Wuhan lab’s ‘Bat Lady’ Shi Zhengli met x-US health director Fauci at NIH in 2017, emails reveal
By December 2017, NIH had resumed funding for gain-of-function research that generates new viruses in the lab following a three-year pause and debate about the possibility that such research could cause a pandemic.
Vatican moves to calm bishops and limit same-sex ‘weddings’ to 10 to 15 seconds events
Catholic bishops in some countries, particularly in Africa, have expressed various degrees of dissent over the December 18 declaration, known by its Latin title Fiducia Supplicans (Supplicating Trust), which was approved by Pope Francis.
Israel’s war strategy against Hamas shifts to deadlier, indiscriminate strikes on Iran-linked targets
The intensified air campaign has killed 19 Hezbollah members in Syria in three months – more than twice the rest of 2023 combined, according to a Reuters count. More than 130 Hezbollah fighters have also been killed by Israeli shelling of southern Lebanon in the same period.
United Airlines finds loose bolts on several 737 MAX planes, raising pressure on Boeing aircraft
Alaska Airlines said it was waiting for final revised guidelines from Boeing before it could start inspecting planes and said it was ready to begin as soon as it received required FAA approvals. Boeing said it was staying in close contact with MAX 9 operators and would help customers address any findings during inspections.
Scientists find a quarter million invisible nanoplastic particles in a litre of bottled water
Previous studies have looked at slightly bigger microplastics that range from the visible five millimetres, less than a quarter of an inch, to one micron. About 10 to 100 times more nanoplastics than microplastics were discovered in bottled water, the study found.
A striker for Arsenal? Creating scoring chances is key indicator of future success than a team’s finishing ability
Arsenal are in a slump, there is no escaping it. But if we zoom out, you can see that their recent wastefulness in front of goal is a rare occurrence across the past 18 months – in which Arteta’s men have largely overperformed when comparing their goals and expected goals over time.
New African Magazine publishes 100 Most Influential Africans list dominated by Nigeria, Kenya
William Ruto, the President of Kenya, and Bola Tinubu, President of Nigeria, were the only heads of state to make it, along with the Guinean military leader Mamady Doumbouya. Doumbouya created quite a stir at this year’s UN General Assembly and appears to have found a solution around the Simandou mining saga.
UN voices concern over rising post-election hate speech, ethnic tension and calls to arms in DRC
Election-related tensions are common in the DRC, which has a history of authoritarian rule and violent government overthrow. Some 250 different ethnic groups live in the vast country. It sits on considerable mineral wealth but little trickles down the population of around 100 million.
Top US government official on Covid: ‘You can’t make a cogent, convincing argument that it came naturally from an animal’
Noting that public health agencies such as the NIH and the CDC were not involved in trying to figure out the origins of Covid-19, Kadlec said, “It really has little to do with NIH and CDC. … There was this idea that, between the intelligence community and the scientific community, there had to be someone who would take the responsibility for leading efforts to conduct attribution.”
Key bioweapons official publicly accuses ex-White House advisor on Covid of ‘denial and deception’
Kadlec noted that as early as February 2020, Fauci and key virologists were privately acknowledging, in emails between them, “that this could have been a laboratory incident.”
