EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you all the news you need to know as you start the day.

1. #PENALTY POINTS: Drivers will face higher penalties for speeding under a new law currently being drafted. 

2. #VENEZUELA: Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has said he escaped an “assassination” attempt using an explosive-laden drone.

3. #FATALITY: A teenager has died following a single-vehicle collision in Co Mayo in the early hours of this morning.

4. #MORTGAGES: PTSB has defended the timing of the letters it sent to customers to inform them that their loans had been sold to an affiliate of a US ‘vulture fund’.

5. #POPE VISIT: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he hopes to raise the issues of same-sex families, Magdalene Laundries and sexual/physical abuse with Pope Francis during his visit to Ireland later this month.

6. #REVENUE: Revenue has collected more than €1 million in additional taxes in a crackdown on casinos with unlicenced gaming machines.

7. #PSC: The mandatory requirement that a person must hold a Public Services Card in order to obtain a driver theory test is finally to be done away with by the end of this month.

8. #LEBRON: US First Lady Melania Trump has stepped away from her husband’s criticism of NBA star LeBron James to compliment his work on behalf of children.

9. #MISSING: DNA analysis has confirmed that a body that has remained unidentified in Wales since 1985 is that of Irishman Brendan Dowley, RTÉ reports.