EACH WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you five things you should know before you head out the door

1. #EGYPT: Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, deposed in a popular uprising two years ago, has been released from prison in Cairo but he is now expected to be put under house arrest.

2. #SYRIA: Syrian government forces have reportedly bombed the area where an alleged chemical attack was carried out yesterday. That attack – which the UN wants to investigate – is said to have killed around 1,300 people, but Bashar Assad’s regime denies this.

3. #MANNING: Bradley Manning, the US Army Private who was jailed for 35 years for espionage yesterday now wants to be known as Chelsea Manning. “I am Chelsea Manning. I am female,” the former soldier said in a statement today.

4. #STATS: Over €6 billion was spent on alcohol in Ireland last year, an increase of over 1 per cent on figures from 2011, but there was a fall in the amount spent on clothing and footwear, according to CSO figures released today.

5. #MUSIC: Finally, good news for music lovers today as HMV looks set to reopen four stores in the next fortnight. Meanwhile, Tower Records is celebrating 20 years in the business today.