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

1. #MEPs: Irish members of  the European Parliament have written to the Taoiseach to ask for an exemption from the 14-day quarantine if they receive a negative Covid-19 test result in order to allow them to do their jobs “fully”. 

2. #EU COMMISSIONER: The leaders of the three coalition parties will resume talks today on who they will nominate to replace Phil Hogan as EU Commissioner.

3. #RECOVERY: Economic confidence regressed in August after improving in the early summer, according to the latest industry and consumer surveys.

4. #TESTING: Hong Kong has begun a voluntary mass-testing programme for coronavirus as part of a strategy to break the chain of transmission in the city’s third outbreak of the disease.

5. #DUBLIN: A property developer has secured planning permission to develop a 48-bed apartment block at North Strand in Dublin three years after a planning application was refused following concerns from Irish Rail and residents.

6. #AUSTRALIA: Facebook has threatened to block Australian publishers and individuals from sharing news stories on its platform.

7. #IRISH RAIL: More than 500 incidents of anti-social behaviour or assaults on staff or passengers have been reported by Irish Rail this year.

8. #BLUE SEPTEMBER: A father-of-two diagnosed with prostate cancer says a blood test saved his life as he aims to raise awareness about the cancer in men. 

9. #DONALD TRUMP: The US President has declined to condemn the shooting of three people, two fatally, last week during a protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.