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

1. #BORD GÁIS: Bord Gáis Energy may have spent as much as €300,000 on hundreds of deluxe office chairs for its new headquarters – just four weeks after being granted permission to raise gas prices by 22 per cent. Check out TheJournal.ie‘s photos of the chairs (from Herman Miller’s Aeron line) arriving at the office earlier today.

2. #OVERSEAS ASSETS: Irish residents now own €1.438 trillion in foreign securities – in shares, stocks, bonds, government notes - according to Central Statistics Office figures as of 31 December 2010.

3. #DEBT FORGIVENESS: The Department of Finance has ruled out the prospect of introducing a blanket programme of debt forgiveness for home-owners struggling with their mortgage repayments, saying it is not a “realistic option”. However,  Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said that banks should be able to write off some home loans.

4. #LIBYA: Libya’s rebel leaders are demanding that Muammar Gaddafi’s wife and three of his children be returned from Algeria for trial – raising tensions between the neighbouring nations. The rebels have also issued a deadline for the surrender of loyalist forces.

5. #POSTAL: Voters have just two days left to register for a postal vote in this October’s presidential election.

A voter can cast a ballot by post if they (or their spouse) are a member of the diplomatic corps posted abroad, a Garda, a member of the Defence Forces, have an illness or disability, are a full-time student away from home, cannot vote because of their job, or are in prison.