Good morning! Morning Minutes is a round-up of stories that will break on Tuesday, June 14, and which we think you'd be interested in.
It appears on weekdays, available by 7am.
Annual Breaking of Fast
The Religious Rehabilitation Group and Khadijah Mosque management board will organise an annual breaking of fast this evening (June 14). - AUDREY TAN
Special Asean meeting in Kunming
Foreign ministers from Asean countries and China hold a special meeting today (June 14) in the south-western Chinese city of Kunming to discuss territorial rows in the hotly contested South China Sea.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan will co-chair the meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi as Singapore is the Country Coordinator for Asean-China Dialogue Relations. The meeting will discuss Asean-China relations and the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
China and four Asean nations - Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei - have overlapping territorial claims to the South China Sea, which hosts vital global shipping routes. Talks between Asean and China to frame a Code of Conduct on how to navigate around these disputes have been under way since 2002. Manila has taken China's claim to more than 80 per cent of the waterway to a UN arbitration court but Beijing has said it won't recognise the verdict, which is expected to be issued in the coming weeks.
US retail sales data out today
The United States Commerce Department will release data for its May retail sales today (June 14). Retail sales - which correspond closely with the consumer spending component of a nation's gross domestic product - surged 1.3 per cent in April, the largest gain since March last year, after dropping 0.3 per cent the prior month. Today's data comes a day before US Federal Reserve officials conclude their latest policy meeting.