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

In the race for the Áras…

• Gay Mitchell has said he would take Ireland into the British Commonwealth if that was the price of reuniting the Republic with the North. Mitchell made the comments during Today FM’s presidential debate in Dublin today – where Martin McGuinness told reporters afterwards that the idea was “pathetic”.
• And if you missed out on the head-to-head between the seven Áras candidates, you can catch up on TheJournal.ie‘s rundown of events as they happened…
• Meanwhile, Martin McGuinness said this morning that he has forgotten the wording of the IRA oath he swore as a young man. He insisted that “it’s all history now”, and “people will understand that.”
• Finally, we’ve been running a poll of your voting intentions as they stand – and it revealed some big changes among the candidates. Check it out here.

In the day’s other news…

• Some 142 jobs have been lost with the announcement that a large firm of electrical contractors in Clonmel will cease trading due to “adverse conditions”. One local councillor told TheJournal.ie this afternoon that the losses at JRE Group would be “absolutely devastating” for the area.
• A 35-year-old man has been killed after he was hit by a Luas tram near Heuston station in Dublin. The pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene on Steevens Lane at around 4.30pm, with services still disrupted.
• BlackBerry users around the world have been hit by a second day of service breakdowns today, with problems apparently spreading to four continents. The company earlier claimed that any issues had been fixed – but users took to Twitter to point out otherwise.
• An Irish man originally from the Aran Islands has been shot dead in Boston. The victim has been named as 36-year-old Ciaran Conneely, and is reported to have been shot in the chest following the annual Irish Heritage Festival.
• Ever feel, well, kinda high? A Galway team has discovered that the brain produces “marijuana-like substances” – but unfortunately, it only happens when we’re under severe pain or stress.

Anyone for tennis? Researchers at China’s Zhejiang University have built two 1.6m robots to, er, play ping-pong. (ChinaFotoPress/Photocome/Press Association Images)

• Benefit scroungers? We might not like them, but they’re part and parcel of a proper welfare system – which is exactly what we need if Ireland is to pull itself towards recovery, writes TheJournal.ie‘s new columnist Lisa McInerney.
• Apple founder Steve Jobs died last week from respiratory failure, according to his death certificate which was made public yesterday. Jobs had been battling pancreatic cancer, which had spread to other organs in his body.
• A major arson attack has been foiled at Berlin’s central railway station, after police discovered no fewer than seven petrol bombs in the early hours of this morning. A left-wing group has claimed responsibility for the attempted firebombing.
• A Spanish appeals court has ruled that Ryanair is legally within its rights to charge passengers €40 for reprinting their boarding card. The fee, which was imposed on anyone who lost their card or forgot to check in online, had previously been deemed illegal.
• Have you been watching the Ireland vs Armenia game tonight? If you can’t get to a telly, you can follow all the action at TheScore.ie‘s live blog – which will  be recording every kick, tackle and temper tantrum until the final whistle blows.
• One geologist walking the cliffs of Cornwall last month saw some cracks in the rock and took out his video camera. Moments later, this happened. Stand well back…

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