Every weekday evening, TheJournal.ie brings you the five things you really need to know by 5pm.

1. #LOWRY: Independent TD Michael Lowry has been on the defensive all day today over the findings of yesterday’s Moriarty Report into payments to politicians. He first went on Tipp FM, his local radio station, to blast the report as “blatantly and sensationally wrong”. Then the former communications minister carried on his vocal defence on RTE Radio 1′s News at One. Next up: an interview on Newstalk’s The Right Hook at 5.10pm.

2. #BANK BOSSES: The Financial Regulator has said that bank chiefs could be fired if the Central Bank decides that their incompetence led to their institution needing a bailout.

3. #MIDDLE EAST: A bomb exploded this lunchtime at a busy bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, impacting directly on two city buses. The death toll has not been yet confirmed but the devastation at the scene indicates that it will be heavy.

4. #TABOO: The most extraordinary tale has emerged of an Irish-born man who was reunited with a daughter he had never met last year – and now the pair are expecting a baby together. It has reignited debate around the term Genetic Sexual Attraction, a phenomenon in which people report experiencing strong desire for blood relatives who they only meet for the first time as adults.

5. #LIZ TAYLOR: Hollywood lost one of its last true female screen idols today when Elizabeth Taylor died at the age of 79. Famed for the trinity of her acting talent (2 Oscars), tumultuous love life (8 weddings) and her striking beauty, Taylor suffered ill-health for much of her latter years. It is believed she died of heart-related problems.