EVERY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you a roundup of the day’s main news – plus any bits and pieces you may have missed.

In the race for the Áras…

• Two new opinion polls have put Sean Gallagher firmly in the driving seat for this Thursday’s presidential election – with polls in tomorrow’s newspapers giving him between a 12 and 14-point lead. (That’s probably bad news for Boylesports.) A Sunday Times poll has also found that the public are set to pass the two constitutional referenda next week.
• We’ve had a quick look back at the opinion polls in the past, to see whether polls published so close to polling day have ever been too wide of the mark.
• Earlier in the day, the seven candidates took to RTÉ Radio 1 for a seven-way debate moderated by Charlie Bird – in which Gallagher forcefully denied being a de facto Fianna Fail candidate, and where Gay Mitchell and David Norris exchanged bitter words over a ‘Gay’ quip.
• After that debate, Martin McGuinness issued a statement which described voting for either Mitchell or Michael D Higgins as being a “comfort blanket” to the two government parties in their bid to impose austerity.
• Behind every great man, etc etc… Behind every great woman, etc etc… here’s our briefing notes on the six people who could become Ireland’s next first lord or lady.

In the day’s other news…

• Up to 2,000 people took to the streets in Dublin today to back the Occupy Dame Street movement. Today’s march, specifically, was in opposition to the nationalisation of private banking debt.
• The Vintners Federation of Ireland has backed calls from the government to introduce a minimum price for alcohol.
• As disputes continue to wage over whether Muammar Gaddafi’s body will be subject to a post-mortem – and as his body remains in a supermarket freezer – it’s been reported that Gaddafi may have been worth some $200bn, making him easily the world’s richest man. It’s now expected that Libya’s liberation will be declared tomorrow.
• A 73-year-old pedestrian has been killed in Galway after being struck by a motorcyclist.
• The Army Bomb Disposal Unit has made safe a viable explosive device in Crumlin.
• Cork-based staff of insurer Aviva have given their unanimous backing to a ballot for industrial action over the job losses at the firm.
• As European heads of state head to Brussels for a crisis summit on how to deal with that Greek problem, a briefing note for finance ministers has been leaked – and has suggested that Greece could be dependant on bailout funds for another decade. Not only that, but private bondholders will have to take a 60 per cent haircut.
• In Tunisia, meanwhile, they’re getting ready to hold their first free elections of the post-Ben Ali era. Polling kicks off tomorrow.
• Two new separate studies have apparently confirmed the existence of climate change – and one of the two says that not only is it a real threat, but the chances are we’ve already missed our last chance to avert it. The other study was funded by lobbyists who oppose the idea of global warming.
• Legendary RTÉ broadcaster and journalist Cathal O’Shannon has died at the age of 83. To mark his passing, we’ve been looking back at his best-known work – his legendary 1972 interview with Muhammad Ali. Sit back and enjoy two masters at work.
• Did you notice? You were supposed to die yesterday. Preacher Harold Camping was sure that the world was going to end on October 21. Now, unsurprisingly, his followers are under a self-imposed media blackout.
• It’s yet another good day for Ireland’s boxing heroine Katie Taylor – she’s claimed her fifth consecutive European title this evening.
• It’s been a relatively quiet day in the Premier League – here’s Tony Cuddihy’s review of the afternoon’s action, and his as-it-happened coverage of the late kickoff between Liverpool and Norwich.
• Finally this evening, have you ever heard of Feliks Zemdegs? You’re probably not likely to – but this kid based in Australia happens to hold the world record for solving the Rubik’s Cube, despite his tender age of 15. Here’s his world record of 5.66 seconds – a speed which makes your author’s record of 48 seconds look pretty lame. Have a good evening…

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