EACH WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you five stories you really should check out by 5pm.

1. #OBAMA: Barack and Michelle Obama have been battling cheerfully through wind and rain on his whistlestop tour to Dublin and Barack’s ancestors’ home town of Moneygall, Co Offaly. He’s been handed a hurley and a pint of Guinness, planted a tree at the Aras and embarked on an unscheduled meet-and-greet on the small main street of Moneygall. Keep up with the visit on our timeline, follow it in pictures and find out what people are saying on Twitter.

2. #OBAMA: The massive rally on College Green which awaits Barack Obama on his return to Dublin this evening has attracted so many people that gardai are warning that the area around Dame Street, Christchurch and Lord Edward Street is packed to capacity. Please note that the officials are advising anyone who has not already made it to that area NOT to travel into town for the event.

3. #ASH CLOUD: The EU confirmed earlier today that the ash cloud from an eruption of Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland is heading towards Europe. The Irish Aviation Authority said that it doesn’t believe it will cause disruption to flights in and out of Ireland in the next 24 hours, it cannot guarantee that flights won’t be affected later in the week.

4. #POWER CUTS: The ESB reported today that around 25,000 customers were without power after wind damage – they are hoping to restore electricity to areas including Donegal, Longford and Roscommon before the end of the day.

5. #AIR DISASTER: A report concerning the Air France Airbus A330 crash in the Atlantic in 2009, in which three Irish women died, claims that the pilot Marc Dubois was not at the helm of the plane when problems began to arise. A recovered ‘black box’ flight recording hears Dubois run back into the cockpit to give instructions to his co-pilots, according to German news magazine Der Spiegel.