EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you five things you really should know before heading out the door…

1. #MAGDALENE LAUNDRIES: A group representing survivors of the notorious Magdalene laundries has called for two more schools to be included in a government probe of the institutions. Magdalene Survivors Together has stated that one institution in Wexford and one in Dublin should be included in the investigation, as they believe they were “used under false pretences to admit girls as young as 11 years of age to work in laundries and not attend school”.

2. #EUROZONE: Talks regrading the growing European debt crisis are reportedly deadlocked, further delaying the prospect of a comprehensive deal to end the crisis being agreed upon today. However, a deal has reportedly been reached on the recapitalisation of Europe’s banks.

3. #OBAMA: The US president last night appeared on the nation’s highest-rated talk programme – The Tonight Show with Jay Leno – to talk about Gaddafi, Osama bin Laden, the Occupy Wall Street movement and Hillary Clinton as vice president. Obama said that the Occupy Wall Street movement was a result of “frustration”, and that it was sending “signals” to those in leadership.

4. #WORLD DESIGN: Dublin has lost out on its bid to be named the World Capital of Design for 2014, with Cape Town in South Africa taking the International Design Alliance accolade instead.

Dublin’s bid for the status, entitled ‘Pivot Dublin’, was launched in March; the city had been shortlisted for the award, along with Cape Town and Bilbao, Spain.

5. #HEROICS: A Dáil deputy became a hero on Monday after he came to the rescue to some of his Dublin South East constituents during the heavy rains.

After locals realised that hundreds of sandbags needed to protect their homes were beyond access – as they had been locked inside council-owned containers - Labour TD Kevin Humphreys broke out a hacksaw and a pick-axe to free them, saving a number of homes on Gordon, Hope and Howard streets from being flooded.