10 must-reads for today

Indonesia yesterday expanded a partial lockdown to more areas near Jakarta, the epicentre of the country's coronavirus cases. More than 15 million people living in Bekasi, Bogor and Depok were brought under the stringent measures, which include a ban on public gatherings of more than five people and the mandatory use of masks.

There were mounting concerns worldwide that the fight against the coronavirus pandemic would be undermined after United States President Donald Trump decided to stop funding the World Health Organisation (WHO). Some health experts also raised concerns about poorer countries that depend on the WHO for resources to fight the outbreak.

Singapore is locking down dormitories and moving healthy workers to alternative living quarters to prevent further spread of the coronavirus among foreign workers. The Straits Times looks at how the Manpower Ministry and an inter-agency task force are carrying out the mammoth operation.

More people are relying on news organisations instead of social media for information about the coronavirus, a Reuters Institute survey revealed yesterday. Results reflect growing trust in mainstream media amid the crisis.

Singapore's ambition to phase out internal combustion engines by 2040 is a lofty one. Achieving it requires a hard look at past failures in green transport policy to ensure clarity and consistency in the new initiative, says senior transport correspondent Christopher Tan (below).

There are a total of 2,653,942 electors in the updated voter rolls, an increase of over 59,000 from the 2,594,740 electors when the registers were last revised in April last year, according to the Elections Department. This is probably the last revision to the voter rolls before the next general election (GE), which has to be held by April 14 next year.

StarHub's Internet service faced intermittent outage issues yesterday, causing disruption to subscribers working and studying at home. All affected services were fully restored by 8.20pm, said the telco. Internet users took to social media to complain about the outages.

Private home sales slipped last month and are poised to hit a roadblock this month as showflats close and more developers are expected to delay new launches due to the circuit breaker measures.

Singapore Premier League (SPL) players are thankful and relieved that their salaries will not be cut amid the suspension in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. The Football Association of Singapore yesterday said it will have a supplementary subsidy to "aid the clubs during this difficult period".

Director Jon Chu of Crazy Rich Asians fame took on television series Home Before Dark, about a girl who became a plucky investigative journalist, because of his two-year-old daughter. After Willow was born, he found himself thinking about what she would face as she grows up, especially in terms of sexism.

A trailblazer in the biotech and life sciences industries, Dr Steven Fang founded cord blood banking company CordLife and Invitrocue, which aims to revolutionise cancer treatments. str.sg/blurb321

Watch Money Heist, a Spanish crime series on Netflix that has become a global hit, or check out the first book in the Harry Potter series - it is free as an e-book and audiobook for this month. str.sg/blurb322