- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recast their strategic alliance including support for the International Iran nuclear agreement during a recent summit meeting in Tehran. Russia and Iran are allies in supporting Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria and signed new cooperation agreements. It was another step forward for Putin’s drive to boost Russia’s influence in the Middle East. (“Khamenei Says Iran, Russia Should Cooperate to Isolate U.S., Foster Middle East Stability,” Reuters, Nov. 1, 2017; “Russia Takes on Mideast Diplomacy as U.S. Retreats,” The Associated Press, Nov. 2, 2017)
- Pretrial hearings before the U.S. military commission trying the alleged mastermind of the terrorist attack on the USS Cole in 2000, erupted in chaos as commission Judge Airforce Colonel Vance Spath imposed a 21-day confinement against the military commission’s chief defense counsel, Marine Brigadier General John Baker. (“Gitmo Judge Sends Marine General Lawyer to 21 Days Confinement for Disobeying Orders,” Miami Herald, Nov. 1, 2017; “USS Cole Prosecutors Want No-Show Civilian Attorneys Found in Contempt of War Court,” Miami Herald, Oct. 30, 2017)
- In Texas, the growing number of deaths among young African-American mothers is rising. Nationally, 700 women a year die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. Despite broad gains in American medicine, women die in childbirth at a much higher rate than in other developed nations. Maternal death rates in the U.S. have more than doubled between 1987 and 2013. (“The Quiet Crisis Among African Americans: Pregnancy and Childbirth Are Killing Women at Inexplicable Rates,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 26, 2017)
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