A round-up to today's other stories in brief.
New York writer Denis Duggan dies
Irish-American journalist Dennis Duggan (78) has died in New York. Duggan was well known to Irish radio listeners for his reports from the US on Sam Smyth's Sunday Supplement on Today FM.
Born in Detroit to immigrant Irish parents, Duggan worked alongside legendary newspapermen such as Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill at the New York Herald Tribune in the early 1960s. He also worked for the New York Times, the New York Mirror and for Newsday, where he wrote a column three times a week until he fell ill some weeks ago.
Former governor of New York Mario Cuomo and former mayor Ed Koch were among those who paid tribute to Mr Duggan.
Derry woman says she was raped
A taxi firm dispatcher described yesterday how a woman, who said she had been raped and assaulted in the Strand Road in Derry and on a pathway at the River Foyle, ran screaming into his office.
The dispatcher said the women, who was bleeding from a head wound, was in a clearly distraught condition when she ran into the ACE taxi office shortly after 3.30am yesterday.
PSNI Det Sgt Mark Cooper, who is leading the investigation, said it was a particularly vicious sex assault on the woman, who is in her 20s. "We want to speak to a person who was walking along the pathway at the riverside and who walked passed the pair when the assault was taking place," he said.
Balbriggan hurler recovering
Sources close to the family of hurling accident victim Keith McLoughlin (18), Balbriggan, Co Dublin, last night said doctors now believe he will make a full recovery from the head injury he received while playing for O'Dwyers against Kilmacud Crokes at Balbriggan on Wednesday evening.
The Leaving Cert student is still in intensive care at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.
Man stole from hospital wards
A man who stole from hospital wards has been given a chance to take part in the drug court programme. Francis McGrane (35), Buckingham Grove, Dublin, pleaded guilty to taking property from wards in Beaumont and Mater hospitals.
Dublin District Court heard he took a phone from a ward in the Mater and a woman's wallet and phone from a ward in Beaumont last year. He was arrested almost immediately in Beaumont and the property was recovered.
He also admitted stealing a woman's bag in the Croppy Acre pub last year and to trying to break into cars parked on the main road of the Phoenix Park in March 2005. He was spotted by a garda as he tried to open the doors of two cars with a set of keys.
The court heard he had been a long-term drug addict who was now trying to kick the habit. He wanted to take part in the drug court system which offers a tough rehabilitation programme as an alternative to prison.
Judge Mary Collins remanded him on bail to appear in the drug court next week.