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

1. #JULIAN ASSANGE A collaborator of Julian Assange has been arrested in Ecuador while trying to flee to Japan, which follows the arrest of the the WikiLeaks founder in London yesterday.

2. #NOT SO FAST Fewer than 40% of all housing developments approved under a special Department of Housing fast-track planning scheme have actually begun construction, TheJournal.ie has learned.

3. #FAI Two sponsors of the Football Association of Ireland have put further pressure on the organisation by calling for its board to adopt recommendations from two upcoming reviews into its activities.

4. #FOREIGN SPENDING The Department of Foreign Affairs paid more than €1.8 million to have the roof of the Irish embassy in London repaired last year.

5. #BOLDLY GOING Elon Musk’s SpaceX company has carried out its first commercial launch after it brought a Saudi Arabian telecoms satellite into orbit.

6. #RACE ROW British rapper Stormzy has cancelled an appearance at an Austrian festival, claiming his friends and manager were racially profiled ahead of his show.

7. #CHRISTCHURCH A man has pleaded guilty to harassing Muslims outside one of the mosques where dozens of people were gunned down in New Zealand last month.

8. #FRONT LINE Ambulance service providers in Dublin say they face long delays when responding to call outs because of a lack of vehicles in their fleet.

9. #WEATHER It will be mostly dry with sunny spells across the country, with a few light showers in western counties. Maximum temperatures will be between 10 and 13 degrees.

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