Good morning! Morning Minutes is a round-up of stories that will break on Thursday, July 21, and which we think you'd be interested in.

It appears on weekdays, available by 7am.

Schools mark Racial Harmony Day

Schools in Singapore will be commemorating Racial Harmony Day today (July 21) to remember Singapore's 1964 race riots. The annual event reminds students of the importance of maintaining racial and religious harmony here. In 1964, the ensuing violence from one race riot lasted five days and left 22 people dead and more than 450 injured.

UN Security Council to pick next secretary-general by secret ballot

The United Nations Security Council will begin an informal secret ballot to pick the next secretary-general of the organisation today (July 21). The council will choose a candidate to recommend to the General Assembly for election later this year, but the results of the closed-door polls will not be made public. Twelve candidates, including former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, are in the running to be the successor of current Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon. Six of the candidates are women, and the bulk of them are from Eastern Europe. The council hopes to agree on a candidate by October.

Indonesian central bank to announce policy rate cut of the year

Indonesia's central bank is expected to announce its fifth policy rate cut of the year today (July 21), as it tries to help lift annual growth back above 5 per cent. Economists expect Bank Indonesia (BI) to cut benchmark 12-month reference rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 per cent. The four cuts this year have reduced the benchmark by 1 percentage point to 6.50 per cent Economic growth may not have improved in the second quarter, Governor Agus Martowardojo has said, as weak global growth continued to affect Southeast Asia's largest economy. Second quarter data will be announced on Aug 5.

ECB to announce monetary policy

The European Central Bank's governing council will announce its monetary policy at the end of its two-day meeting today (July 21). Economists predict it will keep interest rates and the pace of quantitative easing unchanged but act later in the year. When ECB chief Mario Draghi holds his press conference after the decision, he is expected to reiterate his call for government support via a global alignment of monetary, fiscal and regulatory strategies.