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

1. #OFFALY: A 26-year-old man has died after being struck by a car near Durrow in the midlands county.

2. #ALEPPO: Russia, Syria and Iran have come in for stinging criticism at a UN meeting over the ongoing situation in the beleaguered Syrian city.

3. #FEELING LUCKY: Google’s top searches in Ireland in 2016 include Euro 2016, Donald Trump, David Bowie, and, erm, Pokémon Go.

4. #COUNTING THE COST: Providing mental health treatment can cost the same as an ‘average Dublin rent’.

5. #RENTS: Sinn Féin says that Housing Minister Simon Coveney has “failed struggling renters” with the new rent controls which were announced yesterday.

6. #KASPAROV: World chess champion Garry Kasparov has won a European court case against his home nation, Russia.

7. #EMPTYING HER POCKETS: Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald must find €25 million from her department for the new Garda pay deal.

8. #THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE: Waterford TD and minister John Halligan is sending out alien-themed Christmas cards (again).

9. #TUBULAR: The highest recorded wave in history (standing at 62.3 feet) has been observed in the North Atlantic.