to attend White House reception

Stormont's five main party leaders are due to attend the annual St Patrick's Day reception in the White House.

They are expected to meet US President Joe Biden after attending the House Speaker's lunch on Capitol Hill.

Senior business figures from Northern Ireland have also been invited to attend the White House reception.

Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar will perform the traditional handing over of a bowl of shamrock to the president in the Oval Office.

Mr Varadkar and Northern Ireland's political leaders have been in Washington DC for much of this week for a series of events ahead of St Patrick's Day.

On Thursday night the taoiseach apologised for an "ill-judged" remark that was seen as a reference to the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, made during a speech in the city.

Monica Lewinsky was a young White House intern when she and the then-US President Bill Clinton embarked on an affair in the 1990s.

The taoiseach was making an address to the Washington Ireland Programme, which helps young people develop career skills.

He took part in the programme in 2000 and in his speech on Thursday he made reference to possible concern about being an intern at the time in the White House.

After the event a spokesperson for Mr Varadkar said "the taoiseach was reminiscing about his time in Washington DC as an intern 23 years ago.

"He made an ill-judged off the cuff remark which he regrets.

"He apologises for any offence caused to anyone concerned."

Trade deal back on the table?

Mr Biden is due to make a visit to Northern Ireland next month to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday peace agreement.

Former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi has she hoped that devolved government at Stormont would be up and running again by then.

She was speaking after receiving an honorary doctorate from Ulster University at a ceremony in Washington.

The big story from the White House is already out there.

Joe Biden let slip his plan to visit Ireland north and south earlier this week.

On St Patrick's Day he is likely to confirm it again, only this time in the presence of Leo Varadkar.

We may also get the date of the planned trip next month to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

The White House is still hopeful that the Stormont institutions will be fully restored by the time Mr Biden arrives in Belfast.

He had hoped to address MLAs in a special sitting of the assembly but that may still go ahead regardless.

But expect the president to drive home the need to restore power-sharing when he meets the party leaders at the White House.

Last year Ms Pelosi warned the UK government against undermining the Good Friday Agreement through its actions against the post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland.

She had warned that if that happened there would be no US-UK trade deal.

But last month a deal was struck between the UK and the EU on trading arrangements for Northern Ireland.