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

1. #NORRIS: Senator David Norris confirmed this afternoon that he will no longer seek a nomination for the Presidency 2011. Read his full statement here, or listen to it in MP3 format and Twitter’s instant reaction to the news.

2. #EZRA NAWI: Presidential hopeful Michael D Higgins and Senator Mark Daly have told TheJournal.ie that they were not aware of Ezra Nawi’s conviction for statutory rape when they backed a David Norris motion in a joint committee meeting in 2009 in support of Nawi. That motion related to a “human rights” issue, said Higgins, in which Nawi was accused of attacking Israeli defence forces.

3. #TIGER KIDNAPPING: Gardai are investigating a tiger kidnapping in Co Louth last night. An official of An Post, his partner and their child were abducted from their home in the Drogheda area at 10pm, held elsewhere and the man forced to go to a post office and hand over money to the gang.

4. #FAIRVIEW: The controversial Players Lounge pub in Fairview, Dublin has been robbed by a gang of four, a staff member tied up – and then the premises was set on fire. The owner of the pub was charged with making a demand with menaces on another pub earlier this year and in March he put a banner outside the Lounge, telling Queen Elizabeth II she wasn’t welcome to drink there. Last year, a man was shot in the head outside the pub.

5. #CLASH: Cardinal Seán Brady has written to GAA leaders in Armagh, Louth, Derry and Tyrone to ask officials to stop scheduling GAA games at the same time as Sunday Mass.