Voting is continuing in the final hour of this year’s General Election.

It would be the first December British election in 100 years and there would be a five-week campaign by parties up to polling day.

Minister of State at the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Patrick O’Donovan has described the latest Brexit proposals as not the basis for a deal, but they do form the basis for further negotiations.

Mr Varadkar's comments were jeered by a section of the crowd which had otherwise broadly welcomed him.

Julian Smith has been appointed Northern Ireland Secretary, Downing Street said.

However, other political parties in Northern Ireland expressed concern at Mr Johnson’s election as Conservative Party leader, particularly in terms of the potential implications for Brexit.

The House of Commons voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to legislate for marriage equality and abortion in Northern Ireland, unless the government at Stormont is up and running again by October 21.

A leadership challenge in the Conservative Party will have little impact on the Brexit stalemate, Tánaiste Simon Coveney says.

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long says Sinn Féin needs to compromise “to help get the DUP over the line” in talks to restore power-sharing in the North.

In a statement, they called for "calm heads" after Ms McKee who was shot dead during riots in Derry last night.

"This is utterly wrong and we condemn sectarianism in any form."

The PSNI as well as firefighters and the ambulance service sealed off the scene close to a courthouse on Bishop Street in the city.

Reporting restrictions surrounding the rape trial of two Ireland rugby internationals have been lifted.

The DUP has said "huge differences" still remain to be resolved before powersharing at Stormont can be restored.

A Sinn Féin politician has apologised for posting a video showing him with a Kingsmill-branded loaf on his head on the anniversary of the Kingsmill massacre.

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long is to take a 10-week break for major surgery.

Here's your lunchtime news bulletin.

Latest:Political leaders need to show courage to seal a deal restoring powersharing in Northern Ireland, the SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has urged.

Church leaders have urged the North's politicians to strike a powersharing deal for the common good of everyone.

Sinn Fein leader at Stormont, Michelle O'Neill and the Democratic Unionist Nigel Dodds repeatedly clashed in a heated televised election debate this evening.

The polls have closed in the North's snap Assembly election.

Update: Northern Ireland's political leaders have cast their ballots in the region's snap election.

Northern Ireland’s political leaders have traded angry words in the last televised debate of the Assembly election campaign.

Alliance Party leader David Ford is to resign after 15 years.

One constituency remained undeclared as the Northern Ireland Assembly reached its conclusion.

The DUP has retained its position as the largest party in the North but the UUP is arguably celebrating harder after landing two surprise wins in the general election.

The Democratic Unionists are this morning wondering if the post-election shakedown will hand them added influence at Westminster after a Northern Ireland poll that produced a couple of surprises.

A school in the North has been closed after a malicious threat was received by email.

Bullets have been sent to the homes of two political representatives in Northern Ireland.

Bullets have been sent to the homes of two political representatives in the North.

Physical and verbal attacks on the Alliance party are proof it is a growing electoral threat poised to smash the old mould of the North’s politics, leader David Ford has insisted.

Marathon all-night negotiations to resolve outstanding peace process issues in the North have failed to produce an agreement.

The Alliance Party offices in East Belfast have been hit by petrol bombs.

Rioters are the enemies of democracy, the North’s First Minister said today.

The right to protest is a legitimate, democratic right. But the recent violent scenes in the North are nothing of the sort, writes East Belfast MP Naomi Long

A nationalist assembly member in the North has received a death threat.

Loyalist violence over the flying of the union flag will be firmly dealt with for as long as necessary, the North’s police chief declared after a fourth night of rioting.

SDLP Councillor Claire Hanna, her husband and their baby daughter have escaped injury after shots were fired at their home in East Belfast, hitting the front door and windows.

Politicians and church leaders are holding talks in the North this afternoon in an attempt to stem loyalist street violence over the flying of the Union flag.