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

1. #SHOOTING: A man in his late 20s is still being questioned by Gardaí in connection with the fatal shooting of Christopher Warren, who was left outside the Accident and Emergency department of St James’s Hospital on Friday night. Gardaí have called for any witnesses to come forward with information.

2. #INDIA: The funeral has taken place of the 23-year-old medical student who died after she was savagely injured in a gang-rape on a New Delhi bus. The victim was cremated at a private ceremony today, amid a wave of protests which have erupted across India since the attack two weeks ago.

3. #POLL: More than half of people want to see the Seanad abolished, while just under one third would rather see it reformed, according to a Millward Brown poll carried out for the Sunday Independent. Only 7 per cent of people would like to see the Seanad remain in its current format.

4. #ROADS: Gardaí are appealing for witnesses to a car crash in Cork in which a 26-year-old woman was seriously injured. The accident happened at Cow Cross in Cobh when the car the woman was driving collided with a 4×4. Garda forensic investigators will carry out an examination of the scene later this morning.

5. #TEACHERS: Teachers’ unions are planning to take a legal challenge to the government’s plan to get rid of allowances for new teachers, the Sunday Times reports.

6. #HOSPITAL: Former US President George HW Bush has left intensive care at the Texas hospital where he was being treated, his spokesperson has said. The 41st president of the United States had been admitted to hospital in late November for bronchitis but had suffered a series of setbacks.

7. #HATE CRIME: A woman accused of pushing a man to his death in front of a New York subway train has been charged with committing a hate-crime murder. The woman reportedly told police that she has hated Hindus and Muslims since the events of 9/11. The 46-year-old victim was from India and had been living in New York.

8. #FISCAL CLIFF: American politicans have failed yet again to reach a deal on averting major tax hikes and spending cuts from coming into effect before Tuesday’s deadline. Barack Obama has called for compromise to avert the ‘fiscal cliff’ from kicking in.

9. #STATE PAPERS: Why is Éire written on stamps instead of Ireland? What did Charles Haughey makes of a suggestion to call Ireland the ‘Irish Secular Free State’? Here’s the latest stories from the newly-released State papers from 1982.