Today's top Irish news stories:

Irish woman wins historic right to domestic abuse visa after long battle

No one has the right to abuse anyone. The true story below is illustrative of this point. Despite enormous obstacles justice was done. Valerie O’Donnell from Waterford was pregnant and separated from the father of her yet-unborn children, Rob...READ MORE

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Man is charged with horrific rape of nine and six year old girls in Athlone

A 30-year-old man has appeared in court charged with the rape of two young girls in Athlone last Saturday. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons to protect the identity of the six and nine year old girls, appeared at Longford District Court...READ MORE

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New York based Irish immigrant dies after being hit by car on vacation

A New York man has died in Co. Kerry, three weeks after he was injured in a road traffic accident. Irish immigrant Dan Long, who had lived most of his life in Pearl River, New York, was on vacation in his native Abbeydorney on August 27 when he was struck by a car at Montanagay…READ MORE

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White Widow 'smeared face in blood to flee Nairobi terror mall'

Samantha Lewthwaite, the County Down born woman known as the White Widow, evaded capture at the Kenyan shopping mall by smearing blood over her face, security sources there have said.…READ MORE

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Over 1,000 mourners attend funeral of Derry man who died suddenly in New York

Thousands of mourners packed into the Holy Family Church in Ballymagroarty, in Co. Derry on Sunday for the funeral mass of Patrick Friel-Curran..READ MORE

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