EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine stories you need to know a little before 9am.

1. #IRAQ: US President Barack Obama has authorised Iraq air strikes against Islamic State militants – “if necessary”. He said the first mission was to drop food and water to the people in the Sinjar mountains.

2. #OVERCROWDED: There has been an increase in hospital overcrowding with five hospitals seeing a rise of between 75% and 187% compared to last year.

3. #MISSING: Gardaí have been unable to find the person responsible for the accounts of the Fine Gael branch in the Taoiseach’s constituency after accounts were not filed for 2012.

4. #DEBT: A flaw in the operation of the personal insolvency system has meant that some lenders have been given a stronger veto over debt deals than was intended but it won’t be fixed until TDs come back from their holidays, the Irish Independent reports.

5. #GAZA: Hamas has rejected an extension of the 72-hour ceasefire but has denied claims by Israel that they fired two rockets this morning. Thousands in Gaza have fled their homes.

6.#CORK: Gardaí investigating a hit-and-run in which a 12-year-old boy was seriously injured have found a car near the location where he was knocked down.

7. #GAFFS: A government taskforce has said there is enough zoned land in Dublin to meet the housing demand and planning permission has already been granted for 18,000 homes but none of them have been built yet, The Irish Times reports.

8. #AUSTRALIA: A 25-year-old Irish backpacker has been charged with concealing the death of her newborn baby in the Australian outback.

9. #LOCKED: Some 44% of Irish workers have been drunk while working, according to a survey. Have you ever had a few tipples in the middle of a work day?