Foreign news
Scientists prove natural origin of coronavirus with evolution theory
A new commentary has once again dismissed the COVID-19 lab leak theory by applying a classic evolutionary theory to elaborate why SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, could only come from nature.
The insight piece, titled “On the origin of SARS-CoV-2 – The blind watchmaker argument,” was published on the academic journal Science China Life Sciences on Friday by 22 scientists working in Chinese universities and research institutions.
The argument the authors applied stated that natural selection is a blind, unconscious, automatic process which has no purpose in mind and plays the role as a blind watchmaker.
A perfectly adapted species could not be created at once, but would have to accumulate small, adaptiveness-enhancing changes through random mutations over long periods of time, reported Xinhua citing Wu Chung-I, corresponding author of the commentary and professor of the School of Life Sciences at Sun Yat-sen University in south China’s Guangdong Province.
SARS-CoV-2 is “extremely well adapted to the human populations and its adaptive shift from the animal host to humans must have been even more extensive,” said the commentary, which, according to the blind watchmaker argument, “can only happen prior to the onset of the current pandemic and with the aid of step-by-step selection.”
“In this view, SARS-CoV-2 could not have possibly evolved in an animal market in a big city and even less likely in a laboratory,” it added.
The article also said that researchers have successfully selected SARS-CoV-2 strains that can infect mice, which are otherwise resistant to the infection. However, “the enabling mutations account for such a tiny fraction of mutations that an efficient screening of mutations by natural selection is required.”
The authors inferred that before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus may have experienced some forms of multi-step evolution in human populations, leading to its extraordinary adaptiveness.
They said the claim of non-natural origin of SARS-CoV-2 is “moot,” as no known natural law “prohibits the SARS-CoV-2 genome to evolve to its current state.” They called for focus on the natural processes in relation to the virus’ origin, which would be “more productive.”
Foreign news
French Envoy Seeks Collaboration With NAN To Boost Seamless Relationship
The new French envoy to Nigeria, Marc Fonbaustier, on Wednesday called for collaboration with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) toward strengthening the mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries.
Fonbaustier, who is the French ambassador to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, made the call when he paid a courtesy visit to Malam Ali Muhammad Ali, NAN’s Managing Director, in Abuja.
The ambassador said that his purpose of visiting was to pay tribute to the MD, and to seek collaboration in three areas with a view to promoting stronger, seamless and fruitful partnership between both countries.
He added that Nigeria and its people were hospitable, especially to the foreigners and ambassadors alike.
He added that Nigeria was a country with so much energy, strength, stamina and so many talents.
In Nigeria, with the population of this size, it is inevitable that the elites of the country are very outstanding, “and there may be a Franco/Nigeria moments now”, he jokes.
According to him, France and Nigeria can collaborate more and learn from each other.
“I could feel it particularly during the state visit of President Bola Tinubu which took place in November 2024.
“I was there and I could see the intensity, the strength and the scope of the partnership, and I am here to scale up that partnership in all sectors.
“I am coming here for three reasons, first, to pay a tribute to the NAN MD and his team for the quality of this agency. We can testify that the contents that you publish are very factual, and also very well set up and structured.
“You do fact checking and you really do try to provide the community with quality information. I think, as a French ambassador, I can recognise that as part of a living democracy,” he said.
The French ambassador said the second reason for the visit was to intimate the NAN MD of France’s eagerness to go on partnership with NAN saying he hoped for assurance of a seamless, fluid and easy relationship.
He said that his third reason stemmed from his observation that NAN recently signed some partnership framework agreements with Egypt and China, saying “it may be time to think of balancing this partnership with others”.
“Especially with French, and to talk with Agence France-Presse (AFP) to see if there’s ground for a closer relationship between NAN and AFP.
“Which is also a recognised agency like yours, and I bet you the sky will be the limit to the collaboration, ’’he said.
Responding, the NAN MD informed the envoy that the agency was African’s biggest news content provider on account of its size.
Ali gave the envoy a little details of the agency’s operation and its outreach, saying “as our continent’s biggest news content provider, we have offices nationwide and in selected African countries.
“We have offices in countries such as South Africa, Cote d’ivoire, Addis Ababa, and then we have offices also beyond the shores of Africa. We have in New York and we are the only resident wire service in the United Nations.
“At a time in the past, the agency had 11 foreign offices, including Moscow, and presently, we are trying to re-open some of our shut offices, especially in London.
“We value partnership and understanding that we have with similar news organisation such as Reuters and, incidentally, we have a long standing relationship with AFP which you just raised.
“I know for years we have exchange of news between NAN and AFP but it’s a cooperation that we will like to strengthen and with your greater involvement,’’ he said.
The MD commended the ambassador for reaching out and engaging with some Nigerians communities to douse the tension of the allegation made by the Nigeriens.
He also lauded the envoy’s leadership and visibility to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, “which has helped to douse the perception and misconceptions about France, especially in the Sahel”.
“I think you have helped to reverse some of this perceptions. I thank you for the kind words that you said about the agency and about our management.
“We also see partnership as an important tool in checking the spread of fake news.
“We’ve seen instances where fake news has done great deal of damage, and with the coming of social media it has done even greater damage.
“Our country is facing a lot of challenges, one of which is the increasing insecurity, and the social media has been used by those who do not want to see our country to prosper,” Ali said.
He further said that NAN was a credible news agency that always fact check to correct the wrong narratives by those who are in the business of causing troubles.
He also told the envoy that the agency has its content in the Nigerian indigenous languages, starting with Hausa and it would proceed to Yoruba and Igbo languages later, “then later in future to French.
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