Europe's terror talks clouded by Hamas killing
EU foreign ministers met to finalize “practical” anti-terror measures to respond to the Madrid bomb blasts, in talks clouded by the killing of Palestinian militant group Hamas’s spiritual head. Starting a week of terror-focussed meetings climaxing with an EU summit from Thursday, they pledged to build on proposals including for a new “terrorism tsar” proposed by emergency talks of EU interior ministers last Friday. The ministers were also to discuss rising hopes for a breakthrough on a first-ever EU constitution, which by a cruel irony have been fueled by the Madrid blasts and the ensuring change of government in Spain. But terrorism topped the agenda as the EU scrambles for a response to the March 11 Madrid train blasts, which killed over 200 people in Europe’s worst terrorist act since the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing. Full Story