EACH WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you five stories you really should check out by 5pm.

1. #HOSPITALS: The furore over the downgrade of Roscommon Hospital’s emergency services took a turn back to statistics today. The Roscommon Hospital Action Committee is claiming that the number of deaths among cardiac patients at the hospital has been overstated and that the emergency department was not a health danger.

2. #ALCOHOL: The Health Research Board has released figures that show an increase in alcohol-related deaths here since 2004.

3. #RUSSIA: Five neo-Nazis in Russia have been sentenced to life for the racist murders of 27 people in an 18-month period.

4. #BOX OFFICE MAGIC: Irish film The Guard has become a runaway hit at the box office at the weekend, earning €500,000 in Ireland alone. The movie, which stars Brendan Gleeson, knocked Hollywood comedy Bridesmaids off the top spot.

5. #DOLPHINS: One of the three dolphins who have been frolicking in the River Lee in Cork city since the weekend has sadly died. His corpse was found in a net along the quays but investigators are not yet sure whether the mammal got tangled in the net or drifted into it after he passed away.