The 5 at 5: Thursday

The 5 at 5 Five minutes, five stories, five o’clock…

EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, The Journal brings you five of the biggest stories of the day.

1. #NORTHERN IRELAND: With just a few hours left until the midnight deadline for forming a new Northern Ireland Executive, it looks like there’s going to be another election. You can keep up-to-date with the latest on our liveblog.

2. #INTEREST RATES: Tracker mortgage rates are set to rise for the third time this year as the European Central Bank announced a 0.75 percentage point interest rate hike.

3. #CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT: The man accused of murdering Gda Colm Horkan has denied that he was “spoiling for a row” with gardaí and said his behaviour at the time was down to him being mentally unwell.

4. #UKRAINE: As pressure mounts on the Government to source accommodation, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he believes the country can accommodate more refugees arriving from Ukraine.

5. # INVESTIGATION: Tributes have been paid to Stefan Posschier, the man who was killed at a house in Westmeath on Tuesday evening.