European Union

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.

The religious right scored a convincing victory Sunday in Turkey. A country that was lost to Islam for most of the 20th century - in the sense that its constitutionally mandated secularism was rigorously policed by the military and the Europeanized elite that was in charge - is making room for religion again. This is democracy, Near East-style, and it's a potentially positive but definitely complicating development. Led by Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, the Justice and Development Party lost a few seats in parliament, but its overall vote total was up and it amounted to a clear endorsement from the voters.

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.

Time's up. Serbian politicians will never agree to an independent Kosovo. So Kosovo will just have to become independent without their consent. For eight years now, ever since the NATO air war drove Serbian forces out, Kosovo has been in limbo. The Kosovar Albanians want sovereignty, and the U.S. and the European Union - albeit with serious qualms - have decided there is no alternative. But they've been trying to jolly the Serbs along, to entice them to recognize that Kosovo is lost to them.

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.