GOOD MORNING.

Here’s all the news you need to know to start the day.

Fatal assault 

1. A man has been charged in connection with the fatal assault of a woman in Portlaoise over the weekend.

Risk

2. Civil servants and decision makers in the public service will have government backing to take much greater risks to get more homes, energy stations, public transport and water plants delivered, under new government reforms.

House prices

3. Asking prices for homes in Dublin were up significantly over the last three months, after a more sluggish increase in the first quarter of the year.

Hot weather

4. The hot temperatures being experienced this week could become more widespread and hotter still this weekend and going into next week.

Irish unity

5. Sinn Féin’s proposed legislation aimed at pressing the government to actively prepare for unity across the island of Ireland will be debated in the Dáil today. 

Belgium V Spain

6. Fired-up Belgium brought the United States’ World Cup party to a shuddering halt on Monday, thrashing the tournament co-hosts 4-1 to set up a quarter-final showdown with Spain.

Strasbourg

7. Taoiseach Micheál Martin will today address the European Parliament in Strasbourg, as it sits for the first time during Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

US Senate

8. Top US Democrats called on scandal-hit US Senate candidate Graham Platner to quit the race after a sexual assault allegation threatened to derail one of the party’s best chances of flipping a Republican-held seat.

Foreign ministry

9. Helen McEntee will meet her Saudi Arabian counterpart today as part of a visit to the Gulf states.