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

1. #WAITING LISTS: The Minister for Health Simon Harris has said he is ashamed and heartbroken by the ordeal being endured by patients on waiting lists and said he’ll do everything he can to reduce waiting lists in the next year.

2. #FORESTY FRAUD: Two men have been arrested over investment fraud offences and money laundering offences involving up to €5 million.

3. #TRAVEL BAN: The US Government has defended President Donald Trump’s travel ban as a “lawful exercise” of his authority, and urged an appeals court to reinstate the suspended measure in the interests of national security.

4. #CANCER: A concerned son has described how a staff vacancy of a permanent medical oncologist in Letterkenny University Hospital meant he had to get up at 4am and travel nearly four hours so his mother could get chemo.

5. #INHUMAN CONDITIONS: Amnesty International has published a new report which it says has uncovered a “calculated campaign” of civilian executions by the Syrian government over the last five years.

6. #SAFER INTERNET DAY: Almost a third of children are in contact with a stranger online either occasionally or every day.

7. #SELF-HARM: Parents and teachers have been urged to educate themselves around the subject of self-harm, as figures show that the number of people harming themselves is rising every year.

8. #BANK: Workers at KBC Bank Ireland are concerned about their jobs ahead of an announcement about the future of the bank’s operations in Ireland.

9. #FREEDOM: Former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle will soon become the 82nd and 83rd people to be awarded the Freedom of the City of Dublin.