EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the stories you need to know as you wake up.

1. #STRIKE: Over 500 secondary schools are closed today as ASTI teachers take to the picket lines in industrial action over pay scales for teachers who qualified after 2011.

2. #CORK: A 19-year-old man has died in a single-vehicle crash in Charleville, Co Cork.

3. #WATER: Close to 40,000 people were affected by boil water notices across Ireland at some stage last year, according to the EPA’s annual drinking water report.

4. #PORNOGRAPHY: Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that some of Ireland’s youth is being “tainted and corrupted” by pornography and that a “national conversation” is needed on the issue.

5. #PAY HIKES: Almost three-quarters of Irish companies are planning to award pay rises next year, a new study has found.

6. #ITALY: Two strong earthquakes rocked central Italy yesterday evening, toppling buildings and injuring dozens of people, two months after a devastating tremor killed nearly 300 people in the same region.

7. #ANNUAL REPORT: The Department of Foreign Affairs helped over 800 Irish people who became caught up in seven major crises in 2015.

8. #ELECTRICITY: A damaged undersea power cable between the Aran islands and the mainland was repaired over the weekend, bringing mains electricity back to Inis Meáin and Inis Oírr. Here’s a video of the complicated operation.

9. #MEMORY LANE: RTÉ has released special archived footage for the UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, including features about horse meat on sale in Phibsboro and a UFO spotted in Tipperary.