EVERY WEEKDAY evening, TheJournal.ie brings you the five things you should know by 5pm.

1. #FIRE SERVICE: The Labour Court has ruled that Dublin Fire Brigade cannot make any budget cuts beyond the €3.5 million already agreed between management and unions. Dublin City Council sought to cut another €1.7 million, but unions representing firefighters argued against proposals including cutting overtime and closing the training centre.

2. #IKEA: A German television report has claimed that the Swedish furniture chain IKEA used prisoners taken by the Stasi – East Germany’s state security service – as cheap labour in the 1970s. The broadcaster obtained documents which suggested IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad did not know about such an arrangement, while Swedish media reports that other papers show he would have approved.

3. #JUDGES: A retired High Court judge will head the independent body overseeing the referendum on cutting judges’ pay. The referendum is being held on the same day as the presidential election, 27 October.

4. #WILDFIRES: Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in central Texas as wildfires continue to spread. The fires have destroyed around 500 homes and were covering 25,000 acres by last night. Firefighters, pictured here tackling the fires, are hoping that winds which have helped fuel the flames die down as forecast tonight.

5. #LIVE ACTION: The Republic of Ireland is taking on Russia today in a Euro 2012 qualifier: you can follow the action in Moscow here on TheScore.ie’s liveblog.