TO GET TO know our presidential candidates a little better, we’ve put together a podcast series called The Candidate. In our latest episode, we spoke with Peter Casey.

Now, here’s a round-up of the rest of today’s news.

IRELAND

A woman walks past a Grey Area Homeless Families Mural in Smithfield, Dublin. Leah Farrell / PA Images Leah Farrell / PA Images / PA Images

• Presidential candidate Peter Casey denied he was racist as he visited the site of a dispute between a Tipperary Traveller family and the local authority.
• A convicted rapist has been tasered and arrested by gardaí following a day-long armed stand-off at a house in Dublin. 
• Minister Charlie Flanagan was out this morning ahead of next Friday’s referendum on blasphemy, happening on the same day as the Áras election.
• Eir has announced the creation of 750 jobs in Sligo, Limerick and Cork. 
• Fare changes to Dublin Bus, Luas and Irish Rail were announced by the NTA this afternoon. 
• Four people were arrested in connection with the killing of a woman whose remains were discovered in multiple locations in the Wicklow Mountains last year.
• An Italian man has been found not guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to Liverpool fan Sean Cox in April.

INTERNATIONAL 

A 182-meters tall tribute to Indian freedom fighter Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel under construction at Kevadiya Colony, India. Ajit Solanki / PA Images Ajit Solanki / PA Images / PA Images

• The Washington Post has published what is said to be missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s final column.
• Kleenex announced that its ‘Mansize’ brand will be discontinued following complaints to the company over sexism.
• Poland’s former honorary consul in Monaco was sentenced to life imprisonment for ordering the murder of his ex-partner’s mother, billionaire heiress Helene Pastor.
• EU leaders have warned there must be more progress in Brexit negotiations, despite hearing a personal plea by British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday.
• A case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) – or Mad Cow Disease – has been confirmed on a farm in Aberdeenshire.

PARTING SHOT 

Artist Banksy has said that his artwork Girl with Balloon should have been completely destroyed at Sotheby’s auction house earlier this month.

The artwork jammed in a shredding device built into its frame after being sold for $1.4 million. The anonymous artist has now shared his ‘Director’s Cut’ of the stunt.

Here’s how things should have gone: