The Washington Post Friday published details about the existence of a hitherto-secret CIA prison within the Pentagon-run military detention facility for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The prison has housed high-value detainees from Pakistan, West Africa, Yemen and other countries whose identities and incarceration have not previously been disclosed, although it is not clear [...]

European Union leaders agreed Thursday on a date of October 3, 2005 for the start of official talks with Turkey regarding its potential accession to the European Union. The European Parliament voted for the opening of talks earlier this week. At the same time, however, EU leaders are insisting that Tukey normalize its relations with [...]

Ohio Chief Justice Thomas Moyer Thursday threw out on a technicality a challenge filed by voting rights activists claiming that the November 2 vote in that state was invalid because of voting machine errors, double-counting of some ballots and a shortage of voting machines in predominantly minority precincts. Moyer ruled that the complaint improperly challenged [...]

Iceland has offered a residency permit to Bobby Fisher, the US chess champion now detained in Japan and wanted for extradition to the US who beat Russian Boris Spassky in a famous international chess match in Reykyavik in 1972. Fischer accepted the offer Friday, although it's still unclear whether he'll be allowed to take it [...]

Michael Froomkin, University of Miami School of Law: "At Guantanamo, a Prison Within a Prison: Within the heavily guarded perimeters of the Defense Department's much-discussed Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, the CIA has maintained a detention facility for valuable al Qaeda captives that has never been mentioned in public, according to military officials and several [...]

In re: Yukos Oil Company, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Judge Letitia Clark, December 16, 2004. Read the full text of the memorandum opinion and an associated temporary restraining order . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

DC District Judge John Bates Thursday ruled that a US citizen detained in Saudi Arabia at the apparent request of the US government may have the right to challenge his detention in American courts, rejecting the government's argument that the challenge should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Lawyers for Virginia native Ahmed Abu Ali, [...]

California Superior Court Judge Harry Papadakis ruled Wednesday that the Transportation Security Administration did not violate the Fourth Amendment when it searched the checked luggage of John Perry Barlow, onetime Grateful Dead lyricist and current cyber-rights activist, and had him arrested for drug possession. Barlow's attorney had argued that while TSA searches may look for [...]

Florida Chief District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled Wednesday that a policy subjecting all Florida Department of Juvenile Justice employees to random drug testing was unconstitutionally applied to an office worker, accepting the plaintiff's argument that testing should be reserved for employees who either create a suspicion that they are drug users or work in positions [...]

In a rare political move, 84-year old Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi has refused to sign a justice bill sponsored by the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, sending it back to Italy's parliament for revision. The President's office issued a brief news release on the refusal Thursday (in Italian). Italian judges and prosecutors had [...]