10 must-reads for today

Hong Kong unveiled a record budget deficit yesterday, pledging cash handouts to residents and business tax breaks to soften the blow to the recession-hit economy from often-violent protests and the coronavirus. While the measures are not expected to arrest the downturn in Hong Kong, they will provide households and firms with some financial relief, said analysts.

Malaysian interim Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and veteran politician Anwar Ibrahim are facing off as both seek to corral enough lawmakers to form a majority in the 222-seat Parliament. Datuk Seri Anwar said yesterday that a group of lawmakers had backed him to become Malaysia's next prime minister, after Tun Dr Mahathir said that he wanted to form a unity government.

Mr Lee Hsien Yang yesterday asked what he stood to gain in supposedly deceiving his father, founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, over the latter's will. He was responding to the damning findings by a disciplinary tribunal set up to examine the role played by his wife, lawyer Lee Suet Fern, over the will.

The wife and children of the commander of Myanmar's insurgent Arakan Army have been granted asylum in Switzerland after being detained in Thailand since December last year. Human rights groups lobbied for Bangkok not to deport the mother and children to Myanmar, where they would likely be persecuted.

Singapore faces an air-conditioning conundrum: It is hot, so air-conditioners are needed. But the use of air-cons heats up the environment. Are there ways to build to boost natural ventilation to reduce the need for air-cons? Yes, says environment correspondent Audrey Tan (below).

A sum of $100 million over five years has been set aside to build simulation facilities on all train lines in Singapore to improve rail reliability. Such facilities, resembling command centres, let operators simulate anything from a track fault to cyber-security threats against the line. The hardware and software are replicas of real-world systems.

Singaporeans must not be complacent in the fight against the coronavirus which is spreading around the world, President Halimah Yacob said yesterday. "We are seeing in a few countries, it has spread exponentially. So, we cannot be complacent, we must always do our utmost to be on guard," she said during a visit to St Luke's ElderCare Centre in Ayer Rajah.

A surge in pharmaceuticals and the race to meet output targets before the Chinese New Year holidays gave an unexpected boost to Singapore's manufacturing sector last month. Analysts said that the January figures may be reflecting some front-loading by factories ahead of the holiday season, while missing the extended slack after.

Coaches and observers have tipped Tampines Rovers as narrow favourites to win the Singapore Premier League this season. But they expect keen competition from new side Lion City Sailors, holders Brunei DPMM, former kingpins Albirex Niigata and even resurgent Hougang United in what is arguably the most balanced slate of teams in years.

Welsh singer Duffy has attributed her long musical hiatus to a violent assault that saw her "raped and drugged, and held captive over some days". The Grammy winner said in an Instagram post that she was "ok and safe now", but that recovery "took time".

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat (above) was at the Parkroyal on Kitchener Road hotel on Tuesday to look at how one sector affected by the coronavirus situation was coping. He said that the Government is ready to do more should the situation call for it. str.sg/blurb237

Raised in a family of wrestlers, Indian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Ritu Phogat (above) is ready to write her own history. She wants to become her country's first MMA world champion. str.sg/blurb238