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

1. #HISTORIC: President Michael D Higgins is off to the UK later today for a State visit which includes a banquet with Queen Elizabeth II.

2. #RECOVERY: Ireland is ‘on the way back’, according to business group IBEC, which said recovery is now gaining momentum.

3. #HEALTHCARE: Minister James Reilly faces public opposition to his plan for Universal Health Insurance, the Irish Independent reports, as a poll shows most people currently paying for cover don’t want to join the unavoidable waiting lists under UHI.

4. #EQUALITY: Support for same-sex marriage is still increasing in a new Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll, though the majority still think the mother and father parenting combination is most capable of meeting a child’s needs.

5. #PENSIONS:  Some 35 retired civil servants are in receipt of pensions of more than €100,000, Minister Brendan Howlin has admitted. Five of these people are receiving almost €119,000 a year.

6. #GENOCIDE: Today marks the 20th anniversary of the end of the genocide in Rwanda and two decades on, the nation is still healing.

7. #MURDER: Oscar Pistorius is expected to take the stand for the first time today as his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp resumes.

8. #MH370: An Australian vessel searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet has detected signals consistent with an aircraft black box, BBC reports.

9. #RIP: Veteran actor Mickey Rooney, who first hit the screens in the silent era, has died aged 93.