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

It appears on weekdays, available by 7am.

Putting tactical ops skills to the test

The Asian Prisons Lockdown Challenge will take place on Thursday (April 21) at the Changi Prison Complex. Organised by the Singapore Prison Service, the biennial event brings together highly trained special units of officers from SPS and their regional counterparts to share best practices in tactical operations, among other things. Previous editions of the event had seen the testing of participants' ability to perform under physically and mentally stressful conditions through a series of obstacles and precision shooting challenges. - SEOW BEIYI

Obama heads to Britain

US President Barack Obama will be thrust into the eye of a boisterous British debate over European Union membership when he touches down in London on Thursday (April 21) for a four-day visit, perhaps his last to Britain before leaving office next year. The trip comes ahead of a June 23 referendum when Britons will be asked if they want to remain in the 28-member EU. Britain's departure would deprive the US of a key conduit for relations with Europe and Mr Obama has consistently said he favours a strong Britain in a strong EU. But pro-Brexit supporters include popular London mayor Boris Johnson are clamouring to cast Mr Obama as a meddling outsider.

ECB interest rate policy decision

Economists are virtually certain European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi will not touch interest rates when it announces its policy decision on Thursday (April 21). The ECB eased monetary policy last month by cutting the benchmark rate to zero per cent and deposit rate to minus 0.4 per cent, and adding corporate bonds to an asset-purchase programme. Investors will seek reassurances that it has more tools left to support growth.