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This morning’s 3-by-3 travels across a girls’ education ban in Afghanistan, racial discrimination by American Airlines, a new development in the Kendrick-Drake feud, and more. Let’s fly!

Politics

• Trump promises green cards for foreign students

Amid an eventful month of immigration policy from the Biden administration, former President Trump has now proposed a plan (if elected in November) to grant automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from a 4-year or 2-year U.S. college — allowing them to remain in the country for work and eventually pursue citizenship. Trump has vehemently condemned undocumented immigrants since entering public life, describing them as “[poisons] to the blood of our country” that threaten public safety, jobs, and resources, while also discouraging legal immigration via his “Buy American and Hire American” executive order in 2017 and criticism of the H1-B program. This green card proposal is seemingly at odds with Trump’s prior rhetoric and presidential actions, though his campaign press secretary added that the hundreds of thousands who stand to benefit from this sweeping policy would be thoroughly vetted to “exclude all communists, radical Islamists, Hamas supporters, America haters, and public charges.”

• Africa aims to increase vaccine production with $1B investment

African leaders met with French President Emmanuel Macron to launch the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator, an initiative to increase Africa’s self-sufficiency in responding to a future pandemic. Planning to invest $1 billion over 10 years and supported by the Vaccine Alliance, the nations aim to increase Africa’s manufacturing capabilities such that 60% of the vaccines that the continent needs can be produced locally by 2040, as opposed to the 2% currently. COVID-19 saw most of Africa unable to access testing equipment, vaccines, and treatment tools and only South Africa able to produce vaccines, inspiring global alliances to now combat these inequities.

• Taliban ban on girls’ education reaches 1,000 days

Over 1,000 days have passed since the Taliban banned Afghan girls from attending school beyond sixth grade, making it the most restrictive country in the world for female education. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNICEF have called for this systematic exclusion of more than a million girls to end immediately, with the U.N. identifying the ban as the Taliban’s greatest barrier to becoming recognized as the legitimate leader of Afghanistan (which it took over in 2021 after U.S. and NATO forces withdrew). The Taliban believes that girls’ secondary education violates Islamic Law and favors a religiously focused education over literacy and numeracy, also barring women from many public spaces and most jobs.

Business

• Egyptian company profits off of Gaza refugees

Countless in Gaza desire to flee the horrors of war, and Hala Consulting and Tourism Services (an Egyptian company owned in part by mogul Ibrahim al-Organi of the Organi Group) has profited considerably as many people’s only way out — offering to put refugees on an approved entry list to Egypt and coordinate a “V.I.P.” experience crossing through Rafah. Organi, who boasts ties with top officials due to his helping the Egyptian government fight extremists, claims that Hala charges adults $2,500 and nothing for children, while Palestinian customers say they paid $5,000 for people 16 and older and $2,500 for those under and indicate they did not receive any suggested V.I.P. comforts. With operations complicated by Israel’s invasion of Rafah in May and prices increasing accordingly, some have turned to desperate cries on GoFundMe, often asking relatives outside of Gaza to raise money on their behalf and travel to Hala’s offices in Cairo to pay for the service.

• American Airlines suspends staff for racial discrimination

American Airlines employees have been put on leave for their involvement in a discrimination lawsuit by 3 Black passengers, regarding a travel experience in January when the plaintiffs and 5 other Black men were asked to deboard a plane. They report that a white male flight attendant complained about an unidentified passenger’s body odor, supposedly rounding up and removing everyone who fit the vague description before allowing the men to reboard. The company’s CEO has publicly apologized and instituted an advisory group to address the experiences of Black customers, though this is not the first time that AA has been accused of discrimination — the NAACP even advised Black travelers to avoid the airline in 2017.

• Putin continues economic growth in Vietnam

Following his landmark visit and partnership in North Korea, Russian President Putin landed in Hanoi to structure a series of business deals that offer fossil fuels, military equipment, a future science and technology center, and oil exploration technologies to the Southeast Asian manufacturing powerhouse. The visit seems to be largely motivated by optics amid Russia’s isolation and Putin’s ban from most international travel, scoring a rare welcome from Vietnam and continued neutrality in the Ukraine War despite its close relations with America. Governed by the country’s Community Party and still showing Soviet influences yet deeply connected to the U.S. with $111 billion in bilateral trade, Vietnam aims to maintain its signature bending-not-breaking “bamboo diplomacy” — remaining friendly with opposing forces and notably welcoming American, Russian, and Chinese presidents alike in the past year alone.

Culture

• Kendrick Lamar performs “Not Like Us” diss 5 times

Kendrick Lamar refreshed his internet-breaking rap beef with Drake at a star-stuffed LA concert on Wednesday night, performing his hit diss track “Not Like Us” for the first time since its May 4 release broke streaming records but 5 times in total for a passionate crowd. The song, which many believe decidedly won Lamar the feud, accuses Drake of colonizing rap culture (especially that of Atlanta) and acting inappropriately with underage girls. Lamar was joined on stage by 20+ artists like Dr. Dre, YG, and Tyler, the Creator and athletes Russell Westbrook and Demar Derozan — appealing to the crowd with a message of unity and desire to defend the West Coast against Drake’s insults.

• Indigenous women in Ecuador invent a more inclusive sport

Excluded from soccer as a “man’s game,” women of the indigenous Quichua community in northern Ecuador decided to create handball with anaco — their own sport which can be played in traditional skirts. Wearing blue or black anaco and white blouses embroidered with flowers, the founders wanted to show that women can do more than raise children and care for animals, while also making a rare space for recreation. In a remote community that does not follow global sports, these handball matches have become a local attraction where players’ families and others come to watch the women compete in two 25-minute halves.

• Priyanka Chopra-launched SONA announces closing

First opened in March 2021 by global actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas and serial entrepreneur Maneesh K. Goyal, SONA (meaning “gold” and named by Nick Jonas) became a celebrated expression of modern Indian cuisine on New York’s East 20th Street. But 10 months after Chopra exited her role as the restaurant’s creative consultant to focus on other business ventures, SONA has announced a somewhat sudden closing — with Goyal describing a fulfilling experience and thanking many disappointed patrons on social media. The restaurant’s final service will be brunch on Sunday, June 30.

Written by Outer Voice founders

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