EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee.

1. #DEBT DEAL: A deal to ease the burden of Ireland’s bank debt hangs in the balance this morning following comments by Angela Merkel yesterday that the eurozone bailout fund would not retroactively capitalise banks. Irish government officials maintain she was talking about Spain but that’s far from clear this morning. Here’s what Angela said.

2. #CATHERINE A 46-year-old is due before a court in Wales this morning charged with murdering Catherine Gowing, the Irish vet, who has been missing for over a week. Clive Sharpe will appear before a magistrates court in Mold later this morning.

3. #CARDIFF: One woman has died and 12, including seven children, have been injured after a series of hit-and-runs in the Welsh city of Cardiff yesterday. A 31-year-0ld man has been arrested on suspicion of murder as witnesses told the BBC how pedestrians appeared to be deliberated targeted by someone driving a van.

4. #ARAS 2018? Former presidential candidate Seán Gallagher has not ruled out running for the presidency again following his failed bid last October. A year on from the election, the businessman told RTÉ’s Gay Bryne that he and his wife Trish are expecting their first baby.

5. #USA USA USA: Jobs Minister Richard Bruton is leading a five-day long investment mission along the west coast of the United States. The four-city tour will take in a Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego and will involve meeting companies that are considering investing and creating jobs in Ireland.

6. #CULLEN: Entrepreneur and Apprentice star Bill Cullen is being pursued by Danske Bank for more than €8.2 million in unpaid loans, the Irish Examiner reports this morning. The ‘Penny Apples’ author’s case came up in the Commercial Court yesterday where lawyers for the bank said they were experiencing difficulties serving legal documents on Cullen whose car-dealership went into receivership earlier this month.

7. #COURTS: A judge at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has suspended a jail sentence for a man who attacked a woman on condition he pays €3,000 to the neighbour he assaulted, the Irish Independent and other papers report this morning. The decision by Judge Martin Nolan comes in the wake of controversy over sentencing of those convicted of sex attacks with fresh calls for guidelines for the judiciary.

8. #OMNISHAMBLES: The British government has had to cope with two embarrassing developments over the last 24 hours with the chief whip, Andrew Mitchell, resigning last night over a month-long row about whether or not he called a police officer a ‘pleb’. That news came just hours after chancellor George Osborne was caught sitting in a first class train carriage while only having a standard class ticket.

9. #ARMSTRONG: The cyclist accused of being at the heart of the most sophisticated doping programme in the history of sport, Lance Armstrong, only alluded to the scandal in his first public speech since the report of the US Anti-Doping Agency. Armstrong told attendees at a fundraiser for his Livestrong charity that it had been a “difficult couple of weeks” for him and his family. Watch it here.