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

1. #SPYING: French president Francois Hollande has told the US that he is deeply unhappy over reports that Washington secretly tapped more than 70 million phone calls in France, including one between Hollande and US president Barack Obama.

2. #BUSHFIRES: Firefighters in Australia have deliberately merged two giant blazes in the southeast of the country as they battle to manage the advancing fires. More than 200 homes have been destroyed in the worst fire emergency in New South Wales in almost 50 years.

3. #SUING: Two childcare workers who appeared in RTE’s Prime Time investigation into the standard of care in some creches are suing the national broadcaster for defamation, saying they were left devastated by the broadcast, the Irish Examiner reports.

4. #CHILD PROTECTION: Highly sensitive information about a young teenager found in a distressed state outside Dublin’s GPO and who may have been trafficked into the country was accidentally sent to a member of the public by a nurses’ organisation.

5. #ANGLO: The wife and five children of bankrupt former billionaire Sean Quinn have gone to the High Court to seek permission to sue former Anglo boss Sean Fitzpatrick for damages, the Irish Independent reports.

6. #BABIES: The first national study into stillbirths and babies who die within four weeks of being born has found there were almost 500 perinatal deaths in 2011, a similar level to European rates, according to RTE.

7. #NATASHA MCSHANE: The trial in Chicago of a 34-year-old man accused of the attempted murder of an Irish student in 2010 has heard the entire attack lasted just three minutes. Natasha McShane was left with extensive brain injuries as a result of the assault.

8. #GREY POWER: Senior citizens are to protest outside the Dáil this afternoon against cuts in last week’s Budget. Organisers say they hope to see a similar turnout to the successful 2008 protests by pensioners against severe cuts.

9. #CHARIDEEEE: Senator David Norris is to shave off his beard for the first time in 40 years after he lost a bet that the public would vote to keep the Seanad in the recent referendum. Senator Norris will be unbearded live on the Ray D’Arcy Show this morning.