Good morning! Morning Minutes is a round-up of stories that will break today and which we think you'd be interested in.
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Life! Theatre Awards marks 15 years, ceremony takes place today
The 15th M1-The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards ceremony takes place on Monday.
The awards this year honour a total of 40 nominees across a dozen categories. A quarter of those nods go to theatre company Wild Rice, which picked up six nominations for its annual pantomime, Monkey Goes West, and four more for the drama, The House Of Bernarda Alba. Pangdemonium has also done well, with a total of eight nominations for comedy Fat Pig, the musical The Rise & Fall Of Little Voice and the drama Frozen.
The awards are judged by a six-member panel comprising Lasalle College of the Arts provost Venka Purushothaman; online arts journal The Flying Inkpot's co-editors Kenneth Kwok and Matthew Lyon; as well as arts reviewers from The Business Times, Lianhe Zaobao and The Straits Times - Helmi Yusof, Tang Hwa Kwee and Corrie Tan.
The ceremony, an invitation-only event, takes place at the Esplanade Recital Studio.
MPA to sign memorandum of understanding with Port of Rotterdam
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore will be signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Port of Rotterdam today to promote the sharing of information and best practices between two of the world's key ports and conduct research in common areas of interest. This MOU will help to strengthen the maritime linkages between ports in Europe and Asia and forge closer cooperation at a time when ports have to work more closely with one another to ensure the safety, security and efficiency of global shipping. - JACQUELINE WOO
Asia Pacific Breweries to release details of alcohol serving training programme
Asia Pacific Breweries has customised a training programme on how to serve alcohol responsibly, to address the unique nuances of coffee shop and hawker centre settings. The company and Kopitiam Investments will share more about the training and its benefits at a briefing on Monday. - CALVIN YANG
Jokowi set to give keynote address at World Economic Forum on East Asia
Indonesian President Joko Widodo is set to give a keynote address on Monday at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia in Jakarta. The much anticipated address will be his first major speech to the global community on his home ground after six months in office. Trust and regionalism are key themes that will be discussed at the forum, which will also be attended by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Vietnamese Deputy Premier Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry Mustapa Mohamed and Admiral Harry Harris, the Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet. Best known for its annual meeting in Davos, the WEF is a non-profit international institution that engages political, business, academic and other leaders of society to shape global and regional agendas. Apart from East Asia, the WEF holds regional meetings in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. - BHAGYASHREE GAREKAR
Philippines to release surveillance photos showing China's military activities in Spratly islands
The Philippines is set to release new surveillance photos that show China is building another airstrip-capable island in the seventh and last of the reefs it occupies in the Spratly island chain in the South China Sea. This comes as thousands of Filipino and American troops begin their largest joint military exercise in 15 years, with some drills set on coastal areas west of the main island of Luzon and Palawan province that face the South China Sea. Tensions are flaring to new heights in the region, as China proceeds - despite concerns aired by diplomats from the United States, Japan, South Korea and G-7 nations - with its massive island-building programme in the Spratlys that US Admiral Samuel Locklear said could give China "de facto control of some of the world's most important waterways". - RAUL DANCEL
Preview of Singapore's first 24-hour access automated safe deposit box service vault
Media preview on Monday on Singapore's first 24-hour access automated safe deposit box service vault that will be housed in a soon-to-be-launched new premium building in Orchard Road. - RACHAEL BOON
