The World Health Organization is reviving its stalled investigation into the origins of COVID-19 with a new team of about 20 scientists.  The team—including specialists in laboratory safety and biosecurity and geneticists and animal-disease experts versed in how viruses spill over from nature—is being assembled with a mandate to find new evidence in China and elsewhere. The possibilities that the new team is charged with examining include whether the COVID-19 virus could have emerged from a lab, according to WHO officials. 

The new Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens will be a permanent panel that will help the WHO investigate future outbreaks and identify human activities that raise the risk of the emergence of new diseases. As part of that mission, it will take charge of a probe into the origin of the current pandemic. The initiative, as described by WHO officials and Western diplomats and in WHO notices, represents a fresh attempt to advance an investigation that the agency’s own staff has said risks running out of time before evidence such as blood samples are thrown away. 

The new effort comes months after another WHO-led inquiry visited Wuhan, the Chinese city that was the site of the first confirmed COVID-19 outbreak in December 2019. In a final report, the team said the data provided by Chinese scientists during the mission was insufficient to answer the critical questions of when, where and how the virus began spreading. The previous WHO-selected team of about 10 foreign experts that visited Wuhan recommended that their Chinese counterparts analyze blood banks, test farmworkers and further scrutinize the earliest suspected cases. Since then, China hasn’t said whether it has undertaken such work. The original WHO team has been disbanded. It isn’t clear if the new team, whose members WHO officials say will be chosen by the end of this week, will be able to fly experts into China. The Chinese government declined to say whether it would allow a new team into the country. The foreign ministry said in a statement that China has “cooperated fully” with the previous inquiry and that it plans to closely monitor the WHO’s selection of a new team. Wall Street Journal, The Hill

FBI had informant in crowd during Capitol riot: The FBI reportedly had an informant in the crowd during the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to confidential records obtained by the New York Times. The informant’s name was not revealed in the records, though he was affiliated with a Midwest chapter of the far-right group the Proud Boys. Based on an account of the informant’s activities detailed in the records, the informant described meeting up with men from other Proud Boys chapters at the Washington Monument and eventually entering the Capitol. The informant left through a window after police told him that someone had been shot. The informant has since denied that the Proud Boys intended to use violence on January 6 and that the group planned to attack the Capitol. In a statement, an FBI spokesperson said the agency's “mission is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States, and intelligence gathering is essential to those efforts.” New York Times, The Hill

Trump return to White House ‘would be a disaster' for U.S. intelligence, former DHS whistleblower says: A former senior Department of Homeland Security official who once accused the Trump administration of politicizing intelligence said on Sunday that a return of former President Trump to the White House in 2024 “would be a disaster” for the U.S. intelligence community. Brian Murphy said Trump “has denigrated the intelligence community” by spreading disinformation. “That’s an existential threat to democracy and he is one of the best at putting it out and hurting this country,” Murphy, who once led the DHS intelligence branch, said Sunday in an exclusive interview on ABC's “This Week.” Murphy had filed a whistleblower complaint last year accusing DHS leaders of politicizing intelligence by withholding or downplaying threats that ran counter to Trump's political messages. “I became a whistleblower because when I arrived at DHS in 2018, from the outset, everything that I had stood for -- you know, finding objective truth when I was in the FBI and serving in the Marines and serving the American public -- was quickly told to me that's no longer acceptable,” Murphy said Sunday. He said that in particular, “there was a push-on across government at the senior levels -- cabinet officials -- to do everything possible to stifle anything” about Russia's interference in the U.S. Murphy also said Sunday that discussing white supremacy as a national security threat became a “third-rail issue” within the department after the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. ABC News, The Hill

Biden says COVID-19 boosters will be free: One day after federal health agencies backed the rollout of COVID-19 booster shots, President Biden said on Friday that the shots would be free and accessible, and he pledged to get his own shot as soon as possible. Biden said in a speech from the White House that 60 million people were now eligible for the third shot, while also reiterating his appeal to the more than 70 million Americans who have not gotten a single shot. Doses will be available nationwide at more than 80,000 locations, including more than 40,000 pharmacies, he said. He indicated that it wouldn’t be long before boosters are available for all Americans. “We're also looking to the time when we're going to be able to expand the booster shots basically across the board. So I would just say it'd be better to wait your turn in line ... to get there,” Biden said. The Hill, Reuters

Migrants have been cleared from under Del Rio bridge, Mayorkas says: The thousands of mostly Haitian migrants who had been encamped underneath a bridge in Del Rio, Texas have been removed and either deported to Haiti or placed in immigration proceedings, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday. “Today, we have no migrants remaining in the camp under the International Bridge,” he said. “Migrants continue to be expelled and under the CDC’s Title 42 authority," he said, noting that “Title 42 is applicable, and has been applicable, to all irregular migration.” Of the approximately 15,000 migrants who arrived at the border in recent days, Mayorkas said, 2,000 were returned to Haiti on 17 flights. An additional 12,400 will remain in the country and have their asylum cases heard by a judge under exemptions to Title 42, which include “acute vulnerability,” like needing urgent medical care, or because of “operational capacity,” Mayorkas said. Among those awaiting proceedings, Mayorkas said some of them are in detention while others are placed in “alternatives to detention.” NBC News
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14 Mexican soldiers briefly detained in El Paso: Fourteen Mexican soldiers were detained at the border in El Paso early on Saturday after accidentally crossing into the U.S., Customs and Border Protection said. One soldier was cited for possessing marijuana for personal use, CBP said in a statement, and all were returned to Mexico within five hours. Border Patrol agents were on the Bridge of the Americas in El Paso after midnight when they noticed Mexican military vehicles had crossed the international boundary, the agency said. They detained the 14 soldiers who were inside the vehicles. “The soldiers, weapons and equipment were secured for safety and processing,” CBP said. “The soldiers advised that they did not realize they had entered the U.S.” Mexican military leaders were contacted and the soldiers and their equipment were returned to Mexico later that morning, CBP said. The Hill, NBC News

Taliban ask airlines to resume international flights to Afghanistan: The Taliban government in Afghanistan appealed on Sunday for international flights to be resumed, promising full cooperation with airlines and saying that problems at Kabul airport had been resolved. A limited number of aid and passenger flights have been operating from the airport, but normal commercial services have yet to resume since it was closed in the wake of the evacuation. The airport, which was damaged during the evacuation, has since been reopened with the assistance of technical teams from Qatar and Turkey. Foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said the suspension of international flights had left many Afghans stranded abroad and also prevented people from traveling for work or study. “As the problems at Kabul International Airport have been resolved and the airport is fully operational for domestic and international flights, the [Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan] assures all airlines of its full cooperation,” he said. CNBC

Taliban hang bodies of alleged kidnappers in Afghan city of Herat: Four bodies were hung in the Afghan city of Herat on Saturday. Mulwi Shir Ahmad Ammar, the city's deputy governor, said the four men had kidnapped a local trader and his son and had intended to take them out of the city. They were killed during an exchange of gunfire that left one Taliban fighter wounded, he said, adding that their bodies were strung up “in order to be a life lesson for other kidnappers.” Authorities had set up roadblocks and checkpoints across the city to catch them, he said. A senior Taliban commander said public execution was “the only solution” to deal with crimes, particularly kidnapping and murder. NBC News, Washington Post

UN says at least 350,000 civilians killed in Syria’s civil war: A UN analysis of documented killings in Syria’s civil war finds that roughly 350,000 civilians have been killed between March 2011, when the conflict erupted, and March 2021. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights commissioned the analysis and has submitted the results to the UN Human Rights Council. The High Commissioner’s Office suspended counting of civilian war deaths in 2014 because gathering verifiable information had become more complex and dangerous. In its last update, the office reported more than 191,000 individuals had been killed. UN rights chief Michele Bachelet says the current number of more than 350,000 conflict-related deaths is based on her agency’s data, information gathered by civil society organizations, and from the Syrian government. She said the numbers “include only those people identifiable by full name, with an established date of death, and who died in an identified governorate,” adding it indicates “a minimum verifiable number and is certainly an under-count of the actual number of killings.” Voice of America
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Nigeria Boko Haram jihadists shift to northwest: A large group of Boko Haram militants has moved out of their base in northeast Nigeria to join forces with criminal gangs in the northwest, where they are engaged in weapons training and kidnapping, military sources said on Friday. Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Boko Haram's rivals, have been consolidating their grip on the northeast after the death of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau this year. Two military sources said a faction loyal to Shekau based in Borno State had dispatched two commanders and 250 fighters to the Rijana forests in northwestern Kaduna State. Both commanders are allied with Bakoura Buduma, a Boko Haram chief who remains loyal to Shekau and whose fighters are resisting ISWAP consolidation, according to security sources. Both sources said Boko Haram militants were also training the gangs in the use of anti-aircraft guns and explosives and other weapons. Agence France Presse

Lavrov says Mali asked private Russian military company for help: Mali has asked a private Russian military company to help it fight against insurgents, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday at the UN. Mali's military junta is close to a deal to recruit the Russian private military contractors called the Wagner Group, sources said, triggering opposition from France, which has said it was “incompatible” with a continued French presence in the West African state. “They are combating terrorism, incidentally, and they have turned to a private military company from Russia in connection with the fact that, as I understand, France wants to significantly draw down its military component which was present there,” Lavrov said. Mali's Prime Minister Choguel Maiga told the UN General Assembly on Saturday that his country felt abandoned by the French move and signaled they were seeking other military help “to fill the gap which will certainly result from the withdrawal of Barkhane in the north of the country.” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday that he told Lavrov and his counterpart from Mali that the potential deployment of the Wagner Group would be a "red line" for the European Union, "and it would have immediate consequences on our cooperation.” Reuters, Voice of America

Iran fails to fully honor agreement on monitoring equipment, IAEA says: The UN nuclear watchdog said on Sunday that Iran had failed to fully honor the terms of a deal struck two weeks ago to allow the watchdog’s inspectors to service monitoring equipment in the country. The International Atomic Energy Agency said its inspectors were granted access to identified Agency monitoring and surveillance equipment — and allowed to replace memory cards — between Sept. 20 and 22 in all necessary locations in Iran, except for the centrifuge component manufacturing workshop at the TESA Karaj complex. That workshop was apparently sabotaged in June when one of four IAEA cameras on site were destroyed. Iran has not handed over the camera’s “data storage medium,” and the IAEA wrote in a report this month that it asked Iran to locate it and explain the situation. Iran's envoy to IAEA said earlier today that the director general's report isn't accurate and goes beyond the agreed terms of the joint statement. “Any decision taken by Iran on monitoring equipment is only based on political rather than legal considerations and the Agency cannot and should not consider it as one of its entitlements,” Kazem Gharibabadi said on Twitter. Reuters, The Hill

Suicide car bomb targeting convoy in Somali capital kills at least 8: A suicide car bomb killed at least eight people in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Saturday at a street junction near the president's palace, police said. Al-Shabaab said it was behind the attack, which targeted a convoy going into the palace. Police spokesperson Abdifatah Aden Hassan told reporters at the scene of the blast that the number of casualties could be higher, since some of the dead and wounded had been taken away by their relatives. “They killed eight people including a soldier and a mother and two children. Al-Shabaab massacres civilians,” he said. Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu, the government spokesperson, said among those killed was Hibaq Abukar, an advisor of women and human rights affairs in Prime Minister Mohammed Hussein Roble's office. It was not immediately clear if Abukar was in the convoy or if she just happened to be close by when the blast happened. Reuters

Quad countries pledge to promote an Indo-Pacific region that is ‘undaunted by coercion’: President Biden hosted the Quad Leaders Summit on Friday, where the prime ministers of India, Japan and Australia gathered in Washington, D.C., for their first in-person meeting. Without mentioning China, the four leaders reiterated their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region that is “undaunted by coercion.” “Together, we recommit to promoting the free, open, rules-based order, rooted in international law and undaunted by coercion, to bolster security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” Biden, along with India’s Narendra Modi, Japan’s Yoshihide Suga and Australia’s Scott Morrison, said in a joint statement. “We stand for the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of disputes, democratic values, and territorial integrity of states,” they added. “A closed, exclusive clique targeting other countries runs counter to the trend of the times and the aspirations of regional countries,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in a press briefing Friday before the Quad leaders met. “It will find no support and is doomed to fail,” he added. CNBC
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Erdogan says Turkey could buy more Russian S-400s despite U.S. warnings: Turkey’s leader says his country is considering buying a second Russian missile system despite strong objections by the U.S. In a “Face the Nation” interview with CBS News, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would make decisions on its defense systems independently. “I explained everything to President Biden,” Erdogan said. He said that the U.S. refusal to deliver F-35 aircraft that Turkey had agreed to purchase and Patriot missiles it wished to acquire gave Turkey no choice but to turn to Russia for its S-400 anti-aircraft missile system. “In the future, nobody will be able to interfere in terms of what kind of defense systems we acquire, from which country at what level. Nobody can interfere with that. We are the only ones to make such decisions,” Erdogan said. He also said the U.S. must choose between supporting Turkey and offering support to Kurdish groups that wish to carve out a state from an area that includes parts of Turkey. Calling the Kurdish groups “terrorist organizations,” he said, “receiving this kind of support should be stopped once and for all.” Al Jazeera, Politico

UK says it has seen ships breaching North Korea sanctions: Britain said on Sunday that it had collected evidence of multiple ships apparently breaching UN sanctions against North Korea which ban the sale of fuel to the country. British frigate HMS Richmond has been taking part in UN sanctions enforcement operations in the region. “HMS Richmond’s deployment in the East China Sea identified ships acting in suspected breach of UN sanctions and tracked vessels which had previously not been flagged to the Enforcement Coordination Cell,” Defense Minister Ben Wallace said in a statement. The statement did not detail those thought to be in breach of the sanctions, but said “multiple ships of various nationalities” had been identified. Reuters

Russia's FSB says five 'neo-Nazis' planned terrorist attacks in Bashkortostan: Russian security officials say they have apprehended five “members of a neo-Nazi group” suspected of plotting a series of terrorist acts against law enforcement in Russia's mostly Muslim-populated Bashkortostan region. The Federal Security Service (FSB) said today that the five suspects were residents of Bashkortostan's capital, Ufa, and were allegedly preparing terrorist acts using explosive materials and handmade explosive devices. According to the FSB, investigators found a handmade explosive device and components for a detonator, nine bladed weapons, manuals for making explosive devices, portraits of Nazi leaders, and Nazi memorabilia in the suspects’ homes. The suspects are currently in pretrial detention on charges of plotting a terrorist act, receiving training to carry out a terrorist act, and illegal fabrication of explosive materials and devices, the FSB said. Radio Free Europe

Iran and Venezuela strike oil deal amid U.S. sanctions: Iran and Venezuela have struck an oil deal amid U.S. sanctions on the countries, according to five people with knowledge of the deal. Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) struck a deal that is set to last for six months but could be extended longer, one person said. In the deal, PDVSA would receive condensate to dilute its oil and NIOC will get shipments of oil to sell to Asia, the people said. The U.S. Treasury Department said the trade could violate U.S. sanctions on both countries. Any “transactions with NIOC by non-U.S. persons are generally subject to secondary sanctions,” the department said. Treasury would not say directly if the deal between Iran and Venezuela violates sanctions but said the department "retains authority to impose sanctions on any person that is determined to operate in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy.” A source said the U.S. government has had its eye on the trade for months and that it is considered a likely sanctions violation. The source also said U.S. officials are concerned the agreement will give Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro more money going into elections. The Hill, Reuters