OVERSEAS | ABS-CBN News

Boy Scouts of America files bankruptcy in wake of abuse lawsuits

Tom Hals, Reuters
Feb 18 03:52 PM

WILMINGTON, Delaware - The Boy Scouts of America said on Tuesday it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid a flood of lawsuits over allegations of child sexual abuse stretching back decades. Read more »

How China tracked detainees and their families

Austin Ramzy, The New York Times
Feb 18 03:46 PM

The leaked document, one of numerous files kept on the more than 1 million people who have been detained in the camps, shows the range of behaviors that authorities see as problematic that would be normal elsewhere, such as giving up alcohol, wanting to go on a religious pilgrimage or attending a funeral. Read more »

WHO warns against virus over-reaction as death toll hits 1,868

Laurent Thomet, Agence France-Presse
Feb 18 01:23 PM

More than 72,000 people have now been infected in China and hundreds more abroad, although the WHO stressed the disease has infected a "tiny" proportion of people outside its epicenter and the mortality rate remains relatively low.   Read more »

Hospital director dies in China's Wuhan, epicenter of coronavirus outbreak

Reuters
Feb 18 12:43 PM | Updated Feb 18 01:14 PM

The head of a leading hospital in China's central city of Wuhan, the epicenter of a coronavirus outbreak, died of the disease on Tuesday. Read more »

Japan plans HIV drug trials for coronavirus, cruise ship evacuations continue

Sakura Murakami and Ju-min Park, Reuters
Feb 18 12:20 PM

TOKYO - Japan plans to trial HIV medications to treat patients infected with coronavirus as the growing number of cases poses an increasing threat to the country's economy as well as public health. Read more »

More Pinoys abroad worry over ABS-CBN franchise row

ABS-CBN News
Feb 18 12:19 PM

Some Filipinos living overseas expressed concern after the Office of the Solicitor General filed a quo warranto petition to forfeit the legislative franchises of ABS-CBN Corporation and its subsidiary, ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc. Read more »

Foreign domestic worker positive for COVID-19 infection: HK hospital

Jan Yumul, ABS-CBN News
Feb 18 11:38 AM

A foreign domestic worker patient in Hong Kong has tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a hospital said Tuesday. Read more »

Cambodia's coronavirus complacency may exact a global toll

Hannah Beech, The New York Times
Feb 18 11:22 AM

SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia — When Cambodia’s prime minister greeted passengers on a cruise ship amid a coronavirus scare on Valentine’s Day, embraces were the order of the day. Protective masks were not. Read more »

'Never-ending nightmare': Evacuated Americans carried virus from cruise ship to airplane

Motoko Rich, The New York Times
Feb 18 08:52 AM | Updated Feb 18 08:53 AM

After 12 days stuck on the cruise ship as more and more people tested positive for the virus, the evacuated Americans would now be sharing a plane with those carrying the same pathogen they were desperate to escape. Epidemiologists said U.S. officials had made a difficult decision to allow infected passengers onboard the charter flights. Read more »

China detains activist who accused Xi of coronavirus cover-up

Javier C. Hernández, The New York Times
Feb 18 08:24 AM

He portrayed China’s leader, Xi Jinping, as hungry for power. He accused Xi of trying to cover up the coronavirus outbreak in central China. In one of his most daring writings, he urged Xi to resign, saying, “You’re just not smart enough.” Read more »

Life of a CIA coder: Nerf guns, pranks and fat jokes

Nicole Hong, The New York Times
Feb 18 08:21 AM

From their cubicles, the CIA programmers sent prank emails, taunted colleagues about their physical appearance and shot each other with Nerf guns and rubber bands, according to trial testimony.  Read more »

Singapore tells Facebook to block critical site

Agence France-Presse
Feb 18 07:53 AM

Singapore Monday ordered Facebook to block the page of an anti-government website in the city-state, the latest use of a law against online misinformation that critics say stifles free speech. Read more »

Cruise passengers scatter, take Cambodia bus tours despite virus fears

Agence France-Presse
Feb 18 07:38 AM

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - A scramble intensified Monday to trace passengers from a US cruise liner allowed to disembark in Cambodia despite at least one traveler later being diagnosed with the deadly coronavirus. Read more »

Queen Elizabeth II's nephew in latest royal marriage split

Agence France-Presse
Feb 18 07:29 AM

LONDON - Queen Elizabeth II's nephew David Armstrong-Jones is set to divorce, a spokesman said Monday -- the second marriage split in the British royal family announced within a week. Read more »

China virus death toll passes 1,800: gov't

Agence France-Presse
Feb 18 07:22 AM | Updated Feb 18 08:25 AM

The death toll from China's new- coronavirus epidemic jumped past 1,800 on Tuesday after 93 more people died in Hubei province, the hard-hit epicenter of the outbreak. Read more »