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

• The HSE has insisted that “rigorous procedures” have been put in place to prevent expense abuses by staff, following an internal investigation which found that taxpayers had been billed for tens thousands of euro worth of foreign trips and expensive gifts for HSE employees.
• Two councillors have quit Fine Gael over the downgrade of Roscommon A&E: councillors Dominick Connolly and Laurence Fallon said that Fine Gael would have an opportunity to measure just how the issue had affected support for the party by the number of those offering to canvass for its presidential candidate, Gay Mitchell.
• Tenants who are currently operating under an upward-only rent review clause will now have the power to negotiate lower rents under a new law, which is expected to be endorses within weeks.
• Senator David Norris has been blocked from addressing Galway city council this September, after Mayor Hildegard Naughton cast the deciding vote against the motion.
• The office of the Data Protection Commissioner has posted a “scam warning” on its website warning the public that text messages are being circulated to people’s mobiles purporting to be from the DPC. The scam involves messages being sent to people’s mobiles instructing them to telephone a number and leave their name, address and Personal Public Service Number on an answering machine.
• Hacker group Anonymous has warned the UK police and judiciary that tomorrow will see “two of the biggest releases” from the group in the last four years.
• The International Whaling Commission has opened its 63rd annual talks with Britain proposing measures to tackle alleged internal corruption and to encourage transparency.
• The Gaddafi regime is in talks with France but not the country’s opposition, according to the son of Muammar Gaddafi. Libya’s opposition council has so far refused to enter negotiations with the old regime until Gaddafi steps down – but France says NATO bombardment will not stop until both sides come to the table.
• Ireland and Luxembourg have signed a co-production deal at the Galway Film Fleadh over the weekend, which should help Irish film and TV production companies to access more funding and resources.
• Donegal’s youngest chef has graduated from YouTube and secured his own spot on TV3 – at just five years old. Ciaran Crawford, from Lifford in Co Donegal, is a dab hand at whipping up the likes of chocolate chip muffins, BBQ ribs, mince and gravy and lasagne.
• Fancy something good to read? Well, in case you missed it yesterday, we have just the thing: TheJournal.ie’s new feature Sitdown Sunday: 7 deadly reads… get onto the nearest squishy sofa asap.
• What do empty beer cans, burned-out tents, broken chairs, jewellery, mobile phones and passports all have in common? Answer: they’re what make up the apocalyptic scenes in Punchestown today after an exodus of tens of thousands of festival-goers, who made their way home after three days music and mud at Oxegen.
• Ok… we know it’s not being released until 2013 but we’re very excited about the upcoming film version of The Hobbit. Check out this behind-the-scenes video of the making of the film so far – the aerial shots of New Zealand’s stunning landscape will be enough to make you forget all about the scenes of devastation at Oxegen… maybe.

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