Here's What Happened Today: Sunday

27 Sep 2026, 19:00 by Emma Hickey, https://www.thejournal.ie/author/emma-hickey/ · TheJournal.ie

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

Nigel Dawson, Portadown District Master, speaks to a police officer as the orange men gather at Drumcree Church, near to where police have formed a barricade to prevent them entering the Garvaghy Road. Alamy Stock PhotoAlamy Stock Photo

IRELAND

An Orange Order march on Garvaghy Road has remained stalled for hours after a large crowd of protesters, including multiple Dáil TDs, gathered in the area to prevent the parade going ahead.
Ireland is playing Israel in Debrecen, Hungary, in the first of their Nations League group games. You can follow coverage of the match here.
Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats and the Green Party said the leadership of the Football Association of Ireland should consider stepping down following this weekend’s chaos over the Nations League Israel fixture.
Catholic and Church of Ireland archbishops jointly urged that an inclusive resolution to the “crisis” in Drumcree be found.
A playground in Darndale Park in north Dublin was “destroyed” by a fire on Saturday, a local TD said.

INTERNATIONAL

Palestinians inspect the wreckage of a car after it was hit by an Israeli strike in Gaza City. AP Photo / Jehad AlshrafiAP Photo / Jehad Alshrafi / Jehad Alshrafi

#IRAN: US president Donald Trump said he expects talks with Iran to resume in the coming week, a day after rejecting a truce proposal put forward by Tehran.

#FAIRFORD: A suspected terror plot against an RAF base used by the US Air Force was “looking to do big damage”, Trump said.

#REFERENDUM: Swiss voters roundly rejected a proposal to tighten their country’s neutrality, final results showed, dismissing an initiative championed by the hard-right and dubbed “pro-Russian” by opponents.

PARTING SHOT

Staff members transfer giant panda Ping Ping at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province. Xinhua / Xu Bingjie via APXinhua / Xu Bingjie via AP / Xu Bingjie via AP

TWO GIANT PANDAS arrived in Atlanta this morning as part of an agreement between the Chinese and American governments.

Ping Ping and Fu Shuang departed Chengdu in south-western China early on Sunday aboard a dedicated “FedEx Panda Express” Boeing 777 aircraft, officials said.

A new agreement between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association makes Atlanta one of three zoos in the US to house giant pandas.