Thursday morning news - May 27, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

U.S. officials call for greater investigation of virus origin » President Biden on Tuesday ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to—quote—“redouble” investigations into the origin of COVID-19 and report back within 90 days.

That follows a Wall Street Journal report this week based on newly revealed U.S. intelligence that strengthened doubts in Washington over China’s denials that the virus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters…

PIERRE: We will continue to press China to participate in a full, transparent, evidence-based international investigation.

Earlier this year, a team with the World Health Organization visited China to begin a probe into the origin of the virus. The team reached no conclusions but did declare that it was highly unlikely that the virus could have escaped from a laboratory.

But critics say that assessment was based on very limited information and no data from the lab in question.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the WHO is incapable of a thorough investigation, because China won’t let it conduct one.

RUBIO: There’s no way that the Chinese Communist Party is going to turn over any of the information that would be needed in order to have a serious investigation. And the more that they do that, the more I think you’ve got to start concluding that in fact, they had some role to play in how this happened.

The intel detailed in the Wall Street Journal report revealed that three workers at a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan sought hospital treatment for symptoms consistent with COVID-19 back in Nov. of 2019. Many experts believe that was the month when the virus began circulating in Wuhan before spreading around the world.

Republicans to unveil $1T infrastructure counteroffer » Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said a group of GOP senators will unveil a counteroffer today to President Biden’s infrastructure plan.

The counteroffer is expected to carry a $1T price tag. That’s up from the GOP’s original offer of about $570 billion.

McConnell told reporters…

MCCONNELL: This would be the first major action on surface transportation since the FAST Act six years ago. It would raise baseline funding for roads and bridges to an all-time high.

Senate Republicans revived negotiations after talks appeared to stall. But major hurdles remain.

President Biden cut his asking price from $2.3T to $1.7T. GOP lawmakers say that’s still way too expensive and they say the scope of his plan goes well beyond what’s traditionally recognized as infrastructure.

Republicans also object to the president’s plan to raise taxes to pay for the new spending.

The White House is assessing whether the president can strike a bipartisan deal.

Earlier this year, Democrats pushed the nearly $2T American Rescue Plan through the Senate without a single GOP vote using a process called budget reconciliation.

Stem cell research group announces controversial new guidelines » The world’s largest research group dedicated to stem cell research released controversial new guidelines Wednesday that could lead to expanded experimentation on human embryos. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has more.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: For decades, international ethics standards said scientists studying human embryos in a lab shouldn’t let them grow for longer than 14 days. But the International Society for Stem Cell Research just released new guidelines removing that limit.

Many countries have their own “14-day rules” or other restrictions that would have to be changed before scientists could actually experiment on more developed human embryos. The guidelines still forbid human cloning, transferring human embryos into animal uterus, creating human-animal chimeras, and genetic editing that could pass on to future generations.

But scientists in China have already broken some of those limits.

Opponents of human stem cell research note the ethical concerns with the practice and say it’s not necessary for scientific advancement.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

Eight people killed in rail yard shooting in Calif. » Families are mourning today in California after a man opened fire at a California rail yard Wednesday morning, killing eight people.

The suspect was an employee of the Valley Transportation Authority. The VTA provides bus, light rail and other transit services in the Silicon Valley area.

LICCARDO: This is a horrific day for our city, and it’s a tragic day for the VTA family.

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo heard there.

The suspect is also deceased. Authorities said it was still “undetermined” how he died.

Police vehicles and orange crime-scene tape blocked off the rail yard. Inside the complex, bomb squads searched a building after receiving information about possible explosive devices.

No word yet on a possible motive for the attack.

Amazon buying MGM Studios » Amazon is buying one of the world’s most iconic movie studios. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

AUDIO: [MGM roar]

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: You may recognize that roar. The mascot known as ‘Leo the Lion’ has introduced MGM movies for generations.

Amazon is paying about $8.5 billion for the studio behind the James Bond movie franchise and TV shows like “Shark Tank.” MGM is one of the oldest studios in Hollywood, founded in 1924 when films were still silent.

The deal is aimed at helping Amazon better compete with streaming giants Netflix, Disney+ and others.

AT&T and Discovery announced last week that they would combine media companies, creating a powerhouse that includes HGTV, CNN, Food Network and HBO.

This will be Amazon’s second-biggest acquisition. It bought Whole Foods for nearly $14 billion in 2017.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

I’m Kent Covington, and for more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org.

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