Meeting in Florence on Sunday, ministers of the European Union states have begun reviewing proposals that address, among other topics, illegal migration from North Africa into Europe. One highly controversial proposal on the agenda calls for large holding centers to be set up in North Africa where refugees would be housed and their asylum requests evaluated. Those found to be seeking asylum illegally would be turned away. Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom support the proposal, while France and Spain say the initiative does not respect "humanitarian conditions", and question its legality under the European Convention on Human Rights, and Geneva Convention on Refugees. BBC News has more.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Sunday rejected a call for a national referendum on his plan to withdraw outposts from the Gaza Strip after a meeting with Jewish settlers. Sharon's withdrawal plan is scheduled for debate and vote before the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, on October 25. VOA has more. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the Gaza withdrawal plan.

The Supreme Court of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) has dismissed lawsuits filed by the National League for Democracy (NLD) demanding that the governing military junta free detained opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and allow the NLD, which won parliamentary elections in 1990 but has yet to be allowed to seat a government, to reopen its offices. The high court threw out the suits Thursday, the same day they were filed, saying that they were not relevant under Burma's criminal code. Voice of America has more.

The New York Times (registration required) reported Sunday that abusive treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay has been widespread, longstanding, and primarily directed at intelligence targets, according to several military guards, agents and other staff at the detention facility. This contradicts repeated assertions by military officials, including the drafters of the Schlesinger report, that abuse had occured only in isolated cases and was not used as an intelligence-gathering tactic. The new allegations describe abuses ranging from replacing prisoners' prayer oil with caustic floor cleanser, to placing nude prisoners in cold rooms where they were shackled between speakers playing hard rock at extremely high volume for up to 14 hours at a time. Meanwhile, AP reports that, according to Pentagon sources, at least seven former Guantanamo prisoners have returned to terrorism since US officials released them after determining that they no longer posed a threat and had no remaining intelligence value.

Prosecutors in Indonesia have charged militant Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir in connection with the 2002 Bali bombings that killed some 200 tourists and nightclub workers. On Friday, as previously reported in JURIST's Paper Chase, Bashir was also charged with involvement in last year's deadly bombing of a Marriot hotel in Jakarta. Indonesian prosecutors allege that one of the convicted Bali bombers, Amrozi, had asked Bashir for permission to carry out the Bali attacks; noting that more than half the so far identified Bali bombers were graduates of the Islamic boarding school he founded and ran until his arrest two years ago, prosecutors allege that at the very least he knew about the upcoming attacks and could have stopped them. His trial is expected to begin in approximately two weeks. BBC News has more.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan reiterated his criticism of the decision to invade Iraq in an interview with British TV network ITV Sunday, saying that it had done nothing to make the world safer. While acknowledging that the country is currently "on track" to hold elections early next year, he warned that he would be "duty bound" to speak out "[i]f ... any decision which is made which we think detracts from the credibility and viability of the elections." UN efforts to smooth Iraq's transition to democracy are detailed here. In the same interview Annan also warned that any US military action against Iran to halt its nuclear program could be illegal under the UN charter: "To undertake an operation of that kind would not be helpful at all. I don't even want to contemplate it because I think it would be very unwise." The full text of the interview is not yet available online, but ITV has a story on it here.

Voters in Belarus (official government website) are deciding Sunday whether to amend their constitution to abolish presidential terms limits and allow President Alexander Lukashenko (official website; BBC profile here) to run for a third term in 2006. Currently under Article 81 presidents can only serve two five-year terms. Many observers doubt Lukashenko will recieve the requisite 50% support from the population of 10 million. The US (read a State Department release here) and other countries have voiced concerns about the fairness of the vote. Reuters has more. Lukashenko's office has issued this statement in English on the President casting his own vote.

UPDATE: Late reports say Belarus opposition leaders are accusing the govenment of arresting exit-poll takers and keeping away observers. AP has more.

The United States and six Central American countries are voicing their support this weekend for Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos, facing possible impeachment and removal by the Nicaraguan legislature next week on corruption charges. Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and the US all fear that the removal of Bolanos could threaten Nicaragua's democratic system. The possible impeachment stems from Bolanos' failure to explain the sources of his campaign funding. The US State Department issued this statement Saturday supporting Bolanos and "decrying recent ploys which constitute a serious threat to institutionality, the rule of law, and democratic governance."

Jordan's military prosecutor Sunday indicted Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi and twelve other suspects on charges of plotting to attack the US Embassy in Amman and various Jordanian government targets with chemical and conventional weapons. The seven formal counts include conspiring to commit terror attacks, possessing and manufacturing explosive material and affiliation with a group linked to al-Qaida. The Jordanian-born Al-Zarqawi is believed responsible for several recent beheadings of hostages in Iraq; he and and 3 others will be tried by Jordan in absentia in November. AP has more.