Getting Tough

British Prime Minister Tony Blair will open talks this week with police, intel agencies and opposition parties on the content of further antiterror legislation. (A tough antiterror bill was already passed in March.) New measures will include provisions to combat the incitement and instigation of terrorism, and help prevent people who may stir up hatred from entering Britain. Blair promised to accelerate the bill's spring 2006 introduction if security services ask him to.

Italy
Addressing the Italian Parliament, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu warned that "terrorism is knocking on Italy's doors." Pisanu asked lawmakers to bolster the ranks of police and security forces assigned to antiterrorism. On his wish list: requiring that prepaid cell-phone users produce ID to obtain top-up cards and more use of "preventive wiretapping."

The E.U.
In an emergency meeting in Brussels, E.U. interior ministers agreed to speed up the introduction of measures pledged after the Madrid bombings. Telecom and Internet firms will be required to store details of phone calls as well as text and e-mail messages for one year. Also promised: a crackdown on terrorist financing and a move toward standardized security features for ID cards.

France
Tough antiterror laws have been in place since the mid-1980s, but Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said last week that France would "intensify" its crackdown on radical imams, and deport them if necessary. He also invoked a "safeguard clause" of the Schengen agreement, allowing France to impose checks on all who cross its international borders. It is not clear how long the new measure will remain in place.

Germany
Germany's main political parties recently agreed on the need to create a central database for information on terror suspects — accessible to local police and federal intelligence operatives alike — but they continue to wrangle over its content. With national elections expected in September, security is likely to be a campaign issue. But new legislation will probably be delayed until after the poll.