Finding suggests the agency believes totality of evidence makes a lab origin more likely, but assigns a low degree of confidence to the conclusion
The CIA now believes the virus responsible for the coronavirus pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory, according to an assessment released on Saturday that points the finger at China even while acknowledging that the spy agency has “low confidence” in its own conclusion.
The finding is not the result of any new intelligence, and the report was completed at the behest of the Biden administration and former CIA director William Burns. It was declassified and released on Saturday on the orders of president Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, John Ratcliffe, who was sworn in as director on Thursday.
TORONTO — Sarah Nurse checked in with a late game-winner on the power play and Hannah Miller scored twice to lift the Toronto Sceptres to a 4-2 win against the New York Sirens on Saturday. Nurse placed a shot over the glove of New York goalie Corinne Schroeder with 5:54 remaining in the third period...
In a statement Friday evening, Chicago Public Schools leaders said that after their initial comments went out about ICE agents, they learned the agents were from the Secret Service.
Czech skier Tereza Nova underwent brain surgery and was placed in a medically induced coma after crashing in training for Saturday’s World Cup women’s downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Two bodies recovered from wreckage of block in city of Konya, with three other people rescued
Rescuers have pulled the bodies of a 23-year-old woman and a man believed to be her husband from under a collapsed apartment building in central Turkey, state-run media said.
Three other people were rescued from the wreckage and were being treated in a hospital, the Anadolu news agency reported.
Madison Keys of the United States upset two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in the Australian Open final on Saturday night.
Hamas is expected to release four female Israeli soldiers for 200 Palestinian prisoners or detainees in the second exchange since a ceasefire took effect last weekend
WASHINGTON -- The Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth as the nation's defense secretary Friday in a dramatic late-night vote, swatting back questions about his qualifications to lead the Pentagon amid allegations of heavy drinking and aggressive behavior toward women. Read More
Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has used a morning tea with the prime minister to take aim at Rupert Murdoch – but says her message goes well beyond the billionaire media mogul.
The 2021 winner wore a T-shirt that read “Fuck Murdoch” when she was greeted by Anthony Albanese and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, at the event for recipients of the 2025 awards held at the Lodge in Canberra on Saturday.
The young collector who scored a one-of-a-kind baseball card featuring National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes has turned down a trade offer from the Pittsburgh Pirates
Teresa Youngblut, 21, charged with weapons crimes over highway shootout in which German man also died
A Washington state woman has been charged in the fatal shooting of a US border patrol agent during a Vermont traffic stop that happened days after authorities began watching her and a German companion, who also died in the highway shootout, the FBI said on Friday.
Teresa Youngblut, 21, faces two weapons charges in connection with the death of the border patrol agent David Maland, 44, who died on Monday during the shootout in Coventry, a small town about 20 miles from the Canadian border.
Hiring caps unusual coaching search for Jacksonville
The Jacksonville Jaguars hired Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Liam Coen as the eighth head coach in franchise history Friday, capping a covert operation that included owner Shad Khan moving on from general manager Trent Baalke and Coen reversing course with the Buccaneers.
The sides officially agreed to terms a day after Coen called Bucs coach Todd Bowles and others to tell them he planned to sign with Jacksonville.
ROME (AP) -- Italy's highest court on Thursday confirmed a slander conviction against U.S. defendant Amanda Knox for accusing an innocent man of murdering her British flatmate 17 years ago in a sensational case that polarized trial watchers on both sides of the Atlantic. Read More
Los Angeles county district attorney says allegations are too old and evidence insufficient to charge musician
Prosecutors said on Friday that they will not file charges against Marilyn Manson after a years-long investigation of allegations of sexual assault and domestic violence.
The Los Angeles county district attorney, Nathan Hochman, said the allegations were too old under the law and the evidence was not sufficient to charge the 56-year-old shock rocker whose legal name is Brian Warner.
“We have determined that allegations of domestic violence fall outside of the statute of limitations, and we cannot prove charges of sexual assault beyond a reasonable doubt,” Hochman said. “We recognize and applaud the courage and resilience of the women who came forward to make reports and share their experiences, and we thank them for their cooperation and patience with the investigation.”
Nearly four years after the investigation began, the then district attorney, George Gascón, said on 9 October that his office was pursuing new leads that added to the “already extensive” file that authorities had amassed.
LA county sheriff’s detectives said early in 2021 that they were investigating Manson for incidents between 2009 and 2011 in West Hollywood, where Manson lived at the time. The investigation included a search warrant that was served on his West Hollywood home. The case was initially turned over to prosecutors in September 2021, but the Los Angeles county district attorney’s office requested more evidence-gathering and the investigation resumed.
The identities of the women police and prosecutors spoke to were not revealed, but the Game of Thrones actor Esmé Bianco – who sued Manson in a case that has been settled – said she was part of the criminal investigation. Before the decision not to prosecute, she criticized how long the process was taking at a rally for Hochman, who was elected soon after.
“Almost four years ago, I did what victims of rape are supposed to do: I went to the police,” she said on 10 October. “I described to them in agonizing detail how the rock musician Brian Warner – better known by his stage name Marilyn Manson – had raped and abused me over the course of our relationship.”
Bianco said she gave investigators “hundreds of pieces of evidence, including photos of my body covered in bites, bruises and knife wounds, emails and text messages, threats to my immigration status”.
In her lawsuit, Bianco alleged sexual, physical and emotional abuse, and said that Manson violated human trafficking law by bringing her to California from England for non-existent roles in music videos and movies.
Manson’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He has previously called the allegations “provably false”. A representative for Bianco did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
In 2021 his former fiancee, the Westworld actor Evan Rachel Wood, named him as her abuser for the first time in an Instagram post.
Wood and Manson’s relationship became public in 2007 when he was 38 and she was 19, and they were briefly engaged in 2010 before breaking up.
“He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years,” Wood said.
Manson replied on Instagram that these were “horrible distortions of reality”. He sued Wood, saying she and another woman fabricated accusations against him and convinced others to do the same. A judge threw out significant sections of the suit, then in November, Manson agreed to drop it and pay Wood’s attorney fees.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused, unless they come forward publicly as Bianco and Wood have done.
Other women sued Manson in the months after Wood came forward. Wood’s representative did not immediately return a message on Friday.
Manson emerged as a musical star in the mid-1990s, known as much for courting public controversy as for hit songs like The Beautiful People and hit albums like 1996’s Antichrist Superstar and 1998’s Mechanical Animals.
TEL AVIV — The Hamas terrorist group on Friday published the names of four hostages it said it would release the following day as part of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Read More
BURLINGTON, Vt. — The FBI said Friday that it arrested a Washington state woman in the fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont. Read More
LONDON — Millions of people in Ireland and northern parts of the U.K. were urged to stay at home Friday as hurricane-force winds disabled power networks and brought widespread travel disruptions. Read More
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