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

1. #STAY OR GO: It’s down to the wire now as Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael leaders are set to hold last ditch talks over the fate of Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and aimed at avoiding a winter election.

2. #ELECTION FOOTING: As talk of a pre-Christmas election rumbles on, concerned citizens have told canvassing politicians that they don’t want to see them on the doorsteps this close to the holidays.

3. #WATERWAYS: A Waterways Ireland worker lost his life following an incident on the Shannon Erne Canal in Co Leitrim.

4. #FOILED: Australian police have said that they foiled a plot and arrested a man accused of planning a mass shooting for New Year’s Eve in a crowded Melbourne square.

5. #REVENUE: An Oireachtas committee is due to publish a report later today which will recommend that the responsibility for the collection of the TV licence fee be transferred from An Post to Revenue.

6. #WEINSTEIN: Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is being sued for allegedly violating sex trafficking laws – the latest allegation to be levelled against the producer.

7. #UNSAFE: The Poolbeg incinerator is facing charges of breaking its environmental protection licence with unsafe gas temperatures at its Dublin 4 site.

8. #WHAT DAY IS IT TODAY: Today is the day that Christmas FM officially starts airing.

9. #CORK: A man in his 70s died following a collision between a car and a bus last night.