European news stories

(aka I'm too lazy to think of my own crap to post) (From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE) - Iraq's constitution was approved, final referendum results showed, as Sunnis narrowly failed to get enough votes to reject the charter. Nearly 10 million people participated, 63% of registered voters. Shiites and Kurds cheered the result, but some Sunni leaders denounced the vote, despite election officials' vow of no substantial irregularities. Meantime, the U.S. military death toll hit 2,000. - The U.S. and France worked to rally support for a U.N. resolution demanding that Syria cooperate with a probe into Hariri's slaying. - Beijing reported a new bird-flu outbreak and agreed in principle to share virus samples, cheering international health officials. Germany tested dead fowl there. - The U.N. will hold a donor conference today in Geneva for the South Asian earthquake, as aid workers say the international response has been weaker than expected. - The U.S. is initiating action at the WTO to pressure China to toughen its enforcement of intellectual-property rights. - Floridians surveyed the billions in damage left by Hurricane Wilma, which cut power to six million and killed at least six in the U.S. state. - The EU trade chief won full support from Brussels to make new farm-aid concessions in a bid to spur WTO talks, despite France's opposition. - The EU executive told Romania and Bulgaria to speed up judicial overhauls and tackle corruption if they want to join the bloc in 2007. - Merkel could take over as German chancellor on Nov. 22 if the top two parties can agree on how to plug a $42 billion deficit, officials said. - Power-distribution disputes were threatening to derail Polish coalition talks, as Civic Platform said it could refuse to join Law and Justice. Copyright © 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.(AP-DJ)--10-26-05 0030EDT