EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the stories you need to know as you start your day.

1. #SHOOTING: Gardaí are appealing for witnesses to the murder of former Real IRA Chief of Staff Aidan O’Driscoll, who was shot dead in Cork yesterday evening.

2. #TRUMP: US president-elected Donald Trump has picked a noted fossil fuel advocate to head up the Environmental Protection Agency.

3. #POPULAR: Enda Kenny is up to 36% in the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll, published in this morning’s paper.

4. #GIRAFFE: The giraffe is facing extinction after a dramatic fall in numbers over the past 30 years, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

5. #CANCER: 500 people die of alcohol-related cancer every year, according to new research from the National Cancer Control Programme.

6. #BIRTHDAY: One of the most influential figures in modern Irish history, TK Whitaker, turns 100 today.

7. #CAB: A number of senior Kinahan gang members have started ‘gifting’ their relatives and friends property and luxury items they believe may be under scrutiny from the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).

8. #POPE: Pope Francis has compared scandal-obsessed media outlets who smear politicians and spread gossip to people sexually excited by excrement – and described their readers as faeces eaters.

9. #KILLED: A man in his 50s died after being struck by a truck in Co Limerick yesterday evening.