WHO: COVID-19 a ‘very grave threat’ | Evening wRap

Today on Rappler:

• WHO warns of ‘very grave’ global virus threat

About 400 scientists are taking part in the two-day international meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, to review how the virus is transmitted and the possible vaccines against it.

• U.S. defense chief: Terminating VFA ‘a move in the wrong direction’

United States Defense Secretary Mark Esper says it’s ‘a move in the wrong direction’, adding that allies in the region are ‘trying to say to the Chinese they should obey the international rules of order.’

• Drug war poster boy Jovie Espenido is in Duterte drug list

Lieutenant Colonel Jovie Espenido, one of the poster boys of President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody anti-illegal drugs campaign, is on the President’s notorious drug list.

• Petition vs ABS-CBN ‘parasitic assault’ on press freedom, says anti-disinformation network

The Consortium on Democracy and Disinformation notes that Calida’s petition is based on ‘patent disinformation’ about the use of PDRs by media companies.

• Dwyane Wade reveals his 12-year-old a transgender child, Kobe, Gianna Bryant laid to rest in private ceremony

Retired NBA star Dwyane Wade opens up about his 12-year-old child coming out as a transgender child, while a private funeral for NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna was held in Los Angeles last Friday, February 7, two weeks after the two died in a helicopter crash along with 7 others. – Rappler.com