The university behind a deadly SARS-CoV-2 hybrid claims it didn’t have to gain clearance from the authorities
The Boston University researchers who developed an unusually deadly strain of the virus that causes Covid-19 did not clear their endeavor with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the agency claimed on Monday, announcing it would be seeking answers as to why it only learned of the experiment through media reports.
The original grant application did not specify that the work might involve gain-of-function-type research, NIAID microbiology and infectious diseases division director Emily Erbelding told STAT News, adding that none of the group’s progress reports mention this crucial detail. NIAID and its parent agency the National Institutes of Health partially funded the study.
Despite multiple NIAID and NIH grants listed in the preprint paper, however, director Ronald Corley of Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories insisted on Tuesday that the school had paid for the research on its own. Corley argued the federal funding had merely gone toward developing a system that would later be used in the controversial work. Besides, he said, the work didn’t qualify as gain of function because the resulting strain had only killed 80% of the infected mice, while the original Wuhan strain of the virus had killed 100% of the mice it was tested on.
READ MORE: US scientists create new lethal Covid variant
The researchers had created a hybrid of the original Wuhan strain of SARS-CoV-2 with the spike protein from the less-severe Omicron in an effort to discover whether the latter’s spike mutations were responsible for the milder illness experienced by those infected.
A gain-of-function experiment gone awry remains one of the main theories to explain the initial outbreak of Covid-19 in 2019, along with the theory that it originated from a bat at a Wuhan livestock market. However, there still has not been any investigation that would either confirm or deny any of the theories.
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Gaza authorities have accused Israel of systematically stealing organs from Palestinian bodies, a disturbing act that underscores the regime’s ongoing brutality.
With the international community turning a blind eye, officials warn that such atrocities will continue as long as Israel remains immune to accountability for its war crimes.....more below
UG Solutions, a leading US military subcontractor that previously provided security for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and helped run Gaza’s deadly aid distribution system, is aggressively recruiting for a new round of deployments to the blockaded Palestinian territory, a media report says.
A former army officer who recently applied for a position told Drop Site that a UG Solutions official openly described plans for more than a dozen new aid sites in Gaza.
The officer further emphasized that the company was “going to need a lot more guys.”
Applicants are reportedly being told deployments could begin by December, with salaries of up to $1,000 per day plus per diem.
One recruit described interviews focused on weapons tests, “rules of escalation,” and questions about whether he would obey superiors regardless of past military rank. After multiple rounds of vetting, he was abruptly rejected......more below
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/11/20/759192/US--GHF-Gaza-Israel-
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran now considers the Cairo understanding with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) terminated, following the passage of an anti-Iran resolution at the agency’s Board of Governors.
The Board on Thursday narrowly approved the resolution drafted by the European Troika - France, Germany and the UK - and the United States—passing 19–3 with 12 abstentions—that urges Tehran to “without delay” report on its enriched uranium stockpile and facilities damaged in the June aggression by Israel and the US, while omitting any mention of Iran’s longstanding cooperation with the agency.
Araghchi condemned the move, calling the resolution “illegal and unjustified.” He said the measure was adopted “under pressure from these four countries” despite opposition or abstentions from 15 board members.
Araghchi said the action undermined the IAEA’s “credibility and independence” and would disrupt the agency’s cooperation with ...
