Portal:Current events/2017 September 6
September 6, 2017 (Wednesday)
Arts and culture
- Pastoral visits of Pope Francis
- Pope Francis arrives in Colombia for a five-day visit. In early 2016, Francis promised he would visit the South American country once a civil war peace agreement was in place. (CNN) (Independent Catholic News)
Business and economy
- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
- Business leaders from various U.S. companies, including Facebook, Marriott International, JPMorgan Chase, and Microsoft, lobby to members of Congress to work on a permanent solution for DREAMers to stay legally in the country, many of whom are their employees. (Politico)
- Economy of the United States
- U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer announces he will resign in mid-October, eight months before his term expires. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- 2017 disasters in the United States
- An Arizona Air National Guard F-16 crashes near Safford, Arizona, killing the pilot. (CBS News)
- 2017 Atlantic hurricane season
- Hurricane Irma
- Hurricane Irma makes first landfall on Barbuda, Saint Martin, and Anguilla in the northeastern Leeward Islands. Irma has maintained 185 miles per hour (298 km/h) winds for 24 hours, setting another record for Atlantic and eastern Pacific storms. (ABC News) (The Guardian) (CNN)
- At least seven people are killed on the islands of Barbuda, St. Barts and St. Martin. Heavy rain and Category 5 winds hit the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico’s northeast coast. (CNN) (KCRA-TV) (BBC)
- The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne says the island of Barbuda has been almost entirely wiped out by Hurricane Irma and is "barely habitable", with "90 percent" of all structures destroyed. (ABC News) (Mirror)
- Hurricane Katia
- Hurricane watches are issued for the state of Veracruz on Mexico's Gulf coast. Category 1 Katia (75 mph/120 km/h) is about 185 miles (298 km) off the Mexican coast, slowly moving at 3 miles per hour (4.8 km/h). (Weather Channel) (The Times-Picayune)
- Hurricane Irma
International relations
- Bangladesh–Myanmar relations, 2016–17 Northern Rakhine State clashes
- Bangladesh accuses the Myanmar Army of laying landmines on the border between both countries to prevent the return of fleeing Rohingya refugees. Myanmar denies the Bangladeshi claims. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
Law and crime
Politics and elections
- Catalan independence referendum, 2017
- A last minute presentation to the Parliament of Catalonia results in the formal approval of a referendum concerning independence from Spain after tense discussions. Though the country's president urges the government to ignore the bill, parliament is expected to vote in favor of an independence vote. For the approval of this law, the Speaker, Carme Forcadell breaks the regulations of the Parliament, placing the camera outside the law and violating the rights of the opposition. (BBC)
- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
- Fifteen states and the District of Columbia file suit challenging President Donald Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, arguing, in part, that federal government has reneged on the promise to protect young immigrants who came forward and registered with the government. (Reuters) (Los Angeles Times)
- Presidency of Donald Trump
- President Donald Trump, siding with Democrats, reaches a deal with congressional leaders of both parties to extend the U.S. debt limit and fund the federal government until Dec. 15, as well as provide Harvey disaster relief. (Reuters) (The New York Times)
- Social media in the United States presidential election, 2016
- Facebook tells congressional investigators an operation, traced to a Russian company seeking to target voters, spent $100,000 on thousands of U.S. ads promoting divisive social and political messages during the 2016 U.S. election. (Time) (The Washington post)