EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you really need to know with your morning coffee.

1. #ENERGY HIKE: Homes across Ireland are due to be hit with an average price hike of €250 for their electricity and gas services, with Artricity and ESB increasing prices by 12.3 per cent and 12.2 per cent, respectively. In Northern Ireland, the main domestic supplier Power NI has also announced plans to increase costs by 20 per cent.

2. #LEAVING CERT: This year’s Leaving Certificate results are in – and the verdict isn’t good for maths and science, with high failure rates for both subjects, while business studies students also returned relatively poor marks. More worryingly, there was a marked disparity in the average grades of higher and ordinary level students, with the failure rate among ordinary level students far greater – raising concerns of grade inflation.

3. #EUROZONE: European stock markets fell this morning following yesterday’s announcement by Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel to introduce a joint corporate tax rate in their countries by 2016, and their call for other countries to establish a collective financial ‘government’ for the entire Eurozone, RTÉ reports.

4. #ARMAGH: Two men are to appear in court today in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 21-year-old man in Armagh over the weekend. Marc Williamson, of Richhill, Co Armagh, was stabbed while in the Hartfield Avenue area of Portadown Sunday morning.

5. #ARAS11: Presidential hopeful Gay Mitchell says he regrets comparing abortion clinics to Nazi concentration camps in the past, reports the Irish Independent.  Mitchell also said he would be willing to show letters in which he appealed for clemency for two people on death row – if he could find them.

6. #SHARK ATTACK: A British man has died following a horrific shark attack partly witnessed by his new wife whilst the couple were on honeymoon in the Seychelles. Ian Redmond, 30, was attacked in shallow water off the Anse Lazio beach, on the island of Praslin in the Indian Ocean where he had been snorkeling as his wife sunbathed on the beach nearby.

7. #TOBACCO: Four tobacco firms have filed a lawsuit in the US against the Food and Drug Administration, saying that the requirement to include graphic warnings on cigarette packets was “unconstitutional” and violated their right to free speech, the BBC reports.

8. #CHINA: US Vice-President Joe Biden is travelling to China to discuss the economy following the US downgrade, Xinhuanet reports. China is the largest foreign creditor of the US, holding $1 trillion of debt.

9. #WEDDING: Is this the worst wedding video ever? A British couple who hired a cameraman to capture their special day were left shocked and disappointed when the cameraman filmed the wrong ceremony – only realising his mistake when the couple exchanged vows.

Craig and Rona Holdsworth said their cameraman then went on to film such scintillating scenes as guests’ feet, ceilings and close-ups of people eating. (Watch longer version on the Telegraph).