European Union

European union officially exists, if only on paper. The Maastricht Treaty on political and monetary union came into force Nov. 1. Curiously, there was embarrassed silence where there should have been brass bands, popping champagne corks and triumphal orotundity.Why? This, after all, is the fulfillment of a vision that goes back nearly half a century, to the post-World War II determination that the European states should be linked so tightly that nationalist rivalries could never again lead them into war. Could any of those early visionaries have imagined that by 1993 a single market would govern the production and sales of goods and services from Portugal to Denmark, from Ireland to Greece?

WASHINGTON -- The European Union's second-highest court upheld yesterday a 2004 antitrust ruling against Microsoft Corp.'s dominant operating system that led to a $689 million fine. Other American companies that dominate their markets, such as Apple Inc. in digital music, Google Inc. in Web search and Intel Corp. in computer chips, also might feel the sting. Antitrust experts called the decision by the Court of the First Instance a landmark ruling that validated the aggressive approach recently taken by the European Union's competition commission - especially when compared with the Bush administration's more hands-off approach to regulating companies that exploit their market dominance.

By now, the nearly two-week-long hostage crisis prompted by Iran's brazen seizure of 15 British sailors and marines in the Persian Gulf in late March is beginning to fade from public memory. But the incident has provided the West with an important glimpse into Iranian strategy - and an unprecedented opportunity for a reinvigorated transatlantic consensus about confronting the Islamic Republic. From the start, Iran's ayatollahs used the well-orchestrated seizure as a flagrant piece of political theater.

LONDON -- For Europe, this was supposed to be a year of destiny. Instead, it has become a year of chaos and controversy.The executive leadership of the 15-nation European Union is out, the new single European currency is down, and the continent's bid to become a world leader on a par with the United States is clouded.But Europe's biggest boosters say there is a silver lining, despite the gloom after the unprecedented mass resignation yesterday of the continent's 20 top bureaucrats, who make up the European Commission.

WASHINGTON is going to war -- a trade war -- to give bananas from Central and South America the same access to European markets as bananas from Caribbean islands. For this, the administration is preparing to retaliate with high tariffs on European products entering the United States.Granted, some people like the nationalistic juices that flow during a brief trade war. But here the catch is the troubling definition of the U.S. national interest.This fight does not defend U.S. workers against unfair advantages for European workers.

LONDON -- Europe gave birth to the euro, its new common currency, at midnight, ushering in one of the biggest changes in the world's money since World War II and presenting the almighty dollar with its strongest challenger to date."

AS THE 20th century ends, world leaders still differ on who has the right to proclaim statehood.The notion of a right to "self-determination" is attributed to President Woodrow Wilson, who declared at the end of World War I that statesmen would "henceforth ignore (this principle) at their peril."But Wilson's top aides later claimed he came to rue this concept, which led to a welter of unstable new nations. The legendary pundit Walter Lippmann, who helped Wilson write the Fourteen Points -- his proposals for a just and lasting peace -- said that the president never believed in self-determination in the first place.

BUCHAREST, Romania -- As Pope John Paul II prayed at an open-air Orthodox Mass yesterday at the side of Patriarch Teoctist, Cristian Andrei, 40, examined the historic moment from mammon's perspective."

In the latest blow to the world's best-known brand, Italian regulators yesterday fined the bottler for the Coca-Cola Co. in Italy more than $16 million after finding that it had engaged in unfair practices.The fine amounts to about 3 percent of Coke's sales in Italy this year but less than half the maximum penalty. It will be paid by Coca-Cola, which owns 51 percent of the bottler, Coca-Cola Beverages.The bottler also was ordered to eliminate some discounts in its exclusive contracts with Italian supermarkets, a move that could dampen its business.

LONDON -- In the most dramatic showdown ever between the European Union's elected representatives and its appointed officials, the politicians blinked yesterday, leaving the unelected bureaucrats in control of the institution.Lawmakers in the 626-member European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, had threatened to fire the 20-member commission that administers the EU from Brussels, Belgium, on the grounds that the some of the bureaucrats had engaged in massive fraud and then impeded efforts to ferret out the corruption.

MOSCOW - Russia's natural gas monopoly drastically cut flows to Europe through Ukraine yesterday, sharpening fears of winter fuel shortages. Despite warnings from the European Union, a pricing dispute between Gazprom and Ukraine showed no signs of letting up. As the two sides traded accusations and blame, negotiations remained frozen for the sixth day. Bulgarian authorities said two-thirds of their natural gas supply had been cut off and consumption would...

BERLIN - Somali pirates firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades hijacked yet another ship in the Gulf of Aden yesterday, this time seizing a chemical tanker. A German military helicopter from a nearby warship arrived in time to pull three security guards out of the water, but not soon enough to prevent the hijacking of the ship and the rest of the crew. The latest attack, in which even trained security personnel aboard could not deter the pirates, demonstrated the urgent need for coordinated action by governments from Cairo to Berlin.

However it turns out, the current fighting between Russia and Georgia - the first major military offensive by Russia outside its borders since the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 - is likely to have long-term consequences for the United States. Georgia's independence and democracy deserve U.S. support in this crisis, and we should make that position clear. When we were in Romania a decade ago, Romanians would regularly tell us that the United States was naive about Russia. Then, Russia's economy was weak and its politics much more democratic and open than they are today.

DUBLIN, Ireland - European leaders were scrambling yesterday to find a new path to a more powerful and manageable European Union after Irish voters rejected a treaty meant to bolster the alliance's government. The rejection threw into doubt nearly a decade of efforts to overcome widespread public skepticism and develop a European constitution. The reforms would create a powerful European presidency and diplomatic corps and improve cooperation on law enforcement and defense. Because the measure must be ratified by all 27 member states of the alliance, Ireland's rejection struck a potentially fatal blow.

KRANJ, Slovenia - Opening a farewell tour of Europe, President Bush won European support yesterday to consider additional punitive sanctions against Iran, including restrictions on its banks, if Iran rejects a package of incentives to suspend its uranium enrichment program. Iran has begun transferring billions of dollars from European banks to Iranian and Asian banks, and buying gold and equities, according to reports in the Iranian news media, apparently to protect its windfall oil revenue from any new sanctions.

The Second World Empires and Influence in the New Global Order By Parag Khanna Random House / 496 pages / $28.95 In the 21st century, according to Parag Khanna, three empires strut their stuff on the world stage. The United States, the European Union and China are "frenemies." Globalization fosters interdependence. But fear and greed continue to drive geopolitical competition. "Arrayed along and sandwiched between" the superpowers, Khanna points out, are Second World countries. Encompassing the world's emerging markets, they are divided between haves and have-nots and may or may not be moving toward democracy.

Tomorrow, the United States, the European Union and Russia will report to the United Nations on the latest round of talks on the future of Kosovo. They will be tempted yet again to delay resolution of the Kosovo question - even after three years of talks. On its face, the new report will be largely meaningless. The most recent talks were no more than a sop to Serbia and Russia. Positions have not changed, compromise has not been reached, and agreement remains a fatuous hope. Kosovo is determined to exercise its political self-determination by pursuing internationally recognized sovereignty and independence.

Apple Inc. Shares surged $16.20 to $169.96. China Mobile Ltd. said it's in talks to sell Apple's iPhone handset in China, a market with potentially more mobile-phone users than the combined population of the European Union.

WASHINGTON -- The European Union's second-highest court upheld yesterday a 2004 antitrust ruling against Microsoft Corp.'s dominant operating system that led to a $689 million fine. Other American companies that dominate their markets, such as Apple Inc. in digital music, Google Inc. in Web search and Intel Corp. in computer chips, also might feel the sting. Antitrust experts called the decision by the Court of the First Instance a landmark ruling that validated the aggressive approach recently taken by the European Union's competition commission - especially when compared with the Bush administration's more hands-off approach to regulating companies that exploit their market dominance.

LONDON -- They came to Libya in search of better-paying jobs. They ended up as pawns in a high-stakes game of geopolitical horse trading. After enduring more than eight years in prison, including the last three under a death sentence, five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were freed yesterday despite being convicted of infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV -- charges most of the world scorned as a frame-up. But their release came only after the government of Libyan strongman Col. Muammar el Kadafi negotiated a package of concessions that included $400 million in cash for the sick children's families and a pledge to help restore Libya's archaeological sites.