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.

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

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.

1,200 cabin crew will be made redundant and invited to reapply for new jobs on reduced pay

Manchester United 4 Milan 0 (Agg: 7-2):In the end all the hype, all the hooplah which surrounded David Beckham's return to Old Trafford was just that. Style, not substance. How often has that been the case in the career of the most famous footballer on earth?

Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby made their names separately as writers of witty pop songs. Then, years later, they got married, writes TONY CLAYTON-LEA

The renaissance continues for Renault in Ireland. This time the firm has abandoned frugality in favour of fun and ferocity, writes PADDY COMYN

A museum dedicated to Ireland’s mythical little people opens today in a former Fás office on Jervis Street. It has an overscaled room, giant maps, and of course a shop, but is it leprechauny enough?

Thousands of man hours could be saved if the State implemented an integrated electronic system of patient records