Good morning! Morning Minutes is a round-up of stories that will break on Friday, Aug 26, and which we think you'd be interested in.

It appears on weekdays, available by 7am.

State funeral service for late former president S R Nathan today

A state funeral service for the late Mr S R Nathan will be held from 3pm to 5pm today (Aug 26) at the National University of Singapore's University Cultural Centre. This will be preceded by a state funeral procession from Parliament House.

The procession starts at 2pm and will pass landmarks of significance to the former president, including City Hall, Fullerton Hotel and NTUC Centre.

After the funeral service, there will be a private cremation at Mandai Crematorium.

Singapore's factory output data released today

Singapore's industrial production figures for July will be released today (Aug 26). Overall factory output had disappointed in June with a 0.3 per cent year-on-year fall, as a surge in electronics output was not enough to convince economists of a manufacturing recovery.

Factory output data is often seen as closely related to manufacturing GDP figures.

US-Russia talks on Syria, Ukraine today

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva today (Aug 26) to discuss the conflict in Syria and the Ukraine crisis.

Mr Kerry will attempt to close a deal on military cooperation and intelligence-sharing in Syria, which could see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's warplanes grounded.