pieces of clothing, which were sent to Catalonia. Once in Spain, they extracted the drug in a laboratory they operated.
The Sinaloa cartel is named after the northwestern Mexican state where it was founded and remains one of the most important criminal organizations in the world, despite the incarceration of two of its historic leaders, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and Ismael “Mayo” Zambada, in the United States.
Fire in India’s Jhansi Hospital kills 10 newborns
Seven british citizens arrested in Spain for hashish trafficking 1.2 tons seized
Sinaloa cartel network dismantled in Spain following kidnapping and ransom incident
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