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GOOD MORNING

The 9 at 9 Nine things you really, really need to know by 9am: the count beings in Donegal; the bailout talks near fruition and your chance to win a ticket to the event of the year….no, not the Toy Show.

Every morning, The Journal.ie brings you nine things you really need to know with your morning coffee.

1. #BYELECTION: Counting gets underway this morning in Donegal; Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty, who launched the legal challenge which forced the government to hold the election, looks set to take the seat vacated by Pat ‘the Cope’ Gallagher. The turnout was historically low – the Irish Daily Star estimates that fewer than 27,500 of the 62,000 on register came out to vote – suggesting a lot of Fianna Fail voters simply didn’t show.

2. #BAILOUT: The bailout talks are nearing fruition; there are suggestions in today’s papers that the deal will mean NAMA process is likely to be extended to smaller loans, including mortgages, and that bondholders may be forced to share rescue burden, the Irish Daily Mirror and the Times report.

3. #HEALTH CRISIS: 310 senior HSE managers will be paid €240,000 each to walk away under the early retirement scheme, the Mail reports.

4. #SIBLINGS: State’s first transplant keyhole surgery has taken place, allowing Dublin woman Kate Mooney donate a kidney to her brother without undergoing major surgery, according to the Examiner.

5. #SMOKING: Passive smoking kills 600,000 people, including 165,000 children every year the WHO has estimated in the first global study on the subject.

6. #ARSON: Gardaí in Dundalk are investigating an arson attack on a mobile speed camera van, RTE reports.

7. #KOREA: North Korea has warned that the impending joint military exercises by the South and the US are pushing the region to “the brink of war”.

8. #SAMOA: Three Samoan teenagers have survived 50 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean, being found alive by a tuna fishing vessel long after their families had given them up for dead.

9. #ROYAL WEDDING:Prince William and Kate Middleton plan to hold a Willy Wonka-style “Golden Ticket” draw, in which 100 commoners can win the chance to attend the royal wedding and reception, the Irish Sun reports. Well, since we’re no longer a sovereign state…