US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has relaunched his attack on China, claiming there's "significant evidence" to show their role in the coronavirus outbreak.
"There is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan," he told ABC's This Week.
Pompeo, however, did not dispute US intelligence agencies' conclusion that it was not manmade.
Meanwhile, China's state run newspaper dismissed the allegations, adding that the US official was "bluffing".
"The Trump administration continues to engage in unprecedented propaganda warfare while trying to impede global efforts in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic," the editorial said.
So far, more than 3,568,217 people around the world have been infected, with 248,347 deaths.
The Utah trade school student jailed on suspicion of fatally shooting conservative activist Charlie Kirk faces formal charges next week, according to the governor, from an act of violence widely seen as a foreboding inflection point in US politics.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for peace on Saturday in Manipur state, the scene of two years of deadly ethnic violence, as he unveiled a package of development projects there worth nearly $1 billion.
European Union countries have shelved plans to approve a new climate change target next week, after pushback from governments including France and Germany over plans to quickly land a deal, three EU diplomats said on Friday.
Nepal's President Ramchandra Paudel dissolved parliament and called for fresh elections on March 5, his office said late on Friday, following a week of deadly violence that culminated in the appointment of the country's first woman Prime Minister in the interim.