Every afternoon, TheJournal.ie brings you 5 things you really need to know by 5pm.

1. #WE CAN’T WIN: It seems we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

New research released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shows that our plan to find €4bn worth of savings in the upcoming Budget will lead to economic output falling by €2bn next year.

Speaking yesterday the IMF’s World Economic Outlook for October, researcher Daniel Leigh explained that for every euro of a budgetary adjustment, GDP tended to fall by 50c as a result. Goodie.

2. #CYSTIC FIBROSIS: Some genuinely good news: The contract to build the new dedicated unit for cystic fibrosis patients at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin has been signed.

Work on the five-storey building is expected to begin immediately by John Paul Construction. The opening of the unit is planned for April 2012.

3. #LIVERPOOL IN CRISIS: What the hell is going on at Liverpool FC? The tortuous story continues today.

The ruling judge in Britain’s High Court is currently deliberating whether the recent injunction from a Texas court preventing the sale of the club is lawful… More to come very soon.

4. #JAPAN: Japan has rowed into the dispute over the Nobel Committee’s granting of the peace prize to China’s Liu Xiaobo.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has said that it would be “desirable” for China to free Liu, who is currently serving an 11-year sentence on on subversion charges.

The move is unlikely to help the already rocky relationship between the two Japan and China, which have been butting heads over a territorial dispute recently.

5. #WORLD RECORD: Nepalese man Khagendra Thapa Magar, who weighs just 0.86 of a stone, and stands just 25.8 inches tall has been recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the smallest man in the world.

Guinness has refused to consider Magar for the record until he turned 18 – until he was technically a “man” he could not be hailed as the “smallest man. The 18-year-old has now been officialy recognised however – knocking poor Edward ‘Nino’ Hernandez from Colombia off his perch just five weeks.