10 must-reads for today

Hong Kong told the United States to keep out of the debate over national security legislation being imposed by China, and warned that withdrawal of the financial hub's special status under US law could backfire on the US economy. Hong Kong's pro-Beijing government said sanctions are "a double-edged sword".

As the world battles an unprecedented pandemic, Singapore's job market is also heading into uncharted territory, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said yesterday. That is why she wants to roll out more traineeships, especially for mid-career job seekers - even beyond the numbers indicated in the Fortitude Budget.

Singapore will not enter into a pre-Covid or post-Covid world, but will have to live with the coronavirus - at least for the next one or two years, said Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing, who also said there will be challenges but also opportunities for companies here amid the new normal.

The American corporate work experience may soon be transformed, if guidelines issued by the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on the safest way for employers to reopen their offices to prevent the spread of the coronavirus are followed.

Whether it is in redefining India's approach to economic globalisation, or discarding India's political defensiveness on the Kashmir dispute that involves Pakistan and China, or shedding Delhi's historical inhibitions on strategic cooperation with Washington, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is steering India on to a bolder path, says Professor C. Raja Mohan.

Fewer groups have been registering as charities in recent years, a development that observers say is due to a saturated sector and the resulting difficulties in competing for a slice of the pie for funds and resources. The number of charities registered has been on the decline in the past decade.

Full-time national servicemen (NSFs) under the work-learn Cyber NSF scheme will now be able to pursue their part-time tertiary studies at the National University of Singapore (NUS) after NUS and the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) inked an agreement yesterday. This follows a similar tie-up between Mindef and the Singapore Institute of Technology in 2018.

Bank lending declined for a second consecutive month in April, with consumer loans taking a bigger hit than business loans from the disruption caused by circuit breaker measures. Total lending dropped by 0.4 per cent to $689.7 billion last month, from $692.4 billion in March.

The British police want at least six Premier League matches and any Liverpool title clincher to be played at neutral venues when the season resumes, in a bid to avoid supporters gathering outside stadiums. Matches are set to be played from June 17 behind closed doors, but the police are concerned that social distancing rules would be flouted by hardcore fans.

In 2018, Englishman Paul Mitchell chanced upon a travel blog with a picture showing the partly concealed nose of a dark-coloured sedan in a carpark in Singapore which he somehow deduced was a Lotus Carlton (above) - an ultra-rare super-saloon from the 1990s. Its output and performance were so jaw-dropping that a parliamentary debate was sparked in Britain on whether the car should be banned.

Available in Bengali and Tamil, the Covid Buddy app uses a combination of pictures, audio and simple questions for patients, many of whom are foreign workers, to report their symptoms quickly. str.sg/blurb399

Face masks should still be used over face shields in most situations, although both offer adequate basic protection, according to updated Health Ministry guidelines. Here are more details. str.sg/blurb400