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

1. #MORTGAGES: One in 14 mortgages are now in arrears of more than 90 days – with one in 20 falling behind by six months or more. The new figures from the Central Bank come as the Government revealed that the number of Irish people receiving a Mortgage Interest Supplement has increased five-fold in the past four years.

2. #BERTIE AHERN: Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has told DCUfm that he could have been a contender for the Áras – if Fianna Fáil hadn’t “gone south”, “if there was no downturn” and if it wasn’t for “all the hassle of the tribunals and everything else”.

3. #WELFARE FRAUD: The Department of Social Protection has received 8,560 tip-offs about suspected social welfare fraud so far this year – over 2,000 more than during the same period in 2010. Read how much has been saved by fraud investigations this year here.

4. #CHINA: A female creche worker has been arrested in Shanghai after at least eight children were slashed with a knife. One child was seriously injured in the incident.

5. #A STAR IS BORN: American and Swiss astrophysicists have recreated what they claim is the world’s first realistic simulation of the formation of the Milky Way. The simulation – which you can watch here – show the galaxy growing by absorbing other planetary objects nearby. Nom nom.