CIA: COVID likely originated in a lab, but agency has ‘low confidence’ in report
Voice of America
FILE - A security person moves journalists away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology after a World Health Organization team arrived for a field visit in Wuhan in China's Hubei province, Feb. 3, 2021.
The CIA now believes the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory, according to an assessment released Saturday that points the finger at China even while acknowledging that the spy agency has "low confidence" in its own conclusion.
A photo taken on Jan. 26, 2025 shows the HNLMS Luymes A803 of the Royal Netherlands Navy, a NATO vessel, docked at Ofelia Plads in Copenhagen Harbor. The vessel will participate in NATO's enhanced patrol mission in the Baltic Sea, Baltic Sentry.
FILE - People work at the site where an aircraft went off the runway and crashed at Muan International Airport, in Muan, South Korea, Dec. 30, 2024.
Convicted cocaine smuggler Jos Leijdekkers attends a church service in Tihun, Sierra Leone, Jan. 1, 2025, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. First Lady Fatima Maada Bio via Facebook/via REUTERS.
Jannik Sinner of Italy waves as he carries the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup after defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Jan. 26, 2025.
Pope Francis presides over a mass on the "Word of the Lord Sunday" in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Jan. 26, 2025.
(FILES) South Korea's impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol (C) stands as he attends the fourth hearing of his impeachment trial over his short-lived imposition of martial law at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Jan. 23, 2025.
People displaced by the fighting with M23 rebels make their way to the center of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jan. 26, 2025. People displaced by the fighting with M23 rebels make their way to the center of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jan. 26, 2025.
UN peacekeepers hold their flag in Blida, a Lebanese border village with Israel, in south Lebanon, Jan. 25, 2025.
A snake can be seen at Pythonism, a pet store, that offers customers an opportunity to enjoy the company of snakes while sipping coffee, ahead of the upcoming Lunar New Year, which will usher in the Year of the Snake, in Taipei, Taiwan, Jan. 23, 2025.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio greets State Department staff during a welcome event at the State Department, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington.
FILE - A YouTube screenshot of American conservative Tucker Carlson interviewing Russian IT businessman Pavel Durov in April 2024. The audience included scammers promoting dubious investment schemes on social media.
Sudan's army soldiers celebrate the army's liberation of an oil refinery in North Bahri, Sudan, Jan. 25, 2025.
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One as he travels from Las Vegas to Miami on Jan. 25, 2025. US President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One en route to Florida at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Jan. 25, 2025.
FILE - Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attends her end-of-year news conference in Rome, Italy, January 9, 2025. FILE - Migrants in a dinghy are rescued by Libyan members of the coast guard in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, March 15, 2018. FILE - The International Criminal Court building is seen in The Hague, Netherlands, January 16, 2019. FILE - Italian Justice Minister Carlo Nordio attends the first new Cabinet meeting, at Chigi Palace, in Rome, Italy, October 23, 2022.
FILE - A security person moves journalists away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology after a World Health Organization team arrived for a field visit in Wuhan in China's Hubei province, Feb. 3, 2021.
FILE - Writer Viktor Shenderovich is shown in Moscow, Nov. 28, 2005. He explained his participation in a charity auction to raise funds for Ukraine by saying that artists' "small participation" in the confrontation with Russia "is simply an obligation."
Members of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ride on a pickup as they secure the evacuation of non-essential UN staff in Goma, Congo, Jan. 25, 2025.
FILE - Chinese actor Wang Xing, third from left, shakes hands with a Thai police officer following his return after being kidnapped into a Myanmar telecom fraud center, at a police station in the Mae Sot district, Thailand, on Jan. 7, 2025. (Royal Thai Police via Reuters) FILE - Myanmar police hand over five telecom and internet fraud suspects to Chinese police at Yangon International Airport in Yangon, Myanmar, on Aug. 26, 2023. (Xinhua News Agency via AP)