YESTERDAY, two events dealing with abuse inflicted on the vulnerable, one at either end of the island, one historical, the other contemporary, brought into question our ability to learn from our mistakes. 

Children from the North who were sent to Australia shortly after the Second World War faced grave sexual and physical violence after arrival in institutions, witnesses have told a public inquiry.

A woman abused while resident at a children’s home in the North was left suicidal after telling her story before a public inquiry.

Smoke, mirrors, and just a few PR spells are always central in the quest to make a film star.

Two dissident republicans have failed to overturn their convictions for murdering police constable Stephen Carroll in the North in 2009.

The public inquiry into institutional child abuse in the North is to travel to Australia to interview alleged victims transferred from there.

Nuns who ran a hell hole children’s home in Northern Ireland were nearly psychotic, a former resident said.

Church-run “hell hole” children’s homes in Ireland were like Nazi concentration camps, a former resident claimed.

Noel Meade’s Texas Jack beat Baily Green to land the Grade 2 Kinloch Brae Chase at Thurles yesterday, but it was the third horse, Last Instalment, that was the real eye-catcher.

An order of Catholic Brothers has apologised for abusing boys at its residential care home in the North.

The inquiry into the abuse of children at residential homes in the North will examine the soul of society, a lawyer has said.

The news that Interpol has issued a “Red Notice” for terror suspect Samantha Lewthwaite cements her status as the most wanted woman in the world.

A woman described as “British” – believed to actually be from Northern Ireland – was among the militants who laid siege to a Kenyan mall, the country’s foreign minister has claimed.

As always, Day Two of the Dublin Horse Show was a two-horse race between a string of elegant ladies on parade and their less-fancied four-legged counterparts.

Dissident republicans convicted of murdering a policeman in the North robbed his widow of her soulmate, a court heard today.

The widow of a murdered PSNI officer said she felt pity for his killers as she watched them being convicted and jailed for life.

Two men were found guilty and jailed for life today for the murder of a police officer shot dead by dissident republicans in the North.

THE spectre of police collusion and corruption in the murders of three young men in The Miami Showband massacre over 36 years ago has been raised by an internal report of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

RUBY WALSH took the riding honours on a successful Student Raceday in Sligo yesterday, completing a double on favourites Traffic Article and Give Us A Hand.

DERMOT WELD wasted no time smashing the record for the number of winners trained at the Galway festival when Rainforest Magic took his score for the week to twelve in the opening Guinness Handicap Hurdle at Ballybrit last night.

TWO men from Co Down pleaded guilty yesterday at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee to charges relating to the theft of an ATM from a bank wall containing over €200,000 in Main Street Castleisand last November.

The daughter of Tyrone GAA manager Mickey Harte who was found dead on honeymoon in Mauritius may have been killed, it was claimed tonight.

British Airport Authority (BAA) today said it welcomed legislation that would "improve the experience for passengers" as the British government considers new plans to fine airports millions of pounds.

TWO men from the North, charged in connection with an attempted robbery of an ATM at an AIB branch in Castleisland, Co Kerry, on Saturday, were granted free legal aid yesterday.

Two men were arrested in separate police operations that uncovered drugs with a street value of more than £200,000 (€242,068), detectives revealed today.

A 22-year-old man was arrested in the North today following the murder of Constable Stephen Carroll by dissident republicans.

Two men and a woman were being questioned today about the murder of a policeman in the North.

A STAGGERING 10% of Irish shopppers will be heading north to buy alcohol by the end of the year, it has emerged.

IRISH shoppers spent almost €57 million in the North last year, an increase of 16% on the previous year.

A man will appear in court today charged with murdering a policeman in the North.

A man has died following a road traffic crash in the North, police said tonight.

Disgruntled members of the North’s two largest loyalist paramilitary groups have carried out attacks as the organisations move slowly away from violence, it was claimed today.

Ulster Weavers is shedding 45 jobs after announcing plans today to stop making linen at a factory.

SIXTY jobs in the Cork-based plastics firm Uponor are to go to the North following the sale of its premises to a Cork-based development firm, believed to be O’Flynn Construction.

Bomb disposal experts have defused a viable pipe bomb that was found at a GAA pitch in the North last night.

THE Dáil is poised for a full debate on British security force collusion in some of the worst atrocities of the Troubles, it was confirmed yesterday.

A DIVER sets out tonight to become the first West Cork man to swim the English Channel — and, in the process, make €10,000 for various worthy causes.

Hooligans who hurled blocks of concrete at lorries from a bridge over one of the North’s busiest dual carriageways were being hunted by police tonight.

Two of the 58 charges faced by Sean Hoey in the ongoing Omagh bomb trial are to be dropped, a judge in Belfast ruled today.

Unrelated charges against a man accused of making the Omagh bomb are expected to be dropped after a prosecutor admitted to gaps in the evidence.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will meet members of the Miami Showband families today.

KAY’S TAVERN IN DUNDALK

A man was tonight being questioned by detectives in the North investigating blackmail.

Trade unions have expressed fears for the future of 70 jobs at one of the North's best-known textile firms.