Taxi drivers talk to a garda on Dublin's O'Connell Street yesterday evening as they used their vehicles to block off one side of the thoroughfare to traffic. They also stood on lines to stop the Luas. Photograph: Bryan O'Brien

Thousands of marriages at embassies declared illegalTHOUSANDS of foreign couples who married at their country’s embassies in the Republic over the past three years are being told their marriages are invalid and illegal.

Editor's choice

Innovation taskforce says 120,000 jobs can be createdCLOSE TO 120,000 new jobs could be created if Ireland transforms itself into an innovation centre, according to the report from the Government’s Innovation Taskforce to be published tomorrow.
Doctors raised concerns over X-rays at Tallaght last summerCONCERNS were raised by GPs over the handling of X-rays at Tallaght hospital as early as last summer, it has emerged.
President and Cowen welcome decision on policingPRESIDENT MARY McAleese and Taoiseach Brian Cowen were among those who warmly welcomed yesterday’s Assembly decision to devolve policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont.
Seven arrests over alleged plot to kill Swedish cartoonistGARDAÍ HAVE arrested seven people as part of an international investigation into an alleged plot to kill a Swedish artist who produced a series of sketches depicting the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.

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Monetary fund for Europe

THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT by Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble of the need for a European Monetary Fund (EMF) is an important recognition of a critical deficiency in economic and monetary union. Learning from the Greek experience, the euro zone and the European Commission must now move to strengthen both economic governance and discipline, and to develop tools to deal with future potential sovereign debt defaults.

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Images of the day

Spring has sprung as these frogs settle near frog spawn in a pond in Co Wicklow, Ireland March 9. Photo: Cyril Byrne/The Irish Times
A man pushes his bike past an ice covered a bench on the Neuchatel Lake shores in Yverdon, West of Geneva, Switzerland March 9. Photo: Denis Balibouse/REUTERS
Farmers take part in the annual buffalo racing contest to commemorate the arrival of spring in Lahore, Pakistan March 9. Photo: Mohsin Raza/REUTERS
Police detain a Tibetan exile during a protest in front of Chinese embassy in New Delhi, India March 9. Dozens of exiled Tibetan protested on Tuesday to mark the 51st anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against China. Photo: Adnan Abidi/REUTERS
A white jade Yubi seal from the Qianlong period inscribed with the characters "Taishanghuangdi", or "Overlord Emperor", is shown at a Sotheby's preview in Hong Kong March 9. The seal is expected to fetch in excess of $6.3 million at an auction on April 8. Photo: Bobby Yip/REUTERS
Two men walk past the headquarters of the German postal and logistics group Deutsche Post AG in Bonn, Germany March 9. Photo: Ina Fassbender/REUTERS
Military delegates hold their hats against the wind upon their arrival for the third plenary meeting of China's parliament, the National People's Congress, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China March 9. Photo: Christina Hu/REUTERS
Carole Thornlergh practices with Ross, a Belgium Shepherd, at the NEC Birmingham England in preparation for DSL Crufts, March 9. Photo: Rui Vieira/PA Wire
An asylum seeker reacts during a demonstration outside the UK Border Agency in Glasgow on March 9, in Glasgow Scotland. Campaigners are calling for an inquiry after a family jumped to their deaths from the 15th floor of the Red Road tower blocks. It has been speculated that the Russian family were possibly facing a deportation order. Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Twins Hugh left, and Arthur O'Rahilly from Glasnevin explore the giant's kitchen during a preview of the National Leprechaun Museum in Jervis Street, Dublin, Ireland, March 9. The NLM is a national cultural entertainment centre that will take visitors deeper into Irish and celtic culture to discover what really lies behind the well-known tales of Irish cultural iconography - leprechauns,rainbows and pots of gold. The NLM opens to the public on March 10. Photo: Matt Kavanagh/The Irish Times

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Education »

Power play: Delegates at the Model UN Conference in Wesley College Dundrum.

Recasting the UN

At the Model UN conference, TY students relished their roles as leaders of oppressive regimes, writes PETER McGUIRE

Consumer »

Independents wrestle with doomsday book scenario

BUYING BOOKS:ARE OUR bookshops doomed? It’s certainly not looking good for them. Late last month the Irish book industry suffered its biggest casualty when Hughes Hughes went into receivership after more than 25 years in business. It cited, among other things, the high rents it was being forced to pay and the low prices online retailers were charging to lure its potential customers away.

Business »

No Government block to lay-offs at Aer Lingus

THE GOVERNMENT will not seek to block plans by Aer Lingus to make about 230 members of cabin crew redundant on a compulsory basis.

Sport »

Murphy retains place to face Wales

Six Nations team news:Geordan Murphy retains his place at fullback while Rob Kearney returns to the bench in place of Andrew Trimble in the only change in personnel to Ireland's matchday 22 ahead of their Six Nations game against Wales at Croke Park on Saturday (2.30pm).