EVERY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of the day’s biggest news stories, as well as the bits and pieces you may have missed.

• More than €2.8 million was spent on the seven presidential election campaigns ahead of the October 2011 vote. The total level of donations disclosed reached €304,570, according to the Standards in Public Office Commission. Guess which candidate spent the most on their campaign?
• The date for Ireland’s postponed Six Nations match against France has been announced: the two teams are set to square off on 4 March – at the earlier time of 3pm (Irish time).
• The latest Memorandum of Understanding between the government and the troika confirms that further austerity can be expected in Budget 2013. Here’s the lowdown on the memorandum.
• Calls to the Crime Victims Helpline jumped by over 10 per cent last year. The organisation says that unprovoked assaults, particularly on the streets late at night, are still a feature of many of the calls it receives.
• Italian prosecutors are pushing to have the quashing of Amanda Knox’s murder conviction overturned.
• Greece’s government has announced that its budget deficit for 2012 is already €1 billion higher than was expected due to a fall in government revenue.

Yang Guang the panda makes a break for the zookeepers’ cake at Edinburgh Zoo today. (Image: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

• In case you hadn’t noticed by now, today is Valentine’s Day. We’ve compiled a slideshow of animals in love for those of you who are of a romantic disposition – and a gallery of the world’s worst Valentine’s cards for those of you who aren’t.
• It’s been one year since the elections which saw Fine Gael and Labour form a coalition government. Would you be interested in joining our voter panel to discuss how you feel now about #ge11? Here are the details.
• Today also marks the first anniversary of the pro-reform protests in Bahrain, where clashes continued today between protesters and police in Manama.
• Refuse company Greyhound has threatened to stop collecting the rubbish of 18,000 Dublin households unless they pay an upfront fee to sign up to their private collection service.
• Dublin Bus is to begin piloting a free WiFi scheme for passengers from as early as next week. However, only this bus route, will trial the service before it is rolled out across other routes.
• Have you ever considered that the special person in your life might be a robot?
• And finally, check out this bittersweet video/campaign ad of cooling towers being pulled down. (h/t David Michael Barnwell) :

(Video via Ecotricity)

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