PARIS (Reuters) — French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin became the first victim of a crisis over the European Union’s constitution on Tuesday as EU leaders braced for Dutch voters to follow France by rejecting the new charter. President Jacques Chirac accepted Raffarin’s resignation and appointed loyal ally Dominique de Villepin …

GAZA (Reuters) — Hamas said on Tuesday it would boycott a rerun of some Palestinian town elections in Gaza, stoking tension with President Mahmoud Abbas Fateh movement that could complicate his agenda for peace-making with Israel. A potential solution surfaced later, when a Fateh leader said it had agreed to …

Bulgarian, Romanian and Turkish officials have voiced regret over France’s rejection of the EU constitution on Sunday (29 May). While insisting they do not expect the result to affect their countries’ EU bids, they called for stronger efforts towards meeting all membership requirements. Tariceanu A “no” vote would mean EU …