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

1. #STRIIIIIIIKE: Thousands of Dunnes Stores workers will picket outside 107 of the chain’s shops today. They are calling for “fair pay” and protesting over “a precarious working environment”.

2. #OKHOTSK: At least 54 sailors have died after a trawler sank off Russian’s Far East. Efforts are underway to find 15 others still missing.

3. #CASH INJECTION: Minister Leo Varadkar is due to announce an action plan worth €70 million to tackle hospital overcrowding. One of the main aims will be to reduce Fair Deal scheme waiting times.

4. #PAY RISE: The number of staff earning in excess of €100,000 a year at the National Assets Management Agency (Nama) has more than doubled in five years – despite the agency being wound down. New figures reveal that by the end of 2014, 112 were earning more than this amount.

5. #TALK IT OUT: As calls grow for banks to do more to help struggling mortgage holders, the Minister for Finance will meet with the Central Bank governor later today to discuss the situation. The aim will be to decide how to best to influence banks to reduce viable rates.

6. #ATTACK: Gunmen have stormed a university in Kenya, BBC News reports. There are reports of hostages being taken.

7. #GROUNDED: Fianna Fail transport spokesperson Timmy Dooley says “slick PR” has created an inevitability about the Aer Lingus sale. He believes the airline is still a well-funded and profitable company as it is.

8. #HOAX: Two men have been arrested in connection with a bomb threat made against the Intel plant in Leixlip in January.

9. #BANGER: Two garda vans deemed not fit for service had to be scrapped twice, the Irish Independent reports. Engines in both vehicles were replaced, but the vans were retired within months due to rusting.