Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Philippines suspends scrapping of troop agreement with U.S.: minister

The Philippines has suspended its decision to scrap a two-decade-old Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States, its foreign minister said on Tuesday. "The abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement has been suspended upon the President’s instruction," Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin said on Twitter. Austria presents design turning Hitler's birthplace into police station

Austria presented an architectural plan on Tuesday to turn the house where Adolf Hitler was born into a police station in the hope of "neutralising" the space and ensuring it does not attract neo-Nazis. After decades of debate about what to do with the building in the town of Braunau am Inn on the German border, Austria carried out a compulsory purchase in 2017 and said last year it would be turned into police offices so that it "will never again evoke the memory of National Socialism". India starts evacuating parts of west coast as cyclone approaches Mumbai

India began evacuating people from low-lying areas in and around Mumbai ahead of a cyclone that is expected to hit the country's west coast on Wednesday, officials said. The cyclone, expected to make landfall on Wednesday afternoon near India's financial capital Mumbai, will pressure emergency services already grappling with the nation's largest outbreak of the novel coronavirus. UK warns China: do not destroy the jewel of Hong Kong

The United Kingdom warned Beijing on Tuesday to step back from the brink over an "authoritarian" national security law in Hong Kong that it said risked destroying one of the jewels of Asia's economy while ruining the reputation of China. China’s parliament last week approved a decision to create laws for Hong Kong to curb sedition, secession, terrorism and foreign interference. Mainland security and intelligence agents may be stationed in the city for the first time. Duterte's 'draconian' anti-terror bill alarms activists in Philippines

Lawyers and human rights activists in the Philippines have raised the alarm over a new anti-terrorism bill pushed by the President Rodrigo Duterte, warning of draconian and arbitrary provisions that could be abused to target his detractors. Duterte, who has drawn international criticism for his bloody war on drugs and his human rights record, is trying to expedite the passage of a law that expands the definition of terrorism and bolsters police powers of surveillance, arrest and detention. Hong Kong leader calls out 'double standards' on national security, points to U.S.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam accused foreign governments on Tuesday of "double standards" in their reaction to Beijing's plans to impose national security laws on the city, pointing to anti-police brutality protests in the United States. In her first public appearance after Washington said it will remove Hong Kong's preferential treatment in U.S. law in response to Beijing's plans, Lam warned countries threatening actions against the city that they may hurt their own interests. COVID cases rising in Russia, Eastern Europe, waning in Western Europe: WHO

New cases of COVID-19 reported daily are steadily declining in Western Europe, but not in hotspots in Russia and Eastern Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. Spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a briefing: "At the moment in Europe, in Western Europe, we are seeing a steady decline. It's not speedy but there's a steady decline in new cases being reported daily, so that means that the number of new cases are still significant but the number is coming down except for Russia and Eastern Europe where we are still seeing the rise." Hong Kong democracy group files complaint to U.N. over alleged abuse

A Hong Kong pro-democracy group said on Tuesday it had filed a complaint with the United Nations over what it described as abuse of anti-government protesters held in custody in the Chinese-ruled city. The prominent democracy group Demosisto cited three protesters as saying they had been physically and verbally abused by Correctional Services Department (CSD) guards while in detention, including being beaten and slapped in places without CCTV surveillance cameras. Australia asks embassy in U.S. to register concern over cameraman

Australia has asked its embassy in the United States to register its concerns with authorities there about an apparent police assault on an Australian cameraman during a protest in Washington, its foreign minister said on Tuesday. Earlier on Tuesday, thousands of Australians marched in Sydney to protest against the death of black American George Floyd in U.S. police custody, after days of demonstrations and clashes in the United States sparked by the killing. China's President Xi says need to improve monitoring for diseases of unknown causes

China needs to improve its monitoring for diseases of unknown causes and unusual public health incidents, said President Xi Jinping according to state television. At a roundtable with experts and scholars on Tuesday, Xi said an urgent task now is to improve the monitoring system for infectious diseases and emergency public health incidents.