[JURIST] Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (D) [official profile; JURIST news archive] was sentenced to over seven years in prison for bribery and obstruction of justice Thursday. Siegelman and former HealthSouth [corporate website] CEO Richard Scrushy [JURIST news archive] were convicted [DOJ press release] in June 2006 on federal bribery and fraud charges [JURIST report]. Siegelman was convicted on 10 counts, including bribery, conspiracy, and mail fraud. Scrushy was found guilty of fraud and both were also convicted in connection with a $500,000 payment from Scrushy for Siegelman's 1999 campaign debts in exchange for a seat on a state-operated review board that regulates hospitals. Scrushy was also sentenced Thursday to six years and 10 months in prison. AP has more.

In 2005, Scrushy was acquitted [JURIST report] on charges of wire and mail fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, and violations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act [PDF text] in a scheme to overstate earnings and inflate HealthSouth's stock price between 1996 and 2002.

[JURIST] A Quebec court Wednesday sentenced former Canadian advertising executive Jean LaFleur to 42 months in prison for his role in the Canadian federal sponsorship scandal [JURIST news archive; CBC backgrounder]. Lafleur pleaded guilty in April [JURIST report] to billing the Canadian federal government for work which was never done, and ultimately bilking the government of almost $1.6 million in contracts his advertising firm obtained through a program designed to increase the federal government's presence in Quebec. His advertising firm, LaFleur Marketing and Communications (LCM), received $65 million through the federal sponsorship program between 1995 and 2003. Judge Suzanne Coupal handed down Wednesday's sentence, along with orders to reimburse the defrauded program the $1.6 million.

Lafleur is the not the first person charged in relation to the scandal. In May 2005, former Montreal advertising executive Paul Coffin pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to 15 counts of fraud, and former federal civil servant Chuck Guite [CTV profile] was found guilty [JURIST report] of defrauding the government in June 2006. In 2005, Justice John Gomery released a report [JURIST report] castigating former Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien and his chief of staff, Jean Pelletier, for the flawed running of the federal sponsorship program from 1994 to 2003. CBC News has more.

[JURIST] The Japanese Sapporo High Court Thursday upheld a 2004 lower court decision [Japan Times report] rejecting a lawsuit brought by Chinese plaintiffs who say they were forced to work as slave laborers in mines and factories during World War II. The lawsuit, originally filed in 1999, sought nearly seven million dollars in compensation from the Chinese government and six companies, including Mitsui Mining Co., Sumitomo Coal Mining Co., and Mitsubishi Materials Corporation [corporate websites]. Judge Koki Ito found that the plaintiffs were illegally detained and transferred to Japan, where they were forced to work, but they did not have standing to sue because the 1972 Joint Communique of the Government of Japan and the Government of the People's Republic of China [text] renounced Chinese claims for war reparations from Japan. The plaintiffs plan to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

In April, the Supreme Court of Japan denied similar compensation claims [JURIST report] made by five Chinese wartime slave laborers, ruling that the 1972 Joint Communique cleared companies that had used Chinese slave labor of the obligation to compensate. In March, a Japanese district court dismissed another claim by Chinese nationals [JURIST report] against Mitsubishi Metals Corporation because the 20-year deadline for filing compensation claims under Japanese law had expired. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Democratic Republic of Congo [JURIST news archive] military court Thursday acquitted three former employees of Australian Anvil Mining Ltd. [corporate website] who were charged [JURIST report] with complicity in war crimes committed when government soldiers killed more than 100 people [ABC Australia report] in the border town of Kilwa in response to a brief rebel uprising in 2004. A court document obtained by Reuters at the time stated that the men "voluntarily failed to withdraw the vehicles placed at the disposal of the 62nd Brigade in the context of the counter offensive [on] October 2004 to recapture the town of Kilwa" and "knowingly facilitated the commission of war crimes." Canadian Pierre Mercier and South Africans Peter Van Niekerk and Cedric Kirsten were acquitted of facilitating summary executions, rape, torture, and looting carried out by soldiers. Tribunal president Colonel Joseph Mokako held the accusations against them to be "unfounded."

Anvil had insisted that any allegations that it assisted in or had knowledge of any wrongdoing were unfounded [Anvil press release, PDF]. ABC Australia News has more.

[JURIST] Both the prosecution and the defense requested additional delays Thursday in the war crimes trial [case materials] of former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. Lawyers say they need more time to prepare for the first witness, who is currently scheduled to testify on Tuesday. Taylor's trial at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website] has suffered several setbacks already, including a move from Sierra Leone to The Hague last year for security reasons. In addition, Taylor is boycotting the proceedings [JURIST report], and is currently without representation. Taylor fired his court-appointed lawyer at the beginning of the month. The presiding judge ordered temporary counsel be appointed to represent Taylor during the month of July, and charged the court's principal defender with finding Taylor a new legal team before August.

Taylor has been indicted [PDF text] for crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian law, including murder, rape and the recruitment and use of child soldiers during the war in Sierra Leone [JURIST report]. If acquitted, he will be permitted to return to Liberia; if convicted, he will serve his jail time in Britain [JURIST report]. AP has more.

UPDATE 6/29/07 - The trial has been delayed until August 20, though the court will hold a brief hearing on July 3 to provide more details on the decision to delay proceedings. AP has more.

[JURIST] Israeli President Moshe Katsav [official website; JURIST news archive] signed a plea agreement with prosecutors Thursday, under which he will admit to charges of indecent assault, sexual harassment, and obstruction of justice, and will resign from the presidency, in exchange for a suspended sentence and the dropping of rape charges [JURIST report] brought by a former employee. The plea agreement, announced by Attorney General Menahem Mazuz [official profile], was criticized by women's right activists as special treatment, but Mazuz defended the agreement as necessary to protect the office of the presidency from further injury and spare the country from embarrassment.

Several former employees have accused Katsav of sexual harassment, although their claims could not be pursued due to the statute of limitations. Acting President Dalia Itzik [official profile] will replace Katsav until his term of office expires on July 15, when Nobel laureate President-elect Shimon Peres [Nobel profile] assumes office. AP has more. Haaretz has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Canada [official website] unanimously upheld a federal restriction on tobacco advertisements [judgment text] Thursday, finding it did not violate the free expression rights of tobacco companies. The suit was brought by the JTI-Macdonald, Rothmans, and Imperial Tobacco Canada [corporate websites], which challenged Canada's 1997 Tobacco Act [text], a statute which heavily limits tobacco advertisements in the country. The Court held that there are still some venues open for tobacco advertising, but a lawyer for Imperial Tobacco told the CBC that Canadians "will never see a billboard or television ad" for tobacco products. The companies are free to advertise to adults in age-restricted places where young people are forbidden, in certain adult publications, and in mailings sent directly to adults. The Canadian Cancer Society, which joined the case [brief, PDF], has applauded the decision [press release].

Thursday's decision brings to an end a decade-long legal challenge [CBC backgrounder]. In 2005, the Quebec Court of Appeal granted tobacco companies the right to sponsor events using their company names [JURIST report], but upheld the ban on using tobacco brand names. The Canadian federal government, as well as numerous provincial governments, supported the ban. CBC has more. CP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Saifullah Paracha [advocacy website], a Guantanamo Bay detainee who blocked [JURIST report] the US military from performing a cardiac catheterization [AHA backgrounder] on him last November, is increasing ill and suffering from frequent fainting and chest pains, his lawyers said Wednesday. Paracha, a Pakistani detainee who suffered two heart attacks while in US custody in Afghanistan, has refused the diagnostic procedure on the grounds that the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] facilities lack sufficient medical equipment to ensure his health if something goes wrong during the procedure. Joint Task Force spokesperson Navy Cmdr. Rick Haupt said that Paracha was in stable condition and was monitored daily, adding that Paracha refused the procedure after a surgical team and mobile facility had been transported to Guantanamo at a cost of $400,000.

Last November, a federal judge rejected [JURIST report] Paracha's bid to be transferred to a facility in the United States or Pakistan for the procedure, finding that Paracha failed to "establish that he faces irreparable injury from having the procedure performed at Guantanamo Bay." AP has more.

[JURIST] A justice on the Pakistani Supreme Court [official website] said Thursday that the suspension [JURIST report] of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry [official website; JURIST news archive] has damaged Pakistan, calling the resulting litigation "not a case but a crisis." Presiding Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, speaking following arguments made by lawyers for Chaudhry in his ongoing high court proceeding, also said cooperation was needed for the damage to be repaired. Since Chaudhry's March suspension for alleged abuse of office, lawyers and opposition activists have held numerous protests [JURIST report], some of which have led to violence and deaths [JURIST report]. In May, the Supreme Court removed the disciplinary case against Chaudhry [JURIST report] from the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) [governing constitutional provisions], causing a constitutional clash between the Court and the government of President Pervez Musharraf.

Earlier this month the Supreme Court maintained its jurisdiction over the legal disputes over Chaudhry's suspension [JURIST report], rejecting arguments [JURIST report] by government lawyers that the SJC's inquiry should resume. The government claims Chaudhry misused his influence [JURIST report] to obtain jobs and promotions for his son. Officials have already indicated other charges may follow [JURIST report]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) [official website] announced Thursday that it has referred the case of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi [Wikipedia profile], the only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 [Wikipedia backgrounder] over the Scottish village of Lockerbie, to Scotland's High Court of the Justiciary [official website], after identifying six grounds [press release, PDF] for a possible "miscarriage of justice" in Megrahi's trial and conviction. The commission found that there was "no reasonable basis" for the trial court's determination that Megrahi was in Malta, or allegedly purchased items of clothing and an umbrella on the particular date that linked him to the suitcase containing the bomb that brought down the airliner. In addition, the commission also found new evidence that may demonstrate that Megrahi was not in Malta when he allegedly purchased the items linking him to the suitcase. Megrahi's defense was also never told that the key witness, who identified Megrahi as the purchaser in the store, had previously been exposed to a magazine photograph alleging Megrahi's links with the bombing.

In February, Dr. Hans Koechler [official website], an international observer appointed by then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan who reported on the trial [report, text] and appeal [report, PDF] in the Lockerbie case, compared the Lockerbie verdict with Libya's judicial proceedings against six foreign medics [JURIST news archive], saying that procedural flaws, lack of transparency, and political interference had marred the trials [PDF text] and tarnished the European Union and United States' legitimacy in confronting Libya on the trial of the foreign medics. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Diplomats from the United States and the European Union (EU) said Wednesday they have reached a provisional agreement [press release] on the US use of financial data from the Belgian-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) [official website], formulating more EU oversight of the US Terrorist Finance Tracking Program [US DOT statement]. The agreement ensures that the US adheres to EU privacy laws by restricting the use of the data to anti-terror probes and granting the EU periodic reviews of the data's use to ensure compliance.

Last November, the European Commission's Article 29 Data Protection Working Party [official website] reported that SWIFT violated European privacy laws [JURIST report] when it released information about cross-border wire transfers by European citizens to the US government. A Belgian report [JURIST report] also concluded that "massive amounts of personal data for surveillance without effective and clear legal basis" were supplied by SWIFT. The New York Times and other papers revealed the once-secret program [JURIST report] in June 2006, prompting sharp criticism [press briefing] from the Bush administration. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate voted against limiting debate [roll call] on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill [S 1639 materials] for a second time Thursday, leaving doubt that the bill will be revisited in the fall or even next year. The 46-53 vote was far short of the two-thirds majority needed to clear way for the bill's passage, and came following rejections of several proposed amendments [JURIST report]. In a statement made following the vote, President George W. Bush expressed disappointment with Congress's "failure to act" [statement text], calling immigration reform [JURIST news archive] "one of the top concerns of the American people." Bush also indicated that the administration was giving up on the topic, at least for the time being. After Congress returns from its July recess, Bush said he intends to shift focus towards establishing a comprehensive energy policy, ensuring affordable health care, and balancing the federal budget.

Although the immigration reform bill was initially hailed as a landmark compromise [JURIST report] by the White House and the bipartisan group of Senators who drafted it, it never received broad support from Bush's party. Several weeks ago, the bill failed a first cloture vote [JURIST report]. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) criticized [press release] the bill as too lenient on illegal immigrants. Other detractors said that by granting legal status to illegal aliens, the US was granting "amnesty." Bill supporters, although disappointed in the outcome of the bill, believe that in time a similar bill will overcome opposition. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) said that he believes Congress "will soon succeed where we failed today" [statement text], and that they will eventually enact the sort of immigration reform that "our ideals and national security demand." AP has more.

[JURIST] Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori [personal website; JURIST news archive] told the Associated Press Wednesday that he will run for office in Japan's House of Councillors [official website] under the People's New Party (PNP) [party website, in Japanese] banner despite being subjected to house arrest [JURIST report] in Chile and facing possible extradition to Peru to face corruption and human rights charges. PNP leader Shizuka Kamei says the PNP will request that the Japanese government secure Fujimori's release from house arrest in Chile so that he can participate in campaigning. The PNP, established in 2005 by splinters from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) [party website], maintains only 4 out of 247 seats in the House, the upper chamber of the National Diet, Japan's parliament.

Peru has indicated that it will accept the Chilean Supreme Court's eventual ruling on Fujimori's fate. Earlier this month, Chile's chief prosecutor recommended that the court extradite [JURIST report] Fujimori in accordance with a request by Peru [JURIST report]. Fujimori, who was president of Peru from 1990 to 2000, fled from Peru to Japan when corruption and human rights allegations surfaced against him. The Japanese government refused Peruvian requests for Fujimori's arrest and extradition despite an Interpol international warrant [press release] for his arrest. In November 2005, he flew into Chile as part of a plan to campaign for the presidency of Peru despite having been officially banned from holding public office [JURIST report] until 2010. He was arrested and detained at Peru's request [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The White House Thursday rejected congressional subpoenas [JURIST report] for the testimony of former White House counsel Harriet Miers [official profile] and former White House Political Director Sara Taylor [SourceWatch profile] and their documents relevant to the ongoing probe of the US Attorney firings controversy [JURIST news archive]. In a letter [PDF text] to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) [official websites], Solicitor General Paul Clement said that

for the President to perform his constitutional duties, it is imperative that he receive candid and unfettered advice and that free and open discussions and deliberations occur among his advisers and between those advisers and others within and outside the Executive Branch. Presidents would not be able to fulfill their responsibilities if their advisers on fear of being commanded to Capitol Hill to testify or having their documents produced to Congress were reluctant to communicate openly and honestly in the course of rendering advice and reaching decisions. These confidentiality interests are especially strong in situations like the present controversy, where the inquiry seeks information relating to the President's powers to appoint and remove U.S. Attorneys — authority granted exclusively to the President by the Constitution.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] handed down decisions in the last three cases of its 2006 Term [Supreme Court archive] Thursday, including the consolidated cases of Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report] and Parents Involved v. Seattle School District [Duke Law case backgrounder], where the Court struck down public school consideration of race when assigning students to public schools. In the Seattle case, parents sought an injunction against the school district's policy of assigning students to schools based partly on race, so that the racial makeup of each school roughly mirrors that of the district, arguing that the consideration of race violated the equal protection guarantee of the 14th Amendment [text]. The district court upheld the policy. A panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed, applying the strict scrutiny standard of the 2003 University of Michigan affirmative action cases [JURIST online symposium] and finding that the policy was not narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling state interest. Following an en banc review, however, the full Ninth Circuit reversed the panel [opinion, PDF] and sided with the school district. Likewise, in the Missouri case, the district court refused to issue an injunction against the school district and upheld the policy under strict scrutiny. The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed [opinion, PDF]. The Supreme Court reversed both decisions Thursday, holding that the policies did not survive the applicable "searching standard of review," which required the school districts to "demonstrate that the use of individual racial classifications in the assignment plans here under review is 'narrowly tailored' to achieve a 'compelling' government interest." Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Chief Justice Roberts, along with a concurrence [text] from Justice Thomas, a second concurrence [text] from Justice Kennedy, a dissent [text] from Justice Stevens, and a second dissent [text] from Justice Breyer.

In Panetti v. Quarterman [Duke Law case backgrounder], the Court held that lower courts had improperly determined that a death row inmate who has a delusion about the actual reason he faces execution despite being factually aware of the reason was competent to be executed. In considering Panetti's habeas corpus petition, the district court concluded that Panetti had failed to show that he met the standard for incompetency, despite Panetti's belief that he is being executed as punishment for preaching the gospel. The district court applied Fifth Circuit precedent and determined that Panetti could be executed so long as he understood that he committed murder, that he will be executed, and that the state has said he is being executed for the murders. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed, ruling [PDF text] that a "rational understanding" of the punishment is not required for the state to establish that a convict is competent to be executed. The Supreme Court reversed the federal appeals court, holding that the Fifth Circuit "employed an improperly restrictive test when it considered petitioner's claim of incompetency on the merits." Read the Court's 5-4 opinion [text] per Justice Kennedy, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Thomas.

Finally, in Leegin Creative Leather Products v. PSKS [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], the Court held that vertical minimum resale price maintenance agreements should not be deemed per se antitrust violations under Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act [text]. By a 5-4 vote, the Court overturned its decision in Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. John D. Park & Sons Co. [text], and held that the agreements should be evaluated under a "rule of reason" analysis. Leegin supplied accessories to PSKS, a retail store, but said that it would only do business with retailers who adhered to Leegin's pricing structure. When PSKS sold the Leegin-supplied products for less than the suggested retail price, Leegin stopped supplying products to the store, costing PSKS sales and profits. The Supreme Court held in Dr. Miles that vertical price fixing is a per se antitrust violation and the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled [PDF text] that Dr. Miles applied to the case and affirmed the jury verdict in favor of PSKS. In its ruling Thursday, the Court wrote:

The Court has abandoned the rule of per se illegality for other vertical restraints a manufacturer imposes on its distributors. Respected economic analysts, furthermore, conclude that vertical price restraints can have procompetitive effects. We now hold that Dr. Miles should be overruled and that vertical price restraints are to be judged by the rule of reason.

[JURIST] Serge Brammertz [official profile], the former Belgian federal prosecutor who currently heads the UN investigation [JURIST news archive] into the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, is expected to replace Carla Del Ponte [official profile] as the next chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website], UN officials said Wednesday. The officials said that Brammertz has agreed to take the ICTY position when the mandate of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission [UN materials] expires in December.

Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney general whose second four-year term as ICTY chief prosecutor expires in September, said Thursday through her spokesperson that she is willing to stay on until December [AP report]. Formal approval from the Swiss government and the UN Security Council would be required if Del Ponte were to extend her term. Brammertz recently resigned [JURIST report] his position as deputy prosecutor for investigations at the International Criminal Court [official website]. He must be formally nominated by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to serve as ICTY prosecutor and the nomination must be approved by the Security Council before Brammertz could take up the ICTY's on-going prosecution of approximately 60 defendants. Four of the 161 suspects indicted by the ICTY remain fugitives, including Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive], and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case backgrounder; BBC profile]. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court in the Russian federal republic of Kabardino-Balkaria filed criminal negligence charges Wednesday against two police officers who headed a police department in the neighboring federal republic of Ingushetia [official website] for allegedly failing to prevent the terrorists responsible for the 2004 Beslan hostage seizure [JURIST news archive; BBC backgrounder] from setting camps in their jurisdiction. The court said that police chief Mukhazhir Yevloyev and deputy chief Akhmed Kotiyev have pleaded not guilty, although it did not explain why the court was responsible for trying officials from another federal republic.

In May, a Russian court granted amnesty to three deputy police chiefs charged with criminal negligence [JURIST reports] in connection with their conduct during the crisis. Prosecutors had alleged that the police officers, who pleaded not guilty [JURIST report], failed to raise security levels despite warnings about the possibility of attacks in the region. Victims rights groups such as Mothers of Beslan [Wikipedia backgrounder] have argued that the government has ignored and covered up failures by the law enforcement agencies involved in the siege and rescue operation. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former US Attorney Paul K. Charlton [Wikipedia profile] testified [transcript] before the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution Wednesday that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile] did not give enough consideration to the quality of evidence or the recommendations of the US Attorney and prosecutors involved in a case when pushing for the use of the death penalty in federal cases. Charlton, one of the former US Attorneys involved in the current firings controversy [JURIST news archive], described a case where the Department of Justice simultaneously refused to exhume the body of an alleged victim from a landfill to provide forensic evidence while Gonzales pushed for the death penalty despite the objections of Carlton and his prosecutors due to the case's reliance on testimonial evidence obtained through guilty pleas. Charlton added that it was "wrong for the government to both seek the death penalty and at the same time refuse to provide funds to obtain evidence that could prove a vital link in supporting or negating its position."

In April, Gonzales testified [JURIST report] that Charlton had used "poor judgment in pushing forward a recommendation on a death penalty case," and internal DOJ memos justified Charlton's firing on the grounds that he repeatedly challenged and disobeyed authority. In March, USA Today reported that Charlton was among the top 10 US Attorneys [USA Today report] in terms of convictions secured. The Wall Street Journal reported in April that Charlton had initiated a corruption investigation of Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) [official website], which the DOJ allegedly delayed [WSJ report] until after November 2006 midterm elections. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Wednesday to re-hear [petition, PDF] the case of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri [Brennan Center case materials], appealing the court's panel decision [PDF text; JURIST report] that the military cannot seize and indefinitely imprison civilians lawfully residing in the US as "enemy combatants" [JURIST news archive]. In its petition for a rehearing en banc, the DOJ argued that the president was authorized to order the military seizure of al-Marri, an Illinois resident and Qatari native, under the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) [text], passed immediately following the September 11, 2001 attacks. The DOJ rejected the panel's decision, arguing:

The panel's contrary decision radically circumscribes the President's authority to wage the ongoing military conflict against al Qaeda and impairs his ability to protect the Nation from further al Qaeda attack at home. Indeed, the decision paradoxically construes the AUMF to authorize the detention of enemy combatants except those identically situated to the al Qaeda fighters responsible for the September 11 attacks, to which the AUMF responded. The decision accordingly warrants swift reconsideration and repudiation by the en banc court.

[JURIST] US and European negotiators reached an interim agreement Wednesday on how trans-Atlantic airline passenger data-sharing [JURIST news archive] will be conducted, essentially modifying and renewing an existing interim agreement [JURIST report] which is set to expire at the end of July. According to German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble [official website, in German], the new agreement will reduce the current 34 pieces of passenger data to around 20 pieces of information, but will allow US Customs and Border Protection [official website] to hold the data for a longer period of time.

The new temporary agreement, which must be approved by all 27 EU member states, will allow US and EU negotiators to continue to work towards a permanent arrangement. Last May, the European Court of Justice struck down [JURIST report] an agreement [PDF text] between US the EU, finding that the European Commission's finding [decision, PDF] that the US had adequate security measures to protect the data was without legal basis. AP has more.