The National Intelligence Council and four other agencies assess at "low confidence" that the COVID-19 pandemic originated due to natural transmission from an infected animal, while the CIA and another unnamed agency are undecided.

"It's been three years since COVID-19 upended our lives, and we're still asking basic questions about the origins of this virus. That's unacceptable," Chairman Mike Gallagher of the newly-formed House Select Committee on China, previously told Fox News Digital.

"The question of how this pandemic began is the most important question in the world, and we should not continue to waste precious time waiting for the Chinese Communist Party to suddenly cooperate with U.S. officials and open up access to the Wuhan Institute of Virology," he added. "It's time for Congress to act and force the administration to declassify the relevant intelligence surrounding the pandemic."

In a statement to Fox News digital, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said, "Today President Biden finally signed my bill to declassify what the government knows about Covid origins. Let the people see for themselves!"

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Credit Suisse has agreed to be bought by its arch-rival UBS at a discount to Friday's close price. "With the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, a solution has been found to secure financial stability and protect the Swiss economy in this exceptional situation," the SNB said in a statement.

UBS UBS, +11.97% will buy Credit Suisse CS, +2.46% for 3 billion francs ($3.25 billion), or 0.76 francs per share, in an all-stock deal, the bank announced.

UBS said it benefits from 25 billion francs of downside protection from the transaction to support marks, purchase price adjustments and restructuring costs, and additional 50% downside protection on non-core assets. The Swiss financial regulator said Credit Suisse's AT1 securities, worth 16 billion francs, will be entirely written down.

"This is a commercial solution and not a bailout," said Karin Keller-Sutter, the Swiss finance minister. "Bankruptcy would have been the highest risk."

UBS said the combination of the two businesses is expected to generate annual run-rate of cost reductions of more than $8 billion by 2027.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping had formal talks at the Kremlin on Tuesday, marking the second day of the Chinese leader's first trip to Russia since the outbreak of the Ukraine war.

The trip was described by Beijing as a peace mission after it had last month made a peace proposal to put an end to the conflict taking Ukraine by storm.

Russian President Vladimir Putin underlined in light of the talks that Moscow was ready to support Chinese businesses in replacing their Western counterparts that have left the country in light of the Ukraine war.

"We are ready to support Chinese business in replacing the production facilities of Western enterprises that have left Russia," Putin underlined during the meeting with Xi and senior Russian officials in the Kremlin.

This comes after numerous Western corporations withdrew from Russia under the pretext of the Ukraine war in a bid to corner Moscow and force it into withdrawing from Ukraine and the Donbass.

This comes as economic sanctions against Moscow resulted in a hike in the prices of global fuel and food, boosting Russia's trade balance, financing its operation, and putting a significant strain on Western economies, according to analysts.

Moscow supports use of Yuan

Furthermore, President Putin said his country supported the usage of the Chinese yuan in settlements between Russia and Asian, Latin American, and African states.

According to Putin, "these forms of settlements will take place in yuan between Russian partners and colleagues from third countries."

It was reported in August 2022 that Russia wanted Chinese yuan-dominated debt to help bolster the Russian market, with Bloomberg saying yuan bonds would debut in the Russian market in 2023.

Trading volumes between the Chinese currency and the Russian ruble had grown 40-fold since the start of 2022 at that point.

Moreover, the Chinese foreign ministry said last year that it did not rule out the possibility of using rubles or yuans in energy commerce with Russia.

Siberia-2 project nearly completely agreed-upon

Russia and China have agreed on almost all the aspects of the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline project, Putin highlighted after record daily deliveries were reached in December of 2022 between the two countries.

The highest record of Russian gas delivery was reached after the joint Russian-Chinese project to construct a new 750km-long pipeline section linking Taian, Shandong, and Taixing, Jiangsu to reach the Chinese Yangtze River Delta became operational.

"We have just discussed a good project, this is the new Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline through Mongolia. Almost all the parameters of this agreement have been agreed upon. This is 50 billion cubic meters of gas - reliable, stable supplies from Russia," Putin explained.

Last year, Gazprom announced the existence of a study on the results of the feasibility of the Soyuz Vostok gas pipeline project with Mongolia, which will be a continuation of the Power of Siberia - 2.

China-Russian ties healthy

The existing relations between China and Russia demonstrate healthy development dynamics, Chinese President Xi Jinping underlined.

"Thanks to our joint efforts, Russian-Chinese relations demonstrate a healthy and stable dynamic of development. Political mutual trust is deepening between our countries, and common interests are multiplying," Xi said at a meeting with Putin in Moscow.

It is worth noting that despite Western sanctions and blackmail, economic turnover between Russia and China has reached historic highs, with Moscow saying the objective of increasing trade volumes to $200 billion would be met ahead of time.