Taoiseach urges American politicians to pass new rules on immigration reform
Enda Kenny was speaking at the annual St Patrick’s Day reception in the East Room of the White House.
The Taoiseach has presented President Barack Obama with the traditional bowl of shamrock - in a bowl engraved with words from a poem by Yeats.
President Obama told the reception that the United States owed the “very idea of America” itself to the influence of the Irish.
Official search for bodies of AirAsia crash victims to end tonight
AirAsia flight 8501 came down on route from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore in December with 162 people on board
106 bodies have been recovered in the months since the crash, with the rest still unaccounted for.
Watch: St Patrick's Day parades take place across the country
Image: Photocall Ireland
Thousands of people have been attending parades across Ireland to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.
The parade in Dublin city took place this afternoon, but celebrations are expected to continue long into the night.
An estimated crowd of 500,000 people turned out for today's event.
Banks may face appeals process over insolvency veto
It is part of a set of proposals being drawn up to overhaul the insolvency system and prevent widespread repossessions.
Other measures include bringing the bankruptcy period down to one year from the current three years.
Exit polls suggest extremely close result in Israeli election
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu casts his vote during Israel's parliamentary elections in Jerusalem. Image: Sebastian Scheiner / Associated Press
Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed a "great victory" in Israel's election - but exit polls put his party neck-and-neck with the centre-left Zionist Union.
Mr Netanyahu is fighting to remain as prime minister after his centre-right Likud won 27 seats, the same number as its main opponent, in the 120-member parliament, reported Channel 1 and Channel 10.
Channel 2 put Likud on 28 and Zionist Union on 27, with the figures coming out moments after voting ended.
