The United States will be admitting Israel into its Visa Waiver Program, or VWP, which will allow the entry of Israeli citizens into the country without a visa for up to 90 days, beginning November 30.

The U.S.-Israel relationship has been tested recently by Washington’s vocal opposition to Israel’s judiciary overhaul plan and its policy toward Palestinians. This decision, however, is seen as a step forward for the Biden administration’s relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, according to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“The designation of Israel into the Visa Waiver Program is an important recognition of our shared security interests and the close cooperation between our two countries,” Mayorkas said in a statement.

“This designation, which represents over a decade of work and coordination between the United States and Israel, will enhance our two nations’ collaboration on counterterrorism, law enforcement, and our other common priorities. Israel’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program, and the stringent requirements it entails, will make both of our nations more secure.”

The decision also allows U.S. travelers to enter Israel for 90 days without first obtaining a visa.

To be admitted into the VWP, the United States requires countries to meet requirements on issues such as counterterrorism, law enforcement, immigration enforcement, document security and border management. Countries must also treat all U.S. travelers equally, regardless of other passports they hold.

This means U.S. citizens who also hold Palestinian passports would need to be granted free passage at Ben Gurion Airport.

“This important achievement will enhance freedom of movement for U.S. citizens, including those living in the Palestinian Territories or traveling to and from them,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in the joint statement with Mayorkas.

Granting Israel access to the VWP has been met with backlash from some Palestinians who claim Israel has discriminated against and harassed Arab Americans at the border.

Some Democratic lawmakers have also spoken out against Israel’s admission into the program, alleging the country has failed to meet the requirement to treat all American citizens equally, regardless of other passports held.

“Adherence to this important American tenet of reciprocity and equal treatment of all U.S. citizens is critical to the integrity of the Visa Waiver Program, and we are deeply concerned with the administration’s decision to move forward in violation of that principle,” said Senators Chris Van Hollen, Brian Schatz, Jeff Merkley and Peter Welch in a joint statement.

“We will carefully monitor the situation to determine whether Americans continue to face discrimination based on their ethnicity, national origin, or religion.”

J Street, the Washington-based liberal Jewish advocacy group, called Wednesday’s move a step in the right direction but expressed concern that Israel “does not meet the criteria for entry that every other country must meet.”

“The Memorandum of Understanding signed with Israel in July does not require it to fully implement one system that all U.S. citizen visitors, including those who Israel deems residents of the West Bank, can use for purposes of visa waiver travel until May 1, 2024,” J Street said in a statement.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday to halt Israel’s acceptance into the program. The motion to file suit was denied by a U.S. judge in Detroit, as proper notice of a lawsuit was not given to the Department of Homeland Security.
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Countries up and down the Western Hemisphere are looking to eliminate weaknesses in their cyber infrastructure that could give potential adversaries, including China and Russia, the ability to do extensive damage by exploiting a single vulnerability.

The United States and 20 partner countries from across the Americas will meet at the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington Wednesday and Thursday for what U.S. officials are calling a first-of-its-kind summit designed to strengthen their individual and collective cyber defenses.

“We need to partner with one another to strengthen the cybersecurity of the region, as well as the individual countries,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters Tuesday, adding that many countries are still in the “formative stages” when it comes to developing and deploying cyber defenses.

Already, at least a handful of Latin American countries have been victimized by cyberattacks.

Just last month, Ecuadorian officials said cyberattacks targeted voting systems used by Ecuadorians while voting overseas in China, India and Bangladesh. And in 2022, Costa Rica was beset by a series of cyberattacks attributed to the Russian-based Conti ransomware gang, which resulted in a state of emergency.

“We were attacked, affecting the backbone of the functioning of the state,” Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves Robles told an audience in Washington last month.

“Our tax system, our customs system, electricity, even meteorological services. … Our health system was attacked,” he said. “It was ugly.”

Already, the U.S. has pledged $25 million to Costa Rica to help the country create an operation center to better detect and mitigate attacks. But officials, like Mayorkas, warn that more dangers are lurking.

“We are seeing an only increasing exploitation of infrastructure,” the Homeland Security secretary said, pointing specifically to China.

“What we are seeing is an assertive PRC [People’s Republic of China] seeking to gain an increasing foothold in certain Latin American countries’ infrastructure,” Mayorkas said, in response to a question from VOA.

“That creates a greater level of vulnerability rather than a source of cybersecurity strength,” he added. “For countries that pride themselves on their democracy, on their independence, on their sovereignty, they have to maintain the independence and freedom of their [cyber] infrastructure.”

Chinese officials have repeatedly dismissed such concerns, saying claims in August by the commander of U.S. Southern Command, General Laura Richardson, were nothing more than “lies and rumors … and slander.”

But Richardson warned that China’s efforts to build critical infrastructure across Latin America, including high-speed, 5G mobile phone networks, has put China in Washington’s “red zone” as a potential threat.

In addition to the U.S., Ecuador, Costa Rica and the OAS, officials from Peru, the Dominican Republic, Canada, the Bahamas, Panama, El Salvador, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico are expected to participate in the summit.

U.S. officials say one of the topics that will be up for discussion during the two-day summit is the possible creation of a regional cybersecurity hub to facilitate best practices and share threat warnings.

Panels are also expected to focus on protecting critical cyber systems, and the transportation and banking sectors.

Other panels will focus on building the capacity of law enforcement agencies to go after cyber criminals.

And U.S. officials said they also expect some discussion of Chinese and Russian influence campaigns that sometimes accompany cyberattacks by actors linked to both nations.
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Seven Republicans battling to be their party’s nominee in next year’s U.S. presidential election are set to face off Wednesday in their second debate.

The event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California will not feature the current front-runner in the Republican race, former President Donald Trump.

The field will be largely the same as in the first Republican debate held last month in Wisconsin, which Trump also skipped.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are all taking part.

The only change will be the absence of former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who failed to meet the criteria set by the Republican National Committee.

The requirements included having at least 3% support in two national opinion polls, or 3% in one national poll and two state polls from states holding their nomination contest early in the process – Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

Candidates also needed at least 50,000 unique financial donors and to sign a pledge saying they will support the person who emerges as the Republican nominee.

Republicans will formally choose their candidate at a convention in July ahead of the November 2024 presidential election.

Instead of taking part in the debate, Trump is scheduled to speak Wednesday at a non-unionized auto parts supplier in Michigan.

His visit there follows President Joe Biden’s trip to Michigan this week where he walked a picket line with striking auto workers.  The United Auto Workers union is asking for higher wages, shorter work weeks and pledges from automakers that jobs making electric cars will be unionized.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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The Writers Guild of America (WGA) said its members could return to work on Wednesday while a ratification vote takes place on a new three-year contract with Hollywood studios. 

Union leaders “voted unanimously to lift the restraining order and end the strike as of 12:01 a.m. PT/3:01 a.m. ET on Wednesday, September 27th,” the WGA said in a statement on Tuesday. 

WGA members will have until October 9 to cast their votes on the contract, the union said. 

Film and television writers walked off the job in May in a fight for higher pay, protections that their work will not be replaced by artificial intelligence, and other issues. 

The writers appeared to have won concessions across the board, with raises over the three years of the contract, increased health and pension contributions, and AI safeguards. 

Under the tentative agreement, AI cannot be used to undermine a writer’s credit. Writers can choose to use AI when drafting scripts, but a company cannot require the use of the software. The studios also have to disclose to a writer if any materials they furnish were generated by AI. 
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U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday called on President Joe Biden to agree to tight border restrictions in order to prevent wide swaths of the U.S. government from shutting down for the fourth time in a decade.  

Republican McCarthy’s proposal is not likely to resolve a high stakes spending battle that could idle hundreds of thousands of federal workers on Sunday, as Biden and his fellow Democrats who control the Senate have already rejected Republican border plans. 

With only five days to spare, the two chambers were taking sharply divergent paths. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, announced in a Senate speech that bipartisan negotiators were on the verge of unveiling a bill that would avert a government shutdown on Sunday with a stopgap funding bill. 

Both he and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said they were pushing for extending current funding levels for a short period while work continues on full-year funding bills. 

The bill, Schumer said, “will continue to fund the government at present levels while maintaining our commitment to Ukraine’s security and humanitarian needs, while also ensuring those impacted by federal disasters across the country begin to get the resources they need.” 

A first procedural vote on this bill was set for late Tuesday afternoon. 

Hardline House Republicans have voiced opposition to such a measure. 

McCarthy pushes for border wall

McCarthy, meanwhile, is readying a stopgap spending bill that would restart construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall, a signature policy of former President Donald Trump and tighten immigration policies. 

Those policies are certain to be rejected by Biden and the Senate. But on Tuesday, McCarthy called on the president and Democrats to reconsider. 

“To keep the government open, if the president was willing to change part of his plan along this border, we can fund this government going forward,” McCarthy told reporters. 

“Let’s do something on the border, keep the government open and show this nation that we can do it right, and solve the rest of our problems as we go.” 

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed and a wide range of services — from economic data releases to nutrition benefits — will be suspended beginning on Sunday if the two sides do not reach agreement. In Washington, the National Zoo says it would have to curtail its farewell party for three giant pandas before they return to China. 

The standoff has caused concern at credit rating agency Moody’s, though it is unclear whether it will hurt U.S. creditworthiness, as past shutdowns have not had a significant impact on the world’s largest economy. 

It is also factoring into the 2024 presidential election, with Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, cheering on the shutdown talk. 

Lawmakers demand $120 billion in cuts

Biden and McCarthy had aimed to head off a shutdown this year when they agreed in May, at the end of a standoff over the federal debt ceiling, to discretionary spending of $1.59 trillion for the fiscal year beginning October 1. 

Lawmakers on McCarthy’s right flank have since rejected that number, demanding $120 billion in cuts, even as more moderate members of their party including top Senate Republicans voiced support for the agreed-on plan. 

That only accounts for a fraction of the total U.S. budget, which will come to $6.4 trillion for this fiscal year. Lawmakers are not considering cuts to popular benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare, which are projected to grow dramatically as the population ages. 

Biden himself has called on House Republicans to honor McCarthy’s deal. 

Bowing to their concerns, McCarthy has teed up a procedural vote on Tuesday evening to take up four spending bills for the coming fiscal year that reflect conservative priorities and stand no chance of becoming law. 

If Tuesday’s vote succeeds, lawmakers would try to pass the four measures out of the House later in the week. They would not fund the full government or prevent a shutdown. 

Republicans control the House by a narrow 221-212 majority and have few votes to spare, particularly since some Republican hardliners have threatened to move to oust McCarthy from his leadership role if he relies on Democratic votes to pass legislation. 

That could complicate any effort to pass a stopgap spending bill and avert a shutdown. 

Congress has shut down the government 14 times since 1981, though most of those funding gaps have lasted only a day or two. 
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U.S. Senator Cory Booker on Tuesday joined a growing list of Democrats calling for Senator Bob Menendez to resign.

Menendez was recently charged with taking bribes from three businessmen in exchange for benefit to the Egyptian government and interfering with investigations into the three men.

Booker, the junior senator from New Jersey, becomes possibly the most significant voice to call for the resignation of his fellow New Jersey senator, as the two have been close throughout their time in Congress. Booker testified on Menendez’s behalf in a 2017 trial in which Menendez was charged with corruption.

Booker released a statement in which he spoke highly of Menendez as a person and colleague yet said the role of senator is one that requires much trust from the public and that it would be in Menendez’s best interest to resign.

“Stepping down is not an admission of guilt but an acknowledgment that holding public office often demands tremendous sacrifices at great personal cost. Senator Menendez has made these sacrifices in the past to serve. And in this case, he must do so again. I believe stepping down is best for those Senator Menendez has spent his life serving,” Booker said in the statement.

Booker joins fellow U.S. Democratic Senators Tammy Baldwin, Bob Casey, Jon Tester and Mark Kelly in calling for Senator Menendez to resign. All have released statements on the matter.

“While Senator Menendez enjoys the presumption of innocence until proven guilty and will have his day in court to defend himself, I believe that it is best for his constituents, and the American people, and our national security for the Senator to step down,” Baldwin said in a statement via X, formerly Twitter.

“Public service is a sacred trust. The specific allegations set forth in the federal indictment indicate to me that Senator Menendez violated that trust repeatedly,” Casey said via X. 

“That’s a breach of that trust and a burden I believe will prevent him from fully serving. He should resign,” Kelly said, also via X.

“I’ve read the detailed charges against Senator Menendez and find them deeply disturbing. While he deserves a fair trial like every other American, I believe Senator Menendez should resign for the sake of the public’s faith in the U.S. Senate,” Tester said in a statement on his website.

Senator Menendez, who has stepped down temporarily from his role as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has made clear that he plans to remain in the Senate, while also claiming he will be found not guilty of all charges once the investigation plays out. 

“I firmly believe that when all the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I still will be New Jersey’s senior senator,” Menendez said in a statement.
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China’s foreign minister called on the U.S. on Tuesday to do what it can to host a cooperative meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in November, criticizing those who seek to play up a confrontation between democracy and authoritarianism.

Wang Yi said the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November should promote cooperation rather than provoke confrontation and said the U.S. should show fairness and inclusiveness to create better conditions for a smooth meeting.

“We should … oppose advocating for ‘democracy versus authoritarianism’ and imposing our own values and models on others,” he said at the launch of a government report on its proposals for what it calls “a global community of shared future.”

U.S. President Joe Biden has sought to create alliances and partnerships with other democratic countries to build a more unified response to China’s growing geopolitical influence. China is a one-party state that has been ruled by the Communist Party for more than 70 years.

China has been trying to position itself as a leader of less-developed nations, saying it offers an alternative to what it has long called “Western hegemony.”

The APEC meeting is widely seen as an opportunity for Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet as the U.S. and China try to manage their rocky relationship — if the Chinese leader attends.

Xi skipped a recent Group of 20 leaders’ meeting in India, and Wang gave a non-committal response when asked if Xi would go to APEC.

“We are in communication with all parties and will make an official announcement in due course,” he said.

In Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, leader John Lee said he has not received an invitation to APEC. Hong Kong is a member of the group, but the U.S. has banned him from entering the country since 2020 for his role in enforcing a national security law that has targeted pro-democracy activists.

“According to APEC guidelines and protocol, the organizer should send an invitation to the leader of the respective economies,” Lee said at his weekly media briefing. “I am still waiting for the invitation letter to be sent to me.”

Wang stepped down as foreign minister at the end of last year and became the Communist Party’s foreign policy chief. He returned as foreign minister in July, while retaining the more senior party position, after his successor, Qin Gang, was removed from office. The government still hasn’t explained what brought about Qin’s downfall.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday praised what he called the “strong relationship” between U.S. and Kenyan forces as he met with troops from the two countries at Camp Simba in Manda Bay, Kenya.

“You are a model of interoperability,” Austin said.  “You’re working side-by-side every day, taking care of each other, supporting each other and you’re working on some very important issues of security.”

The United States and Kenya signed a five-year defense agreement Monday aimed at strengthening counterterrorism efforts in East Africa and supporting Kenya’s efforts to take the lead in a security mission to Haiti.  

Austin said the United States is “grateful to Kenya for its leadership in tackling security challenges in the region and around the world” and thanked the country for its willingness to take the lead of a multinational security force to combat gang violence in Haiti.  

He said the Biden administration would work with Congress to secure the $100 million in funding that it pledged for the Haiti mission last week on the sidelines of the U.N General Assembly. 

“The United States stands ready to support that important mission by providing robust financial and logistical assistance,” he said.  

Austin urged other nations to follow Kenya’s example and provide more personnel, equipment, support, training, and funding for the planned multi-national security mission to Haiti.  

Kenya has pledged to send 1,000 security officers to Haiti to counter gang violence that has surged since the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. The security mission, which has yet to be approved by the U.N. Security Council, was requested by Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry last October.
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Climate change is the dominant concern for the Pacific Islands Forum leaders who met with President Joe Biden Monday, while the White House focuses on other regional threats like China’s increased ambitions on the high seas. On Monday, Biden made millions of dollars’ worth of commitments that will need to be approved by Congress. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington.]
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The United States said Monday it refused a request by Iran’s foreign minister to visit Washington last week, pointing to concerns about Tehran’s record including past detentions of U.S. citizens.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian reportedly sought to travel to visit Iran’s consular interests section following the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“They did make that request and it was denied by the State Department,” spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

“We do have an obligation to allow Iranian officials and other officials of foreign governments to travel to New York for U.N. business. But we do not have an obligation to allow them to travel to Washington, D.C.,” he said.

“Given Iran’s wrongful detention of U.S. citizens, given Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism, we did not believe it was either appropriate or necessary in this instance to grant that request,” Miller said.

Iran last week allowed five U.S. citizens to leave in a prisoner swap in which the United States also arranged the transfer of $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds from South Korea to an account in Qatar.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has played down speculation that the prisoner deal could lead to broader diplomatic movement, such as a resumption of talks on Iran’s contested nuclear program.

The news site Amwaj.media first reported on Amir-Abdollahian’s hope to visit Washington, in what would have been the first by an Iranian foreign minister in 14 years.

The report, quoting anonymous sources, said that Amir-Abdollahian had said he wanted personally to review the consular operation, but that his goal may have also been “to generate positive headlines.”

The United States and Iran broke off relations after Islamic revolutionaries seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took the diplomats hostage for 444 days following the 1979 revolution that overthrew the pro-Western shah.

Iran’s consular interests section in Washington is officially under the flag of Pakistan.

The United States, under an agreement as host of the United Nations, allows representatives of all member states to travel to New York City but restricts the movement beyond the city of officials from some nations deemed hostile.

Former President Donald Trump’s administration went even further on Iran and confined Iranian officials to a few neighborhoods in New York.
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“My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion,” a play by Ukrainian playwright Sasha Denisova, made its debut at Washington, D.C.’s Woolly Mammoth theater earlier this month. The play was inspired by online chats its creator had with her 82-year-old mother who lives near Kyiv. Maxim Adams has the story. Camera: David Gogokhia.
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Union leaders and Hollywood studios reached a tentative agreement Sunday to end a historic screenwriters strike after nearly five months, though no deal is yet in the works for striking actors.

The Writers Guild of America announced the deal in a statement.

The three-year contract agreement — settled on after five marathon days of renewed talks by negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and an alliance of studios, streaming services and production companies — must be approved by the guild’s board and members before the strike officially ends.

The terms of the deal were not immediately announced. The tentative deal to end the last writers strike, in 2008, was approved by more than 90% of members.

As a result of the agreement, nightly network shows including NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” could return to the air within days.

But as writers prepare to potentially crack open their laptops again, it’s far from back to business as usual in Hollywood, as talks have not yet resumed between studios and striking actors. Crew members left with no work by the stoppage will remain unemployed for now.

The proposed solution to the writers strike comes after talks resumed on Wednesday or the first time in a month. Chief executives including Bob Iger of Disney, Ted Sarandos of Netflix, David Zaslav of Warner Bros. Discovery and Donna Langley of NBCUniversal reportedly took part in the negotiations directly.

About 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America walked off the job May 2 over issues of pay, the size of writing staffs on shows and the use of artificial intelligence in the creation of scripts. Actors, who joined the writers on strike in July, have their own issues but there have been no discussions about resuming negotiations with their union yet.

The writers strike immediately sent late-night talk shows and “Saturday Night Live” into hiatus, and has since sent dozens of scripted shows and other productions into limbo, including forthcoming seasons of Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” HBO’s “The Last of Us,” and ABC’s “Abbot Elementary,” and films including “Deadpool 3” and “Superman: Legacy.” The Emmy Awards were also pushed from September to January.

More recently, writers had been targeting talk shows that were working around strike rules to return to air, including “The Drew Barrymore Show,” “Real Time With Bill Maher” and “The Talk.” All reversed course in the face of picketing and pressure and are likely to quickly return now.

The combined strikes made for a pivotal moment in Hollywood as creative labor faced off against executives in a business transformed and torn by technology, from the seismic shift to streaming in recent years to the potentially paradigm-shifting emergence of AI in the years to come.

Screenwriters had traditionally gone on strike more than any other segment of the industry but had enjoyed a relatively long stretch of labor peace until spring negotiations for a new contract fell apart. The walkout was their first since 2007 and their longest since 1988.

On July 14, more than two months into the strike, the writers got a dose of solidarity and star power — along with a whole lot of new picketing partners — when they were joined by 65,000 striking film and television actors.

It was the first time the two groups had been on strike together since 1960. In that walkout, the writers strike started first and ended second. This time, studios opted to deal with the writers first.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the group that represents employers in negotiations, first reached out to suggest renewing negotiations in August. The meetings were short, infrequent, and not productive, and talks went silent for another month.
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