EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you all the news you need to know as you start the day.

1. #NEW ZEALAND: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced the country is banning the sale of assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons with immediate effect following last week’s twin mosque attacks. 

2. #ASH WEDNESDAY: Newbridge in Kildare has written to parents to apologise after an incident where a number of students received burns on their foreheads when being given blessed ashes last week for Ash Wednesday. 

3. #GSOC: The Data Protection Commissioner has been informed of an alleged data breach after Gsoc accidentally sent a complainant’s file including their full name and case file reference to an unauthorised third-party.

4. #CYCLONE IDAI: Aid workers are racing to help survivors meet humanitarian needs in three southern African countries battered by the region’s worst storm in years.

5. #AMSTERDAM: It will no longer be permitted for guided tours in the city to go through the Red Light District from 1st January 2020, local authorities have said.  

6. #DONALD TRUMP: The US President has attacked the late John McCain saying he wasn’t thanked for giving the Republican Senator a state funeral. 

7. #EUROPEAN UNION: An EU summit is getting under way today in Brussels amid continued Brexit uncertainty. 

8.  #LAURA BRENNAN: Tributes have been paid to the HPV vaccine campaigner who has passed away aged 26. 

9. #WEATHER: Today is set to be mostly cloudy, Met Éireann has said. As mist and fog lifts this morning, it may stay misty in some western and northwestern parts of the country. 

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