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

1. #CORK TRAGEDY: A young girl and an adult male have died in Goleen in Co Cork. The Goleen Unit of the Irish Coast Guard were tasked just after midnight by the Valencia Coast Guard, following a missing person’s report. The body of the child was found at a beach near Ballydehob, while the body of an adult male was taken from the water. Post-mortems are due to be carried out today.

2. #NICOLA FURLONG: The female friend that was with Nicola Furlong on the night she died has given evidence on the third day of the trial into her death. RTÉ News is reporting that her friend, who wished to remain anonymous, said that after going for a drink with Richard Hinds and James Blackston, the next thing she remembered was waking up and seeing Furlong being put into an ambulance. Hinds is accused of her murder.

3. #HUGO CHAVEZ: Tributes are being paid to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who died yesterday following a two-year battle with cancer.President Michael D Higgins said that Chavez had achieved a “great deal during his term in office”, while Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said that he had been “an important figure on the international stage”.

4. #SEXUAL ABUSE: Cork woman Louise O’Keeffe, who failed in her Supreme Court appeal to have the State held liable for the sexual abuse she suffered at school, is be begin her case at the European Court of Human Rights today. Having failed at the Supreme Court in 2009, her wish to appeal to the ECHR was initially contested by the State.

5. #DRUG SEIZURE: Two men in their late-teens have been arrested after Gardaí seized heroin with an estimated street value of €112,000 yesterday. The drugs were found in a car on Dublin’s South Circular Road, with a follow-up search at a house uncovering more of the drug.

6. #SYRIA: There are now more than one million Syrian refugees, the United Nations have confirmed. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said that the country was now “spiralling towards full-scale disaster” as thousands more continued to leave the country on a daily basis.

7. #KNIVES: Pocket knives are to be allowed on flights in the US from next month, for the first time since the events of 9/11. From 25 April, knives with blades that measure 6cm or less and are less than 1.25cm wide will be allowed on flights.

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8. #JAIL CHOICE: A 15-year-old boy, who has a long history of missing school, has been told to choose which of his parents is to be jailed for a month and which should instead receive a suspended sentence. The Irish Independent is reporting that Judge Alan Mitchell made the decision in a case which revealed that the boy had missed 91 days in the current school year alone.

9. #ANIMAL HEALTH: A quarter of family dogs in Ireland are overweight, according to figures from the ISPCA. The organisation is encouraging owners to tackle their own health issues, along with that of their pets, by exercising more.