10 must-reads for today

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has instructed his ministers to boost coronavirus testing by 50 per cent to 30,000 as he predicts that the outbreak is expected to peak in August or September. Meanwhile, infections exceeded 75,000 in Indonesia, South-east Asia's most populous nation.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin ended months of uncertainty over his parliamentary majority yesterday when he succeeded in replacing Speaker Ariff Yusof with a slim majority of two votes. Nearly the entire 222-strong House was present to vote on the motion, which was preceded by heated debate. TOP OF THE NEWS A1

Global coronavirus infections passed 13 million yesterday, according to a Reuters tally, marking another milestone in the spread of the disease which has killed more than half a million people in seven months. It has taken just five days to climb to 13 million cases, from 12 million recorded on July 8.

Two pan-democratic candidates - Mr Joshua Wong and Mr Roy Kwong - are said to be leading the opposition camp's primaries, with results expected today, organisers of the event said. The Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute said that paper ballots for Hong Kong Island had been counted and it was tallying votes for other districts.

The coronavirus continues to bite into Asia's economies and will likely leave its mark years into the future. But the pandemic also offers opportunities to review unsustainable practices, says global affairs correspondent Goh Sui Noi.

In what prosecutors described as "one of the worst cases of child abuse", a couple who repeatedly splashed hot water on their five-year-son until the boy died from his scald injuries were sentenced to jail yesterday by the High Court.

A general practitioner has been suspended for 22 months for not providing six patients with appropriate care, including not referring them to a specialist in a timely manner. Dr Tan Joong Piang had prescribed thousands of sleeping pills, or hypnotics, to them for more than a decade.

Singapore has developed a blockchain-based payments network that enables payments to be carried out in different currencies on the same network, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and investment company Temasek said yesterday. The network prototype is on track for commercial adoption. The network was developed by MAS, in collaboration with JPMorgan and Temasek.

The pro tennis tours are facing an uphill task to resume their seasons safely amid the still-raging coronavirus pandemic, with quarantine and logistical matters uppermost on their minds. And any further disruption in China will be a bigger blow to the women's tour, which has seven events coming up there.

British historian David Vincent is an expert on solitude - which suddenly became the subject of the moment earlier this year, as the Covid-19 pandemic forced the world to enter isolation en masse. It was an unexpected coincidence for his latest book, A History Of Solitude, which was published in the midst of the outbreak.

Some 2.54 million Singaporeans went to the polls to vote in the country's 13th General Election last Friday. Examine how each political party performed on Polling Day. str.sg/blurb473

The general election ended with the People's Action Party retaining 83 seats and the Workers' Party taking 10, including the new Sengkang GRC. Here is a look back at the past two weeks of hustings. str.sg/blurb474