WORLD

Twitter calls Trump tweets ‘unsubstantiated’ for the first time San Francisco, United States | AFP | Twitter labelled two Donald Trump tweets “unsubstantiated” and accused him of making false claims Tuesday, a first for the social network which has long resisted calls to censure the US president over truth-defying posts. …

Minsk, Belarus | AFP |  Young men in dark hoodies and tracksuit bottoms form a human chain to pass down black sacks from a storeroom and pile them in the back of a car. These Belarusian volunteers have stepped in to rush free supplies of much-needed protective equipment to hospitals as authorities …

Vancouver, Canada | AFP |  Vancouver resident Trixie Ling recalls her disgust and anger after a passing stranger taunted her with racial and sexual slurs in early May. Then he spat on her face. “I was feeling a mixture of shock, disgust and sadness that it happened to me,” Ling said …

Brussels, Belgium | AFP |  European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen will on Wednesday propose a roughly one-trillion-euro post-virus recovery fund for Europe, but will have to win over sceptical member states. The global coronavirus outbreak has thrust the EU into its deepest ever recession, and Von der Leyen’s proposal …

New York, United States | AFP |  New York pastor Fabian Arias has been in constant mourning these past two months — the coronavirus has killed 44 of his mostly Hispanic parishioners, highlighting inequalities he says are being worsened by Donald Trump’s government. Amid the tragedies, the Argentine priest is providing a …

Washington, United States | AFP |  Gone are the lively meetings, the distribution of flyers on busy campuses. The coronavirus pandemic has put an abrupt stop to traditional US political means of courting young voters — forcing presidential candidates to turn to Snapchat instead. The photo-sending app that boasts 229 million …

Beijing, China | AFP | The number of prosecutions related to corruption in China nearly doubled last year, according to a report by Beijing’s top prosecutor, as President Xi Jinping ramped up his crackdown on graft. According to the annual report from the Supreme People’s Procuratorate submitted to the national parliament, …

Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russia has begun manufacturing the prototype of its first strategic stealth bomber, state news agency TASS reported on Tuesday, as the country presses ahead with the modernisation of its military. Quoting defence industry sources, TASS said the state-controlled United Aircraft Corporation was overseeing the project. It said material was being shipped …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Further easing of countries’ coronavirus lockdowns pushed equities higher Tuesday, with optimism stoked by the reopening of bars, cafes, pools and beaches outweighing China-US tensions that hurt the dollar. While countries including Brazil, Chile and Russia are enduring rising death and infection tolls from COVID-19, …

Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump tweeted a conspiracy theory Tuesday accusing one of his media critics of murder — and prompting a demand that Twitter block the Republican leader’s “vicious lie.” The president’s attempt at character assassination of MSNBC host Joe Scarborough by spreading the baseless rumor to his nearly 80 …