LAST UPDATE | 21 May 2025

GOOD MORNING.

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

Badger culling 

1. Over 80% of badgers culled by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine tested negative for TB, The Journal Investigates can reveal.

EU-Israel ties

2. Israel has said it rejects the European Union’s decision to review its trade and cooperation agreement, as its siege of the Gaza Strip in Palestine continues. 

Golden Dome 

3. Donald Trump has announced the concept he wants for his future Golden Dome missile defence programme – a multilayered $175 billion system that for the first time will put US weapons in space.

War in Ukraine 

4. The Russian military said today that it intercepted 159 drones launched by Ukraine over 12 hours on at several Russian regions, including Moscow.

Over-reliance on cars 

5. Transport emissions were down slightly last year as an “over-reliance on private vehicles continues to erode progress”.

Spiders

6. A new study from the University of Galway’s School of Natural Sciences has revealed why some spiders possess venom that is far more potent than others.

Meta fine

7. Meta told Enterprise Minister Peter Burke to warn that a €200 million European fine against it last month would be harmful to Irish businesses and consumers.

RIP

8. George Wendt, who played the affable, beer-loving barfly Norm on the hit 1980s TV comedy Cheers and later crafted a stage career that took him to Broadway in Art, Hairspray and Elf, has died. He was 76.

Housing Tsar 

9. The former boss of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) Brendan McDonagh is set to be questioned over his €430,000 salary, which sparked controversy when his name was in the mix to be the new housing tsar.