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

Race for the Áras…

• There was a sustained war of words between members of Fine Gael and Sinn Féin today with Gay Mitchell accusing Martin McGuinness of lying about his salary and his IRA membership, and environment minister Phil Hogan telling the Sunday Independent that electing McGuinness would send the wrong message to foreign investors. Meanwhile the Twitter account of government chief whip Paul Kehoe was used to launch an attack on McGuinness.
• Independent candidate Mary Davis told RTÉ today that any fees she earned while sitting on the boards of semi-state or commercial companies were always transparent. Under some persistent questioning she declined to reveal how much she made in total. The Daily Mail had reported that the figure could be up to €350,000
• Seán Gallagher officially launched his campaign in Dublin, pledging to put enterprise at the heart of the presidency, while on the campaign trail David Norris visited the Ballinasloe Horse Fair.

In the day’s other news…

• A man in his thirties was arrested today in connection with the murder of Martin Purcell in Limerick. Mr Purcell was found dead in his flat with fatal stab wounds.
• Justice Minister Alan Shatter has announced a new plan to boost community service numbers and cut prison numbers by compelling judges to factor it in as a sentencing option.
• Meanwhile the government moved to play down apparent spending cuts revelations made by Shatter in the Dáil last week, with a spokesperson telling TheJournal.ie that the figures were taken from a savings proposal put forward by his department, and that nothing has been decided yet on the scale of cuts in the forthcoming budget.
• Read about 21-year-old Conor Keane’s decision to leave Ireland for Chicago last week, with the hope of finding a way to make a life for himself as an emigrant.
• More than 700 protesters were arrested in New York after the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations made their way to the Brooklyn Bridge. Most were given citations for disorderly conduct and then released. One of those arrested at the Occupy Wall Street protests has tweeted a photo of he and some fellow demonstrators in a jail cell:

Image: Jeffrae via Twitter

• A Frenchwoman kidnapped from a Kenyan resort by suspected pirates yesterday is now believed to be in Somalia. It was the second abduction of a westerner in the area in as many weeks.
• There was good news for cartoonist Donal Casey who has been reunited with a collection of his illustrations which had been stolen from the Dublin-Athlone train at Newbridge on 20 September. A good Samaritan found them dumped nearby and returned them.
• Tune into BBC 2 this evening at 9pm if you want to catch Ros na Rún on Stephen Fry’s documentary Planet Word.
• Were you up this morning shouting at the telly, willing Ireland to beat Italy and secure a place in the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand? Well all the shouting paid off, with Ireland comprehensively beating the Italians. Check out TheScore.ie‘s gallery of all the action.
• The Twitter account of the newly elected Thai president Yingluck Shinawatra was hacked yesterday, questioning the new leader’s ability to defend her country if she can’t even protect her own tweets. Most of the messages accused Yingluck’s government of incompetence and cronyism
• Finally, Halloween’s only a few weeks away now. Why not give your trick or treaters a bit more of a fright than usual?…

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