LAST UPDATE | 29 May

GOOD MORNING.

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

The Morning Lead

1. There have been calls for the added tax on sun cream and similar products to be scrapped on the basis that they are essential health products, not a cosmetic item. 

Masuma Sohrabi

2. A post-mortem is due to be carried out on the body of a woman who was killed in Co Galway. 

Explosion

3. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded during a test on Thursday on the launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, though officials said no injuries were reported from the incident.

Frozen funds

4. Hungary’s new prime minister Péter Magyar will meet European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen today as Budapest pushes to secure a rapid release of billions of euros in frozen EU funds.

EU-Israeli relations

5. Former president Michael D Higgins has called on the Irish government to use its upcoming presidency of the European Union to challenge fellow member states on their commitment to the UN charter and international law, particularly when it comes to relations with Israel and Palestine. 

New column 

6. In Nobody Needs This, a new series for The Journal, Emer McLysaght focuses her eagle eye on the trends, products and notions we can do without. 

Protest

7. The Republic of Ireland’s international friendly with Qatar was halted twice by fans protesting against the Nations League games with Israel.

Not guilty

8. Two brothers were found not guilty of trying to murder another pair of brothers during an attack at an unofficial halting site in Co Offaly last year, during which there was “pandemonium”, with shots fired and children forced to search for cover.

Sinn Féin 

9. Commentators are understandably wondering why Sinn Féin doesn’t just get clearer about whether the party is on the left or the right, writes Sinn Féin’s deputy head of press Siobhán Fenton.