LONDON (AP) — The international scientists dispatched to China by the World Health Organization to find out where the coronavirus came from said Wednesday the search has stalled and warned that the window of opportunity for solving the mystery is “closing fast.”

Meanwhile, a <a class="" title="EXPLAINER: The US investigation into COVID-19 origins" href="https://apnews.com/article/investigation-covid-origins-wuhan-lab-nature-850b7a6ee1005596bb0f8b2bc6b79dd5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. intelligence review</a> ordered up by President Joe Biden proved inconclusive about the virus’s origin, including whether it jumped from an animal to a human or escaped from a Chinese lab, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

In this file photo dated Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021, security personnel clear the way for a convoy of the World Health Organization team to enter the Huanan Seafood Market on the third day of field visit in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province. In a commentary published Wednesday Aug. 25, 2021, the international scientists dispatched to China by the World Health Organization to look for the origins of the coronavirus say the search has “stalled” and warn the window is closing to conduct critical studies that could provide clues on how the virus first infected people. Photo: Ng Han Guan/AP/TT

They also warned that the window of opportunity for solving the mystery is “closing fast.”

Experts on WHO team say search for COVID origins has stalled

MOSCOW (AP) — The world held its breath 30 years ago when a group of top Communist officials ousted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and flooded Moscow with tanks.

But instead of bringing a rollback of liberal reforms and a return to Cold War confrontations, the August 1991 coup collapsed in just three days and precipitated the breakup of the Soviet Union a few months later, an event the plotters claimed they were trying to prevent.

In this Monday, Aug. 19, 1991 file photo, Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian Federation, makes a speech from atop a tank in front of the Russian parliament building in Moscow, Russia. When a group of top Communist officials ousted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev 30 years ago and flooded Moscow with tanks, the world held its breath, fearing a rollback on liberal reforms and a return to the Cold War confrontation. But the August 1991 coup collapsed in just three days, precipitating the breakup of the Soviet Union that plotters said they were trying to prevent. Photo: AP/TT

The world held its breath 30 years ago when a group of top Communist officials ousted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and flooded Moscow with tanks.

Hardline coup set the stage for Soviet collapse 30 years ago

BOLOGNA, Italy (AP) — For more than seven decades, Martin Adler treasured a black-and-white photo of himself as a young American soldier with a broad smile with three impeccably dressed Italian children he is credited with saving as the Nazis retreated northward in 1944.

On Monday, the 97-year-old World War II veteran met the three siblings — now octogenarians themselves — in person for the first time since the war.

Martin Adler, a 97-year-old retired American soldier, center, receives a kiss from Mafalda, right, and Giuliana Naldi, whom he saved during WWII, during a reunion at Bologna’s airport, in Italy, Monday, Aug. 23, 2021. For more than seven decades, Adler treasured a black-and-white photo of himself as a young soldier with a broad smile with three impeccably dressed Italian children he is credited with saving as the Nazis retreated northward in 1944. The veteran met the three siblings - now octogenarians themselves - in person for the first time on Monday, eight months after a video reunion. Photo: Antonio Calanni/AP/TT

On Monday, the 97-year-old World War II veteran met the three siblings — now octogenarians themselves — in person for the first time since the war.

US WWII veteran reunites with Italians he saved as children

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president on Tuesday urged closer ties between the ex-Soviet nation and NATO and the European Union in a speech marking the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.

Ukraine celebrated its independence day on Tuesday with a military parade and massive festivities in the capital Kyiv. Opening the parade, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a strong Ukraine is “a country that dreams ambitiously and acts decisively.”

Relatives of soldiers carry their portraits as they march along Kyiv’s main street during celebrations of Independence Day in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021. Ukraine mark the 30th anniversary of its independence. Photo: Efrem Lukatsky/AP/TT

The 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence was celebrated on Tuesday.