EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the stories you need to know as you wake up.

1. #TIGER KIDNAPPING: Gardaí are continuing to search for the armed gang who stole a significant sum of money yesterday after kidnapping the family of a cash-in-transit employee.

2. #CALIFORNIA SHOOTING: San Bernardino gunman Syed Rizwan Farook, who killed 14 people in a mass shooting on Wednesday, had been in contact with known Islamic extremists on social media, a US official has claimed.

3. #BRUSSELS TALKS: EU ministers will today consider suspending the Schengen passport-free travel zone for two years to restrict the flow of migrants into Europe.

4. #AIR STRIKES: The UK has confirmed that its first wave of bombs on Syria targeted oil fields controlled by the Islamic State group. Meanwhile, German MPs are to vote today on whether to join the anti-IS coalition.

5. #HOUSING CRISIS: Sinn Féin is proposing to link rents to inflation and abolish the local property tax as part of a new housing strategy being published today.

6. #EGYPT: At least 12 people have died in a petrol bomb attack on a nightclub in Cairo in the early hours of this morning.

7. #PUBLIC OFFICE STANDARDS: The Irish Independent reports that TD Tom Barry failed to declare three of his companies for two years. The Cork East deputy said he only became aware of the oversight in recent weeks.

8. #PHILANTHROPY: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has pushed back against accusations that his recently announced $45 billion family foundation will allow him to avoid tax.

9. #RIP: Former Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland has died at the age of 48.