Evening Brief: DOJ charges Iran-backed plotters in RAF Fairford van plot; U.S. soldier held in UK as Russia spy suspect; Ukraine talks "constructive"; Thune re-elected
Plus four new laws, Qatar's Iran mediation, and three Supreme Court updates: Sun Valley Orchards, the ballroom petition and Nielsen v. Watanabe.
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I'm Nora Vale with your 5 PM World Brief for Tuesday, November 10. DOJ charges three in Iran-backed RAF Fairford plot. Senior U.S. soldier arrested in UK as Russia spy suspect. Zelensky: Abu Dhabi talks 'constructive.' Thune re-elected; Trump signs four bills. Court split in Sun Valley case; ballroom petition filed. In national weather, from the National Weather Service: Tropical Storm Pena, with top winds near 40 mph, may bring impacts to parts of Hawaii. Strong cold front to sweep from the central U.S. to the East Coast, bringing the coldest air of the season so far to much of the central and eastern U.S. by late week. Our opinion. Hold Iran to verifiable terms, punish betrayal of the oath, and get results in the lame duck. Full stories and sources at WorldBriefNow.com. I'm Nora Vale.
A superseding federal indictment unsealed Tuesday charges Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, Mohsen Mohajeri and Mohammad Ali Al-Hassani with terrorism offenses tied to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kata'ib Hizballah, saying they plotted to attack RAF Fairford in England with three vans carrying barrels of fuel, Fox News reported. Prosecutors say the vans were sent toward the base on Sept. 26, at least two were stopped at a security roadblock, and Al-Saadi helped coordinate the plot from a Brooklyn jail using coded phone calls to relatives in Iraq, the New York Post reported. "Anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American service members will be prosecuted," Attorney General Todd Blanche said; it was unclear Tuesday whether Mohajeri and Al-Hassani are in custody.
British counterterrorism police arrested a 41-year-old senior U.S. Army soldier near Gloucester on Tuesday under the National Security Act 2023 on suspicion of Russia-related espionage, in an operation coordinated with the U.S. military and the FBI, Fox News reported. The soldier, who was not named, is being held at a London police station while officers search two locations in Gloucestershire, and police said the case is not linked to other counterterrorism investigations, the Washington Examiner reported. FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau has "no tolerance for anyone who breaks their oath to the United States."
The first three-way talks between Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. since February lasted about four hours in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, and President Volodymyr Zelensky said they covered humanitarian steps and the substance of long-term security guarantees for Ukraine, the New York Post reported. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who did not attend, called the first day "very productive." Control of the Donetsk region, about 80 to 85% of which Russia holds by most estimates, remains one of the biggest sticking points, the Post reported.
Qatar's foreign ministry said Tuesday that its mediation between Washington and Tehran has gained "significant momentum" and that there is progress in the negotiations, after Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met Vice President JD Vance and then President Trump at the White House on Monday, the official Qatar News Agency reported. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tuesday the war would "not end either through military means or by increasing sanctions," Al Jazeera reported. Trump said Monday that Iran "militarily, is effectively over" but that the U.S. is "locked and loaded" if needed, Euronews reported.
President Trump signed four bills into law on Tuesday, the White House said. They include H.R. 7730, the Bankruptcy Threshold Adjustment Act, which permanently raises debt limits for small-business Chapter 11 and consumer Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases, and H.R. 997, which lets the National Taxpayer Advocate appoint its own legal counsel and expands its personnel authority. The others change Medicare payment rules for certain wheelchairs (H.R. 1703) and make America's National Churchill Museum in Fulton, Missouri, a National Historic Landmark (H.R. 1945).
Senate Republicans chose John Thune of South Dakota for a second two-year term as their leader on Tuesday after an hours-long closed-door meeting, their first since losing at least seven seats in last week's midterms, the New York Post reported. Sen. Ron Johnson and six other senators had wanted the vote delayed until the results were fully analyzed, and Sen. Rick Scott said his vote depended on Thune's plan for the lame-duck session, the last weeks Republicans hold the majority to advance President Trump's priorities. Thune will lead a minority of no more than 46 senators when the new Congress convenes Jan. 3, the Post reported.
The Supreme Court heard argument Tuesday in Department of Labor v. Sun Valley Orchards, where the department ordered a New Jersey farm that brought in 96 H-2A workers in 2015 to pay $211,800 in civil penalties and $344,945.80 in back wages, and the farm argues such fines must be pursued in federal court, the Washington Examiner reported. The justices appeared split over whether the immigration side of the program lets the department handle penalties in-house, with Justice Elena Kagan calling it "essentially ... a kind of visa fraud or immigration fraud." The argument closed the Court's two-week sitting; the next arguments begin Nov. 30, and a ruling is due by the end of June 2027.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed a petition on Nov. 5 asking the Supreme Court to summarily reverse a judge's ruling against the East Wing ballroom project, or at least to hear the case, saying the Court's 5-4 interim order of Aug. 31 "has all but answered the question presented," SCOTUSblog reported. In that order the majority said the National Trust for Historic Preservation likely lacks standing because its member's aesthetic objections are not a concrete injury, while Chief Justice John Roberts and three others dissented. The trust's response is due Dec. 7.
During just over 80 minutes of argument on Monday in Nielsen v. Watanabe, a majority of the justices seemed poised to throw out a federal inmate's suit claiming a prison paramedic's failure to treat a fractured tailbone violated the Eighth Amendment, SCOTUSblog reported. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh did not seem receptive to overruling the 1971 Bivens decision entirely, while the federal government urged the Court to treat the 1980 Carlson v. Green precedent as obsolete or overrule it. A decision is expected by late June or early July.
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