LAST UPDATE | 8 Jan 2020

EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you all the news you need to know as you start the day.

1. #REVENGE STRIKES: Iran has fired missiles at bases housing US troops in Iraq, the first retaliation for the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani last week.

2. #PLANE CRASH: 176 people have been killed after a Ukrainian aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff from the main airport in Iran’s capital Tehran.

3. #TROLLEY CRISIS: The INMO has warned that a rise in the number of patients waiting on trolleys in Irish hospitals this week is being exacerbated by an ongoing recruitment embargo within the HSE. 

4. #DOWNING STREET: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet the new European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in London today, when he is expected to press for a free trade agreement with the EU by the end of December. 

5. #EXPENSES: The Oireachtas has spent more than €207,000 on overseas travel for TDs and senators in the last ten months, according to newly released figures.

6. #CYPRUS RAPE CASE: A British teenager who was found guilty of lying about being gang-raped in Cyprus has vowed to clear her name following her return to the UK.

7. #EXCLUSION ZONES: The vast majority of people in Ireland support a ban on protests outside facilities that provide abortion services, a new opinion poll has found.

8. #YOUNG SCIENTIST: The climate crisis, mental health and social media are among the topics explored by students at this year’s BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, which begins at the RDS in Dublin today.

9. #WEATHER: It will be mostly dry today with sunny spells developing as well as some scattered showers. It will also be cool, with highest temperatures of 7 to 9 degrees.

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