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

1. #NEW ZEALAND: President Michael D Higgins has announced that Ireland will open an embassy in New Zealand shortly. We never had one up until now.

2. #WATER: Untreated raw sewage is being pumped into Irish waterways from 44 different urban locations.

3. #HUMPHRIES: Tom Humphries is to be sentenced for the defilement of a child this morning.

4. #REVENUE: The Revenue Commissioners threatened to dock the pay of a public servant they accused of owning properties without paying the required Local Property Tax.

5. #DISABILITY: A fifth of people aged 35 and over today will be living with a physical disability in 30 years’ time.

6. WEINSTEIN: New York’s attorney general has launched a civil rights investigation into The Harvey Weinstein Company.

7. #O’REILLY: Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly has hit back at presenter Megyn Kelly’s comments about reports of sexual harassment at the news channel, the BBC says.

8. #NORTH KOREA: The two women accused of killing Kim Jong Un’s half-brother have returned to the crime scene.

9. #CHINA: The country’s Communist Party has voted to enshrine Xi Jinping’s ideology in its constitution, making him the “most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong”.