The politicians were asked to respond to comments from Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, who on Thursday said he favoured a tunnel rather than a bridge as a way to link the two nations.

The chief executive of Newry and Mourne Cooperative and Enterprise Agency (NMEA), Dr Conor Patterson has warned that crops will be not be harvested and patients will go without care because of the shortage of workers under proposed new immigration rules in the UK.

Ronan Hughes, and his brother Christopher, 34, both from Co Armagh were named earlier this week as people the police wanted to speak to in connection with the deaths.

Tara McCarthy also said that similar arrangements could follow in the UK depending on how long the beef dispute continues.

British prime minister Johnson’s fixation on a no-deal exit from the European Union is without justification. Brexiteers claim a trade relationship with the US will redefine trade for the world in the 21st century.

Back in the day, when Bertie Ahern’s most-popular-taoiseach- ever crown was beginning to slip, hyper-energetic, unquestioning optimism was all but mandatory.

Recent days brought the old questions about division back into a sharp focus.

Almost three-quarters of people in the UK believe gay couples should be able to marry in Northern Ireland, a survey showed.

In-form Rory McIlroy leads the Irish charge at Pebble Beach this week after his sensational performance saw him win the Canadian Open last week.

He will be participating in talks with representatives of the five political parties in the North along with Northern Secretary Karen Bradley.

So that’s Friday 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.

Five Southern US states have signed so-called heartbeat bills prohibiting abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected.

When, in the early 1960s, James Baldwin wrote The Fire Next Time to try to explain racism, he could not have imagined that half a century later it would remain relevant.

The chief executive of Retail Northern Ireland has warned that the latest ATM robbery is causing major problems for small family-owned businesses.

Almost two-thirds of people in Northern Ireland want local politicians to make the decisions on the region's abortion laws, a new poll has suggested.

A "trusted" IRA member who purchased in a "surreptitious manner" the car used in the murder in Northern Ireland of prison officer, David Black, has been jailed for five years.

A man has been arrested for attempted murder after a double stabbing in a bar in the North.

A Dublin man who bought the car that was later used in the fatal shooting of Northern Ireland prison officer David Black has been found guilty by the Special Criminal Court of IRA membership.

The North’s economy will grow this year and over the next few years at a respectable rate, despite the row over austerity between Stormont and Westminster, according to a new forecast.

A row has emerged over the cost of the transfer of Michaella McCollum to a jail in the North.

Drug mule Michaela McCollum could serve a shorter jail sentence if repatriated to Northern Ireland, it has been revealed.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore will be amongst those taking part in services in Northern Ireland to mark Remembrance Sunday.

A weekend of freezing cold weather and snow is continuing to cause disruption in the North today, with almost a thousand homes without power and many roads still impassable.

Anti-capitalist militants could align themselves with dissident republicans to disrupt this summer’s G8 conference, one of the North’s top police officers warned today.

Northern Ireland golf star Darren Clarke took to Twitter yesterday to call for calm following the recent riots in Belfast.

Significantly more people in Northern Ireland consider themselves British as opposed to Irish, answers to a new census question have indicated.

Hugh crowds attended the latest Charolais Christmas Cracker show/sale, hosted by the Irish Charolais Cattle Society in Carrick on Suir, Co Tipperary, last weekend.

Increased energy costs because of climate change are a major cause of concern in Northern Ireland, a survey has revealed.

Plans for a major redevelopment of Ravenhill rugby stadium have been given the green light, Assembly ministers confirmed today.

A pharmacist who murdered her next-door neighbour using a crucifix on Christmas Day was jailed today for a minimum of 20 years.

Four children, missing from their home in County Louth since Thursday, have been located in Newcastle Co. Down.

The Stormont Executive in the North has announced a major funding boost for sporting facilities.

More than 1,000 litres of illegal fuel were removed today from a filling station in Co Antrim.

A Northern Ireland minister who forced the suspension of his top civil servant got the guarded backing of politicians overseeing his handling of the affair today.

BRUCELLOSIS in cattle has recently re-emerged in the Keady area of Co Armagh, close to the Monaghan border.

A 51-year-old man was charged today with a car bomb attack on a courthouse in the North.

British Army bomb disposal experts have destroyed what's been described as a "viable device" left in a car outside a polling station in the North.

The Conservative Party was today accused of planning to decimate the North's economy just when it was beginning to recover from the global recession.

A quiet residential development was numb with shock tonight after a former nurse was found strangled in her own home.