10 must-reads for today

United States President Donald Trump took a loop around the Daytona 500 racetrack in his presidential limousine, drawing cheers from fans at Nascar's most prestigious race not long after completing a dramatic fly-by on Air Force One.

The economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak has prompted the Government to lower its growth forecast for the year - and raised the spectre of a possible recession.

China is considering delaying its most high-profile annual political meeting for the first time in decades, as the government attempts to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Some 3,000 members of China's Parliament were expected to convene in Beijing on March 5.

The formation of trade unions by those opposed to the administration of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has given rise to fears that pro-establishment candidates may receive a drubbing in Legislative Council (LegCo) elections.

Chinese dominance in the region will not be derailed by the outbreak, but Beijing can do more to settle questions of trust and transparency that have surfaced over its management of the crisis, says global affairs correspondent Goh Sui Noi.

Facebook has been ordered to disable access for Singapore users to the States Times Review Facebook page, under Singapore's law against fake news. The move, announced yesterday, came two days after the page became the first online site to be barred from receiving any financial benefit as a Declared Online Location.

All four telcos here had applied for at least one of four 5G licences up for grabs by the close of the regulator's submission deadline yesterday, bringing Singapore one step closer to a future of driverless vehicles, cloud gaming on-the-go and robot-run factories and ports.

New home sales held their own last month amid the volatile global economic climate and the coronavirus outbreak in the latter part of the month. Developers sold 618 private homes - up 14.9 per cent from the 538 moved in December and 41 per cent ahead of the 437 units sold in January last year.

Singaporean tennis player Ethan Lye, 18, is set to take up a full athletics scholarship at the Furman University in South Carolina next year in the next step towards his ultimate aim to turn professional.

Chinese writer San Mao's collection, Stories Of The Sahara, is part-travelogue and part-memoir. The late writer, a restless spirit who personified wanderlust for millions of Chinese readers, has had her best-selling 1976 collection translated for the first time into English.

From doctors and nurses to police officers, they are the front-line fighters in Singapore's battle against the coronavirus. Show your support for them by posting a message. str.sg/blurb223

Representing the unsung heroes in the fight against the coronavirus, a family physician, a contact tracer and a nurse from the National Centre for Infectious Diseases tell their heartfelt stories. str.sg/blurb224