
-
Juventus miss out on Serie A's top four with Roma draw
-
Marseille, Strasbourg win in Ligue 1 to close in on Champions League
-
Pegula wins WTA Charleston after Kenin collapse
-
Second US child dies of measles, almost 650 ill: officials
-
Thousands attend funeral of legendary Malian musician Amadou
-
Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill 44
-
Alcaraz admits pressure to take Sinner's number one ranking 'killed' him
-
US storms, 'devastating' flooding death toll climbs to 17
-
Ovechkin achieves the 'impossible'
-
Comeback man Siraj's 4-17 helps Gujarat to hat-trick of IPL wins
-
Ovechkin scores 895th goal to clinch all-time NHL record
-
No 'killer instinct' as Man Utd, Man City play out derby stalemate
-
Siraj's 4-17 helps Gujarat to hat-trick of IPL wins
-
Man City held by Man Utd in derby stalemate
-
'Minecraft Movie' strikes gold to dominate N.America box office
-
World scrambles to temper Trump tariffs as market fears mount
-
Strasbourg close in on Champions League with Ligue 1 win at Reims
-
Toulouse overpower Sale to reach rugby Champions Cup last eight
-
Slot shocked by sloppy Liverpool errors in Fulham defeat
-
Zelensky slams US lack of response to Putin truce rejection
-
Juric urges Southampton to learn from record-setting relegation
-
Italian director Moretti leaves hospital after heart attack
-
Chelsea's 'unfair' schedule to blame for Palmer axe: Maresca
-
Barrios grabs Atletico late Liga win at Sevilla
-
Le Pen slams 'witch hunt', vows not to give up at Paris rally
-
Liverpool's rare loss delays title march, Southampton relegated
-
World scrambles to temper Trump tariffs: White House
-
Southampton relegated from Premier League in record time
-
Fulham end Liverpool unbeaten league run to delay title party
-
Torrential rains kill dozens in DR Congo capital
-
Pogacar wins Van der Poel duel at cycling's Tour of Flanders
-
Djokovic plays down Monte Carlo hopes after eye infection
-
Israel targets Hezbollah in south Lebanon as US envoy visits
-
Bumrah 'available' for Mumbai's IPL clash with Bengaluru
-
Bordeaux book Champions Cup quarter-final with victory over Ulster
-
Israel's Netanyahu ends Hungary visit, heads to US
-
Fiji and New Zealand seal sevens wins in Singapore
-
Le Pen invokes Martin Luther King ahead of far-right Paris rally
-
Zelensky says attacks 'increasing' as 2 killed in missile and drone attacks
-
Vietnam seeks US tariff delay as economic growth slows in first quarter
-
Recovering Pope surprises crowd at Vatican square
-
UK readies to protect industry as US tariffs upend global order: Starmer
-
Tsunoda has 'mixed feelings' after 12th-place Red Bull debut
-
France's far-right, leftwingers rally supporters after Le Pen conviction
-
Hamilton says Ferrari still off the pace in Japan
-
Vietnam economic growth slows in first quarter as US tariffs loom
-
Record-breaker Antonelli aims higher after hitting front in Japan
-
Chennai brush aside talk of Dhoni's IPL retirement
-
Foreigners run in N.Korea's first Pyongyang Marathon for six years
-
Verstappen to 'keep grinding' after Japan win closes gap to Norris
RELX | -6.81% | 48.16 | $ | |
RBGPF | 100% | 69.02 | $ | |
GSK | -6.79% | 36.53 | $ | |
BCC | 0.85% | 95.44 | $ | |
NGG | -5.25% | 65.93 | $ | |
SCS | -0.56% | 10.68 | $ | |
RIO | -6.88% | 54.67 | $ | |
AZN | -7.98% | 68.46 | $ | |
JRI | -7.19% | 11.96 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.13% | 22.29 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.7% | 22.83 | $ | |
BCE | 0.22% | 22.71 | $ | |
VOD | -10.24% | 8.5 | $ | |
BTI | -5.17% | 39.86 | $ | |
RYCEF | -18.79% | 8.25 | $ | |
BP | -10.43% | 28.38 | $ |

New study reinforces theory Covid emerged at Chinese market
A study on the origin of Covid-19 provided new evidence on Thursday supporting the theory that humans first caught the virus from infected animals at a Chinese market in late 2019.
Nearly five years after Covid first emerged, the international community has not been able to determine with certainty exactly where the virus came from.
The first cases were detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, but there have been bitter disputes between proponents of the two main theories.
One is that the virus leaked from a Wuhan lab which studied related viruses, while the other is that people caught Covid from an infected wild animal being sold at a local market.
The scientific community has favoured the latter theory, but the controversy has rumbled on.
The study published in the Cell journal is based on more than 800 samples collected at Wuhan's Huanan Seafood Market, where wild mammals were also believed to have been for sale.
The samples were collected in January 2020 after the market was shuttered, and were not taken directly from animals or people but from the surfaces of stalls selling wildlife, as well as from drains.
From this type of data, which was shared by the Chinese authorities, "we cannot say with certainty whether the animals (at the market) were infected or not," study co-author Florence Debarre told AFP.
However, "our study confirms that there were wild animals at this market at the end of 2019, notably belonging to species such as raccoon dogs and civets," said the evolutionary biologist at France's CNRS research agency.
"And these animals were in the southwest corner of the market, which also happens to be an area where a lot of SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, was detected."
These small mammals can catch similar viruses to humans, which has made them suspects for serving as an intermediate host between humans and bats, in which SARS-CoV-2 is suspected to have originated.
The presence of these animals at the Huanan market had previously been disputed, despite some photographic evidence and a 2021 study.
- 'Very strong evidence' -
Numerous parts of one stall tested positive for the Covid virus, including "animal carts, a cage, a garbage cart, and a hair/feather removal machine," the study said.
"There was more DNA from mammalian wildlife species in these samples than human DNA," it added.
Mammal DNA was found in the Covid-positive samples from this stall, including from palm civets, bamboo rats and raccoon dogs.
"These data indicate either that the animals present at this stall shed the SARS-CoV-2 detected on the animal equipment or that early unreported human case(s) of Covid-19 shed virus in the exact same location as the detected animals," the study said.
The research also confirms that the "most recent common ancestor" of the Covid virus strain found in the market samples was "genetically identical" to the original pandemic strain.
"This means that the early diversity of the virus is found at the market -- as would be expected if this is the site where it emerged," Debarre explained.
James Wood, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Cambridge University not involved in the research, said the study "provides very strong evidence for wildlife stalls in the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan being a hotspot for the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic."
The research was important because "little or nothing has been done to limit either the live trade in wildlife nor the biodiversity loss or land use changes that are the actual likely drivers of past and future pandemic emergence," he said.
"These aspects are also not included in the draft pandemic treaty" currently being negotiated by countries, he added.
S.Keller--BTB