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

IRELAND 

Johnny Sexton and the rest of the Irish squad celebrate after they defeated England to become Six Nations champions and win the Grand Slam. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

• Ireland triumphed over England at the Aviva Stadium to secure the Grand Slam and win the Six Nations tournament.
• Detectives investigating the alleged connections of a number of gardaí to organised crime are examining if information was provided to the Hutch gang by a garda ahead of a gangland murder, TheJournal reported.
• An atheist who was discriminated against by the Irish Defence Forces said that he had written to the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin asking for an apology on behalf of the Department of Defence.
• Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said the Good Friday Agreement is “the only really successful peace process” of the past quarter of a century.
• A man was remanded in custody after gardaí charged him with the murder of a mother of two who died in a house fire in north Dublin three months ago.
• Gardaí appealed for witnesses after four people were injured in a single vehicle crash in Kildare last night.
• Police in Northern Ireland arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with the claim of responsibility made following the attempted murder of Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell.
• Environment Minister Eamon Ryan said he raised human rights issues with his Chinese counterpart during a meeting that focused mostly on climate and energy.
• The identical twin sister of Mary Boyle, who went missing 46 years ago today, has issued a renewed appeal for anyone with information on her whereabouts to come forward.

WORLD

Rubbish piles up on the street's of Paris after the capital’s municipal rubbish collectors kept up a rolling strike. AURELIEN MORISSARD AURELIEN MORISSARD

#FRANCE: French police banned protests on a Paris square opposite parliament after two nights of unrest over the government imposing a pensions reform without a vote in the lower house. 

#UNITED STATES: Wyoming governor Mark Gordon last night signed into law the US’s first explicit ban on abortion pills since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.

#UKRAINE: Widespread Russian attacks continued in Ukraine, following the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights.

#TRUMP: Former US president Donald Trump said in a social media post that he will be arrested on Tuesday.

PARTING SHOT

#BAEamon Ryan Ireland’s Environment and Transport minister got a lot of love on Twitter after he shared this photo of himself  from 1987 during a trip to China. Looking good.

Back in 1987 I travelled through China on my own. I remember cycling with twenty people abreast along Tiananmen Square, walking the great wall and then taking the trans-siberian train home. I loved it all. #China #Beijing pic.twitter.com/ta0nSY68JX

— Eamon Ryan (@EamonRyan) March 18, 2023