US envoy to meet Finucane family

US President George W Bush's special envoy to the North, Mitchell Reiss, is meeting the family of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane today.

The British government's planned inquiry into the 1989 murder is expected to top the agenda at the talks.

The Finucane family is refusing to co-operate with the inquiry in protest at the fact that some of it will be held in private, ostensibly to protect British national security.

The Finucanes, along with Sinn Féin and the SDLP, also believe the terms of reference of the inquiry are more likely to bury the truth than uncover it.

Meanwhile, Mr Reiss is also meeting a delegation from the Orange Order today.

He is expected to adopt a conciliatory tone after angering the Order last summer when he criticised it in a letter to Irish-American lobbyists over contentious loyalist parades.