Here's What Happened Today: Friday

The most important Irish and international stories you need to know today.

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

Skeletons enjoy an early Halloween tea and beer party in Old Town outside Newbridge, County Kildare RollingNews.ie

IRELAND

Unions have agreed to suspend a second day of strike action next Wednesday following talks with the government.
Gardaí have launched a murder investigation into the death of a man who was found in Mallow on Thursday.
The Garda Commissioner has said he anticipates further arrests over the murder of four members of a family in an arson attack in Waterford.
Dublin City Council has said it has no plans to reintroduce a horse manure disposal service after locals and councillors called for action on the ongoing issue of illegal dumping of horse manure in the Cabra-Glasnevin area.
The HSE has been advised to consider public funding for semaglutide, the drug marketed as Wegovy, for weight-loss.
Applications for a 328 cost-rental apartments in south Dublin will open next Tuesday.
More affluent areas have higher proportions of immigrants, figures show.
One-fifth of eight to 12-year-olds fall asleep watching a screen – and the figure rises to 37% among young teens up to the age of 15.

INTERNATIONAL

Palestinian women and children watch the Palestine Strongman Championship from among the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza City Alamy

#SHORT-LIVED: White House press secretary Katie Zacharia will leave the role just five days after she was appointed.

#MORE PLEASE: Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked European Union leaders to provide Kyiv with an extra €70 billion in funding next year to help it keep fighting Russia.

#BRAND ON TRIAL: Russell Brand turned into a “wild-eyed maniac” as he tried to drag a TV worker into a toilet for a sexual encounter, a court heard.

PARTING SHOT

President Trump on what he said to White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia: "Katie, is this for you, because honestly you don't need this...You don't have to do this if you don't want to...Honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider...You should reconsider." https://t.co/w6kvhzikLM
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 16, 2026

White House press secretary Katie Zacharia will leave the role just five days after she was appointed.

It comes after her first press room briefing got off to a rocky start before it emerged that her previous claims to be a lawyer were not true.

Earlier, US president Donald Trump had said she should “reconsider” her position.

“Katie has been treated very badly by the media. Very, very badly. Very unfairly,” he told reporters on the lawn of the White House.

“I just spoke to her about it. I said ‘Katie, is this for you?’. Because she’s been treated very rough, and she’s a nice person.”