Good morning! Morning Minutes is a round-up of stories that will break on Tuesday (Dec 20) and which we think you'd be interested in.

It appears on weekdays, available by 7am.

FRANCE AND AUSTRALIA TO SIGN MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR DEAL

France and Australia will sign a multi-billion dollar deal - which Paris has billed as the "contract of the century" - for the 12-state-of-the-art submarines in Adelaide on Tuesday (Dec 20).

The overall cost of the submarine fleet, which includes separate agreements with United States and Australian contractors, totals A$50 billion (S$52.7 billion).

GUIDE ON HELPING THOSE WITH DISABILITIES

The steering committee for the third Enabling Masterplan will present its report and recommendations at a media conference on Tuesday (Dec 20).

This comes after a series of consultations involving over 400 members of the public over eight months. The masterplan is a blueprint to guide the development of policies, programmes, services and other support for those with disabilities.

BANK OF JAPAN EXPECTED TO HOLD NEGATIVE INTEREST RATES

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is expected to hold its negative interest rates and 10-year government bond yield target steady at the end of its two-day deliberations on Tuesday (Dec 20), as a weaker yen and positive overseas conditions augur well for Japan's economic prospects.

Economists predict that the BOJ will maintain the minus 0.1 per cent interest rate it imposes on some excess reserves and hold the 10-year government bond yield target at around zero.