America in Brief

Rudy Guiliani ruled in defiance over defamation case; plea deal reinstated for 9/11 mastermind; judge strikes down rule protecting married illegal immigrants.
America in Brief
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks to the media as he leaves court in New York City, on Nov. 7, 2024. Seth Wenig/AP Photo
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Rudy Guiliani in Defiance Over Defamation Case

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was ordered by a New York judge on Nov. 7 to quickly turn over assets, including a Mercedes and a watch handed down from his grandfather, as part of a $148 million defamation judgment against him.

The former legal adviser to now President-elect Donald Trump had been convicted of defamation in December 2023 for suggesting on social media that Georgia election workers, mother and daughter Ruby Freeman and  Shaye Moss, had been involved in election tampering during the 2020 presidential election.

Prosecutors ordered Giuliani to appear in a New York court on Nov. 7 to explain the apparent lack of progress in the transaction, giving him a Nov. 11 deadline.

Guiliani described the judgment as “political persecution.”

Plea Deals Revived for Alleged 9/11 Mastermind, Accomplices

A military judge has revived a plea deal for the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 bombing and his accomplices, which would allow them to serve a life sentence while escaping the death penalty.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had previously thrown out the plea deal in a surprise decision on Aug. 7, days after Judge Susan Escallier passed it on July 31.

On Nov. 7, U.S. Air Force Col. Matthew McCall ruled that Austin didn’t have clear authority to revoke the plea agreements.

The plea deals made with alleged 9/11 plot mastermind Khalid Shaikh (Sheikh) Mohammad and his accomplices Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin' Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsaw would end their incarceration at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, in which they have remained for more than a decade.

Illegal immigrants board vans after waiting along the border wall to surrender to U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, on the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, on May 11, 2023. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Illegal immigrants board vans after waiting along the border wall to surrender to U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, on the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, on May 11, 2023. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Judge Strikes Down Rule Protecting Married Illegal Immigrants

A federal judge has struck down an initiative that would allow illegal immigrants married to U.S. citizens a path to citizenship.

The ruling ended a “parole in place” process announced in August that would allow almost 500,000 illegal immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens and their stepchildren to remain in the United States while they apply for legal status, preventing them from having to leave the country to apply, a process that could take 3 to 10 years.

As part of the Biden administration’s “Keeping Families Together” initiative, the policy applied to illegal immigrants living in the United States for 10 years and married as of June 17, 2024.

At the time of the announcement, Texas, accompanied by 16 other Republican-led states, accused the Biden administration of exacerbating the illegal immigration crisis.

People hold signs during a strike rally for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers at the Seattle Union Hall in Seattle on Oct. 15, 2024. (Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images)
People hold signs during a strike rally for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers at the Seattle Union Hall in Seattle on Oct. 15, 2024. Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images

Boeing Strikers Approve New Contract

Thousands of Boeing workers have returned to work after approving a new contract, ending a seven-week strike that stifled production of the United States’ largest exporter.

Union members representing the U.S. west coast workers on Nov. 4 agreed to a 38 percent pay rise over four years, up from the previously rejected 35 percent.

Boeing’s 33,000 unionised workers went on strike on Sept. 14, represented by the International Association of Machinists.

Once seen as an American jewel, Boeing has been through a rough patch in recent years.

In April, Boeing paid a $243.6 million (£190 million) fine over a federal fraud charge following two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 owing to faulty flight software that the U.S. giant failed to declare.

Prosecutors gave Boeing a safety monitoring compliance mandate for three years to avoid prosecution, which the company violated three days before its end when a door panel blew off a 737 Max mid-flight in January.

Stuart Liess
Stuart Liess
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