EVERY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you five things you should know by 5pm.

1. #SECURITY: An army bomb disposal team has been called to an area in Tallaght twice in less than 12 hours to deal with a potentially explosive device. Separately, the Israeli embassy in Dublin was temporarily evacuated after a suspicious object was discovered at the premises. That incident proved to be a false alarm.

2. #PROPERTIES: Over 20,000 business properties are lying vacant across the country, according to new figures from GeoDirectory, a database set up by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland. The empty properties account for 11 per cent of Ireland’s total commercial properties.

3. #STUDENTS: Ireland’s seven universities have made a joint submission to the minister for education to overhaul the Leaving Cert points system. Trinity College has also announced it will trial a new programme which sees a portion of college places being offered to students who don’t necessarily meet CAO requirements.

4. #ENDURANCE: US swimmer Diana Nyad, 62, has abandoned her latest attempt to become the first person to swim from Cuba to the US without the protection of a shark cage. Her team said today that increasingly bad weather had made it too dangerous for her to continue.

5. #GET SET: As Ireland prepares for the second and final night of the Rose of Tralee contest, you might want to take this opportunity to recap on the first night’s highlights – especially if you missed out on the dolphin impression, shimmying and (possible) voodoo when it all aired last night.