EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine stories you need to know as you kick off your day.

1. #BAILOUT It’s the last working day of the bailout programme – it officially ends on Sunday – and the government is planning an intensive media blitz. Meanwhile, EU Commission Vice-President Olli Rehn spoke of his shock when he first heard about the extent of Ireland’s bank debt.

2. #TOP-UPS Fundraisers have reported a decline in donations of up to 40 per cent in the wake of the charity top-ups scandal. Meanwhile, staff at the Central Remedial Clinic’s school have written to the CRC board, asking them to resign, the Irish Independent reports.

3. #JILL MEAGHER The father of Jill Meagher, who was murdered in Melbourne in 2012, has told an Australian news channel that he has an incurable brain disease. George McKeon said that he also faces a $270,000 penalty if he does not travel to Ireland for a civil court hearing.

4. #ICELAND Four former directors of the collapsed Icelandic bank Kaupthing have been convicted of fraud and sentenced to prison. They were convicted for hiding that a Qatari investor used money loaned from Kaupthing to buy a stake in the bank in the middle of the 2008 financial crisis.

5. #SYRIA Chemical weapons have been used at least five times during the Syrian conflict, a new UN report says. It does not attribute blame for the attacks, but says it has ‘clear and convincing evidence’ that chemical weapons were used against civilians on a large scale.

6. #NORTH KOREA An uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been executed after being convicted of treason. Jang Son-Thaek was portrayed in a report as decadent and corrupt, and as attempting to overthrow the state.

8.#PIGEONS A businessman, John Donovan, has told the Irish Independent that the New York Times ‘sensationalised’ a story which said he had to shoot pigeons to eat. The Central Bank is also said to have contacted the paper after it mistakenly said two-thirds of Irish borrowers had not paid their mortgage in two years.

9. #TYSON The Rape Crisis Network has said that Ireland should follow the UK’s lead and ban former boxer Mike Tyson, who was found guilty of rape in 1992, from visiting the country. He is due to bring his one-man show to Ireland next March.