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

• This afternoon, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan revealed that Ireland’s four-year austerity plan will include spending cuts of €7.75 billion and tax hikes of €4.65 billion. There are more details in our liveblog coverage.
• Following the major speech, we have been asking you how you are feeling – did the announcement worry you or are you waiting for more concrete facts in the upcoming budget?
• Earlier today, former stock trader Max Keiser spoke to TheJournal.ie about Ireland’s economic crisis. Here is his take on Nama as a terrorist organisation, the euro’s eventual collapse, Ireland’s national broadcaster and more.
• Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen were at Áras an Uachtaráin today. No, they didn’t just stop off for a cuppa, the former taoisigh were attending a ‘thank you’ reception President McAleese held for her Council of State.
• Coast Guard units at Achill have called off a search for the body of a 22-year-old Finnish student who plunged to his death from a cliff yesterday afternoon. They will resume at first light tomorrow morning.
• An asteroid bigger than an aircraft will move between the Earth and the moon on Tuesday but scientists say there is no need to worry as it will not hit us.
• The Irish Farmers’ Association has welcomed the Environment Minister’s decision to put climate change legislation on the back burner. Earlier today, Eamonn Farell at Photocall Ireland snapped this quintessential Irish image of winter crops breaking ground at a Kildare farm:

• Western Australia’s Workforce Minister has said that Irish people are “salivating” at the thought of working Down Under and is trying to push through measures which will see visas given to thousands of unemployed people willing to emigrate.
• Nato has said it has no intention of intervening in Iran despite international suspicion that the country is developing a nuclear arsenal.
• The ongoing spat between Eamon Dunphy, George Hook, Sam Smyth, Denis O’Brien and Elaine Byrne has been keeping Twitter users entertained and bemused for the past couple of weeks. In case you missed it, here’s the play-by-play.
• A Tintin book, which sees the red-haired hero in the Congo, has been slapped with a warning in the UK over fears that it contains racist undertones.
• After the highs and lows of the Rugby World Cup, it’s back to inter-provincial games for Ireland’s stars. Tonight, it’s the big one between Leinster and Munster. TheScore.ie will be bringing you the latest from the Aviva on their liveblog.
• Inspired by the story about donkeys being used as weapons-mules on the Kenya-Somalia border, TheJournal.ie wanted to show a nicer side of the asses. Hugh O’Connell produced this exhibition of donkeys for your viewing pleasure…it is Friday afterall.
• Again, just because it’s the weekend, we have trawled through the Internet to find the top six most unusual marriage proposals that were caught on video. Luckily, the answer in all six were “I will”.
• And finally, you may have put “do a barrel roll” into Google in the past few days to see what new trick the good folk at the search engine had come up with. Barrelman.com has gone one better and found a number of creatures (human and non-human) to do their very own barrel roles:

Hat tip to @CiaranMcMonagle for that one.

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