EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine stories you need to know with your morning coffee.

1. #CRISIS: Leader’s of the G7 industrial powers have condemned Russia’s “clear violation” of Ukraine’s sovereignty.

2. #OSCARS: Gravity took away the most statuettes at last night’s Academy Awards as 12 Years a Slave won the award for best picture. Here’s the full list of winners and losers.

3. #ATHLONE: The man who raped two young girls in Athlone last September is to be sentenced at the Central Criminal Court later today.

4. #OSCAR PISTORIUS: The South African Olympian has arrived in court in Pretoria ahead of the start of his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Here’s what’s to expect in the trial.

5. #SMOKING: Gerry Collins, a father-of-three who appeared in a hard-hitting HSE anti-smoking campaign in which he talked about his terminal lung cancer, has died of his illness.

6. #POLITICS IS LOCAL: Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has denied an accusation that he has handed roles on semi-state boards to “political cronies” after an accusation from a local election candidate in his constituency.

7. #BURGLARIES: A 44-year-old man will appear in court today charged in connection with a series of armed robberies of businesses in Dublin city in recent weeks.

8. #PAKISTAN: Eleven people including a judge have been killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack on a court in Islamabad according to AFP.

9. #SELFIE: At 2.3 million retweets and counting, this ultra A-list selfie tweeted by Ellen DeGeneres has become the most retweeted tweet of all time.