EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you the five stories you need to know before you head out the door.

1. #FOUR MORE YEARS: The hotly-contested US election campaign came an end in the early hours of this morning, when voters granted President Barack Obama a second term in office over his Republican challenger Mitt Romney. In his acceptance speech, Obama described America as a ‘family’, saying: “We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people.”

If you weren’t able to stay up late last night, you can catch-up with all the action as it happened on TheJournal.ie’s election and reaction liveblogs, watch the moment US TV networks called the election for Obama, or see his acceptance speech in full.

2. #CSO: Average annual earnings in Ireland fell by 0.6 per cent in 2011 to €35,905, according to newly released figures by the Central Statistics Office. The average Irish worker made €212 less before tax than in 2010, as total annual earnings for the year fell two per cent to €54.9bn from €56bn in 2010.

3. #AOIFE PHELAN: Gardaí investigating the disappearance of Aoife Phelan have confirmed the discovery of a body at a house on the Timahoe Road outside Portlaoise just after 11am this morning. A 24-year-old man was released without charge overnight after being questioned at Portlaoise Garda Station in connection with the murder of the 30-year-old au pair, who was four months pregnant went she went missing on 25 October.

4. #CATHERINE GOWING: Welsh police have confirmed that a second set of human remains discovered on the banks of the River Dee in Chester are those of missing Irishwoman Catherine Gowing. Other remains, which had been found on 31 October had also been identified to be those of the missing veterinarian, who went missing on 12 October. A 46-year-old man has been charged with her murder.

5. #UNITED STATES: In some of the most socially liberal voting behaviour seen across the US yesterday, two states voted to legalise same sex marriage while another two voted to pave the way for the legalisation of marijuana. Voters in Maine and Maryland look set to become the first US states to approve gay marriage by popular vote – while, separately, voters in both Colorado and Washington voted to allow the use of marijuana for recreational as well as medicinal purposes.