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

1. #EDUCATION: The Department of Education is to publish a paper today recommending that the State Examinations Commission carry out study of the Leaving Cert to check if the exams have become too predictable, RTÉ reports.

2. #BOSTON MURDER: A teenager has been charged with first degree murder for the fatal shooting of Irishman Ciarán Ó Conghaile (Ciaran Conneely) in Boston in October. The Boston Globe reports that John Graham, 17, is also charged with shooting two men during an attempted robbery later in October.

3. #ETHIOPIA: Two Swedish journalists have been convicted of supporting terrorism and illegally entering Ethiopia by an Ethiopian court. The pair has admitted illegal entry, but denies the terrorism charge. Swedish politicians and Amnesty International have expressed their concern over the verdict.

4. #CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER: New draft legislation by Fianna Fáil’s Senator Mark Daly could create a new criminal offence of corporate manslaughter for companies whose gross negligence results in a person’s death. Companies convicted under the proposed legislation could be fined, while management could be jailed.

5. #IRAQ: At least 40 people have been killed in a series of coordinated bombings in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Over 130 are injured, according to the BBC.

6. #QUINN: The PSNI is investigating an incident at a Quinn Group premises in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh at which a truck appears to have driven into a wall.

7. #ROADS: A man has been seriously injured in a crash in Dublin city centre earlier this morning. A section of road along the quays (Ormond Quay between Capel Street bridge and O’Connell Street bridge) has been closed to facilitate an examination of the scene.

8. #EGYPT: Human Rights Watch has called on Egypt’s military leadership to issue immediate orders prohibiting further sexual violence against protesters. The group says it has received reports and images of soldiers and police officers sexually assaulting and beating men and women protesting against ongoing military rule.

9. #YIKES: Two Earth-sized ‘roasted’ planets could signal what is in store for our planet, according to a new report published in the journal Nature. The two planets are orbiting a distant star that is in its ‘red giant’ stage and are the smallest planets found so far outside the solar system. This illustration from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows an artist’s renderings of planets Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f compared with Venus and the Earth. (Image: AP Photo/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)