EVERY MORNING TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know as you start your day.

1. #MORTGAGES: The debt relief plan for struggling mortgage-holders, as mooted by Morgan Kelly, is getting support from several quarters this morning. Fellow economist Constantin Gurdgiev backs it in the Sunday Independent, while Housing junior minister Willie Penrose tells the Sunday Times that he’s behind it too…

2. #ARAS 2011: Fine Gael’s presidential candidate Gay Mitchell has expressed – through his PR man – his despair over the number of Irish women going abroad for abortions every year. He would rather women got support in Ireland to keep the baby rather than “sneak off” to have a termination, the PR told the Sunday Independent.

3. #MICHAEL O’LEARY: The Ryanair boss wants the Ireland’s tax system simplified, he has told the Sunday Independent. He thinks those earning under €50,000 should pay 10 per cent, between €50k and €100k should pay 25 per cent and those over €100k should pay 50 per cent. But raise tax any higher than that and, he warns, he’s going to leave the country.

4. #PENSIONS: Around €7.5 billion was wiped off Irish pension funds in the last month due to the turmoil in equity investments, the Sunday Business Post reports.

5. #ECSTASY: Scientists in England may have found a new use for clubbers’ drug ecstasy – a modified form of the drug could help treat blood cancers, they told the medical journal Investigational New Drugs.

6. #INAPPROPRIATE: Two men were the subject of an internal investigation in the civil service when it was found that they looked up personal details of women they were interested in by accessing their social welfare records, reports the Sunday Times.

7. #ROAD DEATHS: A total of 154 children who died in road accidents between 1997 and 2009 were not wearing seatbelts, according to a new study published by the Road Safety Authority and seen by the Sunday Business Post.

8.#LIBYA: Despite an audio broadcast by Muammar Gaddafi last night saying the contrary, the Associated Press is reporting that Libyan rebels are closing in on Tripoli from the west. The rebels are, however, being shelled with rockets, mortars and anti-aircraft fire by Gaddafi forces.

9. #MEXICO: Thinking of going loco in Acapulco? Then you should know that Mexican police told the Washington Post that several headless bodies have been discovered in the resort town in the past week, possibly linked to drug wars in the country.