EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine stories you need to know a little before 9am.

1. #GAZA: Israel has begun a seven-hour partial ceasefire in Gaza amid international criticism of yesterday’s attack on a UN school.

2. #ON THE BEAT: A top garda has said that it is “only a matter of time” before private security firms begin to try to set up patrols in local areas.

3. #STANDARDS: Less than 2% of residential centres for people with disabilities fully comply with regulations according to The Irish Times.

4. #WWI: President Higgins will be part of a World War I commemoration in Liege in Belgium today along with 16 other heads of state.

5. #DIPLOMACY: Ireland spent €43 million on embassies worldwide last year. Brussels, London, Tokyo,  New York and Paris were the most expensive.

6. #CULLED: Almost 40,000 badgers were killed in Ireland in the four years between 2007 and 2011. The Department of Agriculture put out a tender for another cull.

7. #SINKING: An overloaded ferry carrying up to 200 passengers has sank on a river in central Bangladesh. About 50 passengers have so far been rescued.

8. #OVER THE MOON: Space enthusiasts have won a battle to force the authorities to release images from a spacecraft’s decade-long interplanetary mission to hunt down a comet reports The Independent.

9. #GAA: Mayo manager James Horan has blasted the Cork football management for their comments about his Mayo team as he described them as ‘disgraceful’ and ‘a new low’.