? Kamusta!*
Welcome to Wednesday, where G20 leaders agree to involve Taliban in distributing help to Afghanistan, the U.S. announces it will reopen borders with Mexico and Canada, and Dutch royals can marry as they please. Thanks to Chilean daily El Mercurio, we also follow the tumultuous journey of a Haitian migrant in her efforts to reach the U.S.
[*Filipino]
7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• EU pledges 1 billion euros in Afghan aid: During a special virtual meeting, G20 leaders agree to work together to prevent a humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan, despite having to coordinate efforts with the Taliban. The European Union pledged 1 billion euros in aid to Afghanistan and neighboring countries.
• Chile announces a Mapuche state of emergency: Chilean President Sebastian Piñera declares a state of emergency, deploying troops to two southern provinces where clashes have broken out between Mapuche indigenous people and security forces. The Mapuche are calling for self-determination and the restoration of their ancestral land.
• U.S. to reopen borders with Mexico and Canada: The United States announced it will lift travel restrictions at its borders with Mexico and Canada for fully vaccinated travelers, allowing travel for non-essential purposes via land and ferry crossings.
• Gabby Petito’s cause of death: After autopsy, Wyoming authorities have ruled that blogger Gabby Petito was killed by “manual strangulation” three to four weeks before her body was found, on Sept. 19, near Grand Teton National Park. The search continues for Petito’s boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, a “person of interest” in the case.
• Chip crunch drives Apple stocks down: Apple share dropped 1.2% after Bloomberg reported that iPhone 13 production was likely to be slowed down by the ongoing global microchip shortages.
• “Havana syndrome” reported at U.S. embassy in Colombia: U.S embassy staff in Bogota have come down with symptoms that include nausea and dizziness, and could cause brain damage. The causes of this so-called Havana syndrome are unknown, with some speculating it is a type of weapon. Colombian President Ivan Duque declared he is leaving the investigation to U.S authorities.
• Squid Game beats Bridgerton to Netflix top spot: South Korean dystopian series Squid Game becomes Netflix’s most popular series launch ever, with 111 million viewers in its first month — beating period drama series Bridgerton.
️ FRONT PAGE
U.S. daily Miami Herald dedicates its front page to the coronavirus vaccine boosters, as a panel of the Food and Drug Administration meets this week to debate extra doses of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, one month after authorizing booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab. More than 7 million Americans have already received a booster dose.
BY THE NUMBERS
4.3 million
A new survey by the U.S. Labor Department shows that
in August, 4.3 million American workers quit their job. Data suggests that the highest resignation rate on record (2.9% of all the U.S. workforce) can be linked to fears of contracting the Delta variant of COVID-19.
STORY OF THE DAY
A migrant odyssey: Haiti to Chile to Mexico’s border, and beyond
Shella Jean was part of a new migration path from Haiti to the relatively prosperous nation of Chile. But she has since left behind her “Chilean Dream” on a perilous journey northward toward the U.S.-Mexico border. In Chilean daily El Mercurio, Arturo Galarce shares her story.
???? I met Shella Jean in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in July 2017. That year, Shella Jean was one of the 105,000 Haitians who entered Chile, according to data from the Chilean Investigative Police (PDI). That was the year in which more immigrants from the Caribbean nation came to the relatively prosperous South American country, prompted in part by the tightening of immigration policies in the United States after Donald Trump entered the White House, which put a brake on the main migratory destination.
?? A few weeks ago we spoke again. I asked her if she knew of any Haitians planning of migrating from Chile to the United States, alerted by the increasing flow of Haitians detected in unauthorized passages in the north, in transit to Peru and Bolivia, but with a common destination: that of the better known “American Dream.” In Chile, the Undersecretariat of the Interior already reports an 81% increase in Haitians who have left the country through authorized borders. Shella saw the message and answered almost immediately “me, my friend. I’m not in Chile. I go to Mexico now. I’m going to the United States”.
? Shella’s husband Herby Charles takes her phone. He says that the idea of emigrating to the United States from Chile began when several of his Haitian friends successfully made the trip. “Many Haitians were never well in Chile. Many did not find a good job and lived under poor conditions,” he said. “My problem was not being able to have a residency document. I was undocumented for four years, imagine. Without documents, you cannot project a family, even if you work as I did. In the United States it is not easy either, I know, but at least you earn more”.
➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
VERBATIM
The cabinet does not see that an heir to the throne or the king should abdicate if he or she would like to marry a partner of the same sex.
— Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte wrote in his answer to questions from parliamentarians as the future of Princess Amalia, the heir to the throne who will turn 18 in December, is under scrutiny. The Netherlands was the world’s first country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001.
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet, Jane Herbelin and Bertrand Hauger
