NEED TO CATCH up? TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of today’s news.

TVs show Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe delivering Budget 2018. SamBoal / RollingNews.ie SamBoal / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

BUDGET 2018

• Here are the main points you need to know from today’s speech.
• The government promised an extra €500 million to build 3,000 new social homes.
• All weekly social welfare payments are set to increase by €5 from March next year.

• In an effort to force through better health practices, cigarettes, sunbeds and sugary drinks are all set to become more expensive.

• There were some measures announced for parents and a promise of €10 billion extra for education.

• There were cuts to the USC and changes when people enter the higher rate of tax.

• There was €3 million allocated for investment in cycling infrastructure. The Green Party described is ‘measly’.
• If you want to check what it means for your paycheck, check out our Budget calculator.

IRELAND

• The Charleton Tribunal finished its hearings about Garda Keith Harrison.
• SuperValu, Centra and Daybreak stores were hit by an attempted cyber attack.
• An autistic man has gone on trial charged with attempting to murder his pregnant sister.
• An 83-year-old woman was awarded €25,000 after being kicked and pushed at Beaumont Hospital.
• Irish authorities are bracing to lose out in the race to host the European Banking Authority and the European Medicines Agency after both agencies leave the UK after Brexit. (Bloomberg)
• At its peak, 1.1 million people were watching Ireland take on Wales in Cardiff on RTÉ TV last night.
• Despite it being the middle of October, temperatures could touch 20 degrees this weekend.

WORLD

People with Catalan flags gather during a rally in Barcelona. Francisco Seco / PA Images Francisco Seco / PA Images / PA Images

#LIMBO: Catalonia’s President has said the region has won the right to statehood but he suspended a declaration of independence from Spain for “a few weeks”.

#MORE ALLEGATIONS: The New Yorker has reported allegations from three women who say they were raped by movie producer Harvey Weinstein.

#INVESTIGATION: Court documents from a previous lawsuit have said that mass killer Stephen Paddock was a compulsive video poker player who took Valium.

PARTING SHOT

A hotly anticipated trailer for the new Star Wars movie was released last night, and Kery’s Sceilig Mhichíl features prominently in the two-minute clip.