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

1. #TRAGEDY Five passengers on board a light aircraft were killed when their plane exploded in a ‘massive fireball’ and crashed into a shopping centre in Melbourne, Australia last night.

2. #POWER STRUGGLE They want him to name his exit strategy today, but Fine Gael insiders are concerned Enda Kenny will march on until after his date with Trump in DC on 17 March. In the meantime, Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney battle it out as his most likely successors.

3. #THIRD CHOICE The aptly-named HR McMaster, an army lieutenant-general, has been appointed national security advisor to the US President – the third man to be offered the job since Trump’s inauguration one month ago.

4. #NEW METHODS As the online market for illicit drugs grows, dealers are using Irish courier firms to ferry drugs to customers. TheJournal.ie investigates.

5. #WAR OF WORDS Mammoth talks aiming to avoid an all-out strike continue between Bus Eireann and workers at the WRC today.

6. #CRISIS There is now a record number of people living in emergency accommodation across Ireland. Figures for January show a total of 7,167 adults and children are homeless.

7. #FACTCHECK In the final installment of a three-part series, we look at a claim by Mannix Flynn that supervised injection facilities ‘don’t reduce deaths’. We found his claim to be FALSE - and that the best evidence available clearly shows they do. Read more here.

8. #RESCUE Eight people were rescued from a house fire in Dublin’s city centre this morning. Five were hospitalised for smoke inhalation.

9. #WICKLOW BLUES What’s hanging around your fridge? Tesco Ireland has recalled a batch of blue cheese over listeria fears.