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

• The four congregations of nuns who ran the country’s notorious Magdalene Laundries from 1922 to 1996 have said that they are willing to participate in any inquiry into what happened in the institutions. A recent UN Committee against Torture heavily criticised the failure of such institutions to protect girls and women who were confined there.
• Constituents of Brian Lenihan and many others have been signing books of condolences at the former Minister for Finance’s offices in Castleknock in Dublin. Lenihan died, aged 52, yesterday following a long battle with cancer. He will be buried on Tuesday.
• In a significant development, Al Qaeda’s top man in East Africa has been killed in Somalia according to numerous sources. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed is widely thought to have been behind the 1998 US embassy bombings which were the Islamist group’s deadliest terrorist atrocity prior to 9/11.
• Elsewhere in Somalia, the country’s interior minister is reported to have been killed in his own home in a suicide bombing carried out by his niece. The attack has been linked to the deadly Al Qaeda militant cell Al Shabab.
• In Syria, thousands of people have been crossing the border into neighbouring Turkey fleeing escalating violence from forces loyal to embattled president Bashar Assad. The US has strongly condemned the crackdown but military action similar to what is happening in Libya looks unlikely at this point.
• A new and shocking video of a boy being shot by Pakistani security forces in Karachi earlier this week has emerged. The country’s prime minister has ordered an inquiry into the incident but it is unlikely to enhance the reputation of the country’s beleaguered security forces.
• Did potential US presidential candidate Sarah Palin once believe that that dinosaurs and humans co-existed at one time? An enormous trove of emails has been released by the state of Alaska from Palin’s time as governor of the state following a longstanding media request. We’ve dissected the seven things we’ve learned so far from ‘The Palin Emails’.
• Protests have been taking place across Dublin today against proposed cuts and changes to Dublin Bus routes with campaigners arguing that society’s most vulnerable will be hit by the changes. Dublin Bus say services will be improved and enhanced as a result of the changes.
• The Green Party, obliterated at the last general election, has been holding its annual convention in Dublin today and has elected a new deputy leader.
• Survivors of the devastating tornado that hit the US city of Joplin in Missouri are now having to contend with a rare and deadly fungus that has so far possibly contributed to the deaths of three people who survived the deadly tornado which killed over 100 people in May.
• The US Congressman with the incredibly apt name, Anthony Weiner, has denied that online contact with a teenage girl was explicit. It follows the controversy over him sending lewd images of himself to women he met and communicated with through Facebook and Twitter. He is refusing to resign but the House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has this evening called on him to step down.
• “News comes in that Ray D’Arcy has pulled out of the race and that Keith Duffy has put his name forward, along with Dustin the Turkey, and Martin King” – (Not) Cardinal Sean Brady has been on the presidential campaign trial this week. Read all about his exploits.
• Today, we’ve been asking you who do you think is right in the dispute between GAA managers and RTÉ over the role of gaelic games correspondent Brian Carthy. So far it has been a tight outcome with just over half of you backing RTÉ’s stance on the matter.
• Dublin Zoo is 180 years old this week and to celebrate we’ve put together a few snaps from one of Ireland’s favourite attractions down through the years.
• Finally, have you met Debbie? She really likes cats:

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