Hopes of next week’s Cheltenham Festival going ahead as scheduled received a boost on Tuesday as British Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed no current plans to cancel mass events, despite the ongoing threat of coronavirus.

News of Stanley Johnson’s visit to Chinese officials emerged after he sent an email to environment minister Lord (Zac) Goldsmith and other officials, but mistakenly included the BBC in the email chain.

This time four years ago when the idea of President Donald Trump seemed as daft as the possibility of Brexit political strategist Stephen Bannon came to public attention. His influence was significant.

When they woke 75 years ago this morning, the people of Dresden were faced by “the opened gates of hell”.

It was, McDonald declared, “game on for reunification”, insisting that there has to be a referendum on Irish unity within five years.

It is difficult to know how to regard a coincidence unfolding this week.

Limitless optimism is an essential tool in a politician’s mental kitbag, while voters would be wise to heed the warning issued by the French philosopher Raymond Aron: “What passes for optimism is most often the effect of an intellectual error.”

The political ground has shifted in the North since last Thursday’s election.

We will know today whether these key moments in the UK election campaign impacted on how people voted Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn are poor options and each has had a few awkward campaign moments that may have influenced the election, writes Therese Raphael.

The British Prime Minister broke with a tradition set by his recent predecessors and voted at Methodist Central Hall, near Downing Street, at around 8.15am.

Police in London have confirmed that officers shot one man during the incident who died at the scene.

'Ask Audrey' has been the newspaper's hysterical agony aunt “for ages, like”.

"The EU27 has agreed that it will accept the UK's request for a Brexit flextension until 31 January 2020," Donald Tusk tweeted.

Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson met this morning to discuss a new programme motion for his Brexit deal, Labour has confirmed.

Even Brexiteers are beginning to realise that the Kafkaesque nightmare is a UK problem, not a European one. The EU’s patience will run out eventually, writes Lionel Laurent.

Two exceptional events today, one in Tokyo the other in London, will set the mood of the nation.

DUP leader Arlene Foster has dismissed speculation about a Northern Ireland-only backstop and said she expects to meet Boris Johnson tonight.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is to travel to Liverpool on Friday for a make-or-break showdown meeting with British Prime Minster Boris Johnson.

Leo Varadkar and Boris Johnson have spoken on the phone this evening to discuss Brexit.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney has hit out at Brexit "misinformation" which has circulated in the last 24 hours.

IN PREPARATION for the global Extinction Rebellion actions that start today — as you read this I, with my fellow middle aged, non-violent librarians and teachers and nurses and worried parents, will be lying on the road outside Downing Street — I have been reading a post-capitalist survival guide.

Speaking in the Commons, he said: “If every time I lost a case, I was called upon to resign, I would probably never have had a practice.”

So that’s Tuesday nearly wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

It takes some effort to embarrass your guest, the Prime Minister of your nearest neighbour, who prides himself on being an expert in Classics.

The rain had been beating down steadily on Government Buildings ahead of the arrival of Boris Johnson who is enduring very dark times himself these days.

The British Government will mount a fresh attempt to call an early election on Monday after failing in a bid last night to go to the country on October 15.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has challenged Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to back an October 15 general election as he (Johnson) battled against efforts to delay Brexit.

All the signs are that the British government is welcoming Armageddon with open arms, writes Fergus Finlay

Boris Johnson used a statement in Downing Street to call on MPs to resist an attempt to block a no-deal Brexit.

Almost 20% of Irish people claim to have a relative who was involved in Operation Pied Piper, the mass movement of millions of women and children from British cities in the first three weeks of the Second World War.

Latest: European Parliament Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt has said Boris Johnson's plans to suspend Parliament are “unlikely to help deliver a stable future EU – UK relationship”.

French President Emmanuel Macron has fired a warning shot at Boris Johnson ahead of their meeting in Paris.

The Government is ramping up its Brexit backstop campaign as it faces increasing pressure to clarify where new checks and inspections on goods will take place if the UK crashes out of the EU.

The largest-ever Northern Ireland business delegation to travel to Westminster has vowed to press the case for the local economy next month.

Catch up on the headlines.

A hard border would be required on the island of Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit, according to the British government.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and British prime minister Boris Johnson will hold a second one-to-one phone call next week amid growing fears over a no-deal Brexit.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is under pressure to ensure his Brexit meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson takes place in Dublin and not London amid rising tensions over the talks.

Our capacity, maybe our need, to live with paradox is a characteristic of 21st-century humanity. Many of us, some more fervently than others, invest absolute belief in systems that could not survive a courtroom cross-examination.

So that’s nearly Tuesday wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.