Intelligence agencies unlikely to find origins of COVID-19 without cooperation from China
CBSN
New details released Friday by the U.S. intelligence community reaffirm that its agencies are unlikely to determine the origins of COVID-19, absent new information or greater cooperation from China.
The 17-page declassified report issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence offers a window into the breadth and intensity of the intelligence community's efforts to arrive at a firm conclusion about the pandemic's origins, but contains no new insights into exactly how or where the virus first emerged.
As was first revealed in a summary document in August, intelligence agencies coalesced around two theories deemed "plausible" – four agencies and the National Intelligence Council assessed with low confidence that the virus resulted naturally; one assessed with moderate confidence that it was the result of a laboratory-associated incident, possibly at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).

Washington — Amid Trump administration demands for Tehran to keep the free flow of commerce in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. officials have told CBS News that there are at least a dozen underwater mines through the vital passageway, according to current American intelligence assessments. Arden Farhi, Kathryn Watson, Caroline Linton, Aimee Picchi and Layla Ferris contributed to this report.

Washington — President Trump said early Monday that he is postponing airstrikes on Iran's power plants after "very good and productive conversations" over the last two days about reopening the Strait of Hormuz. However, Iran's foreign ministry denied any such talks. Claire Day contributed to this report. In:











