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US Refuses to Include Israel in 'Visa Waiver Program'

Travelers Ben Gurion International Airport (Reuters)
Travelers Ben Gurion International Airport (Reuters)
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US Refuses to Include Israel in 'Visa Waiver Program'

Travelers Ben Gurion International Airport (Reuters)
Travelers Ben Gurion International Airport (Reuters)

The US Department of Homeland Security informed Israel that it has failed to meet the requirements to enter the visa waiver program.

Earlier, the Israeli government informed its citizens that it had reached the final arrangements to obtain an official US decision to cancel the entry visa.

On Wednesday, Haaretz reported that the matter remained confidential until the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Land Security, Alice Lugo, announced it in a letter sent last month to the Democratic Representative, Don Beyer.

In the letter to Beyer, Lugo stressed that "Israel does not currently meet all [visa waiver program] designation requirements, including extending reciprocal visa-free travel privileges to all US citizens and nationals."

In response, Beyer sent a letter to members of the US House of Representatives, calling on them to support pressuring Israel to withdraw the new "discriminatory restrictions" imposed by the Israeli military for entry into the West Bank to assure reciprocity for all US citizens.

Beyer prepared a petition for which he collects signatures from other US representatives, which will be directed to the several US and Israeli agencies.

In the petition, the representatives put forward a request to open a hotline to publish monthly reports for future visa waiver program evaluations.

He sent a letter to the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, saying that it is clear that "Israel cannot and should not be admitted into the visa waiver program under the status quo."

"It is incumbent upon Israel as a key US ally and beneficiary of significant aid to treat US citizens with dignity and respect regardless of race, religion, and ethnicity, and it is especially pertinent at this time because Israel is currently being evaluated for entry into the United States Visa Waiver Program," said Beyer.

He highlighted the "onerous and discriminatory" new restrictions issued by the Israeli army's Coordinating Office for Government Affairs in the Territories.

The Representative added that Israel "consistently refused to extend fair treatment to US visitors attempting to travel through Israeli controlled entry points," despite the visa waiver program's prerequisite of reciprocity.

"The State Department itself acknowledges in its travel advisory that US citizens traveling to Israel have been unfairly denied entry."

It is known that Israel has been in deliberations with the US authorities for several years to include it in the visa waiver program, which would allow Israelis to stay in the United States for 90 days for tourism or business, and would be a catalyst for economic cooperation.

Diplomatic sources in Tel Aviv noted that the only clause restricting the exemption is the "reciprocity" clause that obligates Israel to treat all US citizens equally upon their entry to Israel.

They indicated that travelers who are not white and Jewish have long complained about racial profiling at Ben Gurion Airport. Palestinians with US citizenship, meanwhile, travel via the Allenby Bridge crossing with Jordan.

In response to Israeli journalists, the US embassy spokesman said Israel "must extend reciprocal privileges to all US citizens and nationals, including Palestinian-Americans, as those the United States would extend to Israeli citizens."

"We seek equal treatment and freedom to travel for all such US travelers to Israel regardless of national origin or ethnicity."

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World

6.5-magnitude Quake Shakes Mexico City

People wait outside their homes and buildings after an earthquake in Mexico City, Mexico, January 2, 2026. REUTERS/Henry Romero
People wait outside their homes and buildings after an earthquake in Mexico City, Mexico, January 2, 2026. REUTERS/Henry Romero
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6.5-magnitude Quake Shakes Mexico City

People wait outside their homes and buildings after an earthquake in Mexico City, Mexico, January 2, 2026. REUTERS/Henry Romero
People wait outside their homes and buildings after an earthquake in Mexico City, Mexico, January 2, 2026. REUTERS/Henry Romero

A 6.5-magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City and southwestern Guerrero state on Friday, sending people rushing into the streets but causing no serious damage, according to preliminary reports.

President Claudia Sheinbaum was forced to evacuate the presidential palace during her regular morning press conference, along with the journalists in attendance, when the earthquake alert sounded.

The Seismological Service said that the earthquake's epicenter was situated 14 kilometers (nine miles) southwest of San Marcos, in the southern state of Guerrero, about 400 kilometers from Mexico City.

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck around 8:00 am east of Acapulco, a major port and beach resort.

Sheinbaum said there were no immediate reports of major damage in either Mexico City or Guerrero.

Mexico, which is situated between five tectonic plates, is one of the world's most seismically active countries.

Karen Gomez, a 47-year-old office worker living on the 13th floor of an apartment building in Mexico City, told AFP she was roused from her sleep by a street siren.

"I woke up in terror. My cellphone alert said it was a powerful earthquake."

Norma Ortega, a 57-year-old kindergarten director, living in a 10th-floor apartment, said she could feel her building shake.

"I got a terrible fright."

The center of Mexico City is built on the muddy subsoil of what was once the bed of a lake, making it particularly vulnerable to earthquakes.

Those most strongly felt usually originate off Guerrero state on the Pacific coast.

On September 19, 1985, an 8.1-magnitude earthquake devastated a vast swathe of Mexico City, leaving nearly 13,000 dead, mostly in the city, according to official figures.

In 2017, also on September 19, a 7.1-magnitude quake killed 369 people, also mostly in Mexico City.

Early warning systems, including smartphone apps, have been developed to warn Mexico City residents of strong quakes and urge them to reach safety.

The city has also installed loudspeakers on lampposts to broadcast the alerts.

World

Zelenskyy Names Ukraine's Head of Military Intelligence as his New Chief of Staff

Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, attends the press conference 'Ukraine, Year 2025' in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 February 2025 (reissued 02 January 2026), amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO
Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, attends the press conference 'Ukraine, Year 2025' in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 February 2025 (reissued 02 January 2026), amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO
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Zelenskyy Names Ukraine's Head of Military Intelligence as his New Chief of Staff

Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, attends the press conference 'Ukraine, Year 2025' in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 February 2025 (reissued 02 January 2026), amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO
Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, attends the press conference 'Ukraine, Year 2025' in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 February 2025 (reissued 02 January 2026), amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday appointed the head of Ukraine's military intelligence as his new chief of staff, a move that comes as the US leads a diplomatic push to end Russia's nearly 4-year-old invasion.

In announcing the appointment of Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, Zelenskyy said Ukraine needs to focus on security issues, developing its defense and security forces, and peace talks -- areas that are overseen by the office of the president, The Associated Press reported.

Zelenskyy had dismissed his previous chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, after anti-corruption officials began investigating alleged graft in the energy sector.

Budanov, 39, is one of the country’s most recognizable and popular wartime figures. He has led Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known by its acronym GUR, since 2020.

A career military intelligence officer, he rose through the defense establishment after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. He also took part in special operations and intelligence missions linked to the fighting with Moscow-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine before the full-scale invasion of February 2022. He reportedly was wounded during one such operation.

Since the full-scale invasion. Budanov has become a prominent face of Kyiv’s intelligence effort, regularly appearing in interviews and briefings that mix strategic signaling with psychological pressure on Moscow. He has frequently warned of Russia’s long-term intentions toward Ukraine and the region, while portraying the war as an existential struggle for the country's statehood.

Under Budanov, the GUR expanded its operational footprint, coordinating intelligence, sabotage and special operations aimed at degrading Russian military capabilities far beyond the front lines. Ukrainian officials have credited military intelligence with operations targeting Russian command structures, logistics hubs, energy infrastructure and naval assets, including strikes deep inside Russian territory and occupied areas.

His appointment to lead the office of the president marks an unusual shift, placing a serving intelligence chief at the center of Ukraine’s political and diplomatic coordination. Zelenskyy has framed the move as part of a broader effort to sharpen the focus on security, defense development and diplomacy.
“Kyrylo has specialized experience in these areas and sufficient strength to achieve results,” Zelenskyy said.

Budanov said on Telegram his new position is "both an honor and a responsibility — at a historic time for Ukraine — to focus on the critically important issues of the state’s strategic security.”

Russian authorities said Friday the death toll from what they called a Ukrainian drone strike on a cafe and hotel in a Russian-occupied village in Ukraine’s Kherson region rose to 27. Kyiv strongly denied attacking civilian targets.

Svetlana Petrenko, spokeswoman of Russia's main criminal investigation agency, the Investigative Committee, said those killed in the village of Khorly, where at least 100 civilians were celebrating New Year's Eve, included two minors, while 31 people were hospitalized.

A spokesman for Ukraine’s General Staff, Dmytro Lykhovii, denied attacking civilians. He told Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne on Thursday that Ukrainian forces “adhere to the norms of international humanitarian law” and "carry out strikes exclusively against Russian military targets, facilities of the Russian fuel and energy sector, and other lawful targets.”

He noted that Russia has repeatedly used disinformation and false statements to disrupt the ongoing peace negotiations.

The Associated Press could not independently verify claims made about the attack.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday that he, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner had a “productive call” with the national security advisers of Britain, France, Germany and Ukraine “to discuss advancing the next steps in the European peace process.”

The US efforts has faced a new obstacle earlier this week, when Moscow said it would toughen its negotiating stand after what it said was a long-range drone attack against a residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in northwestern Russia early Monday.

Kyiv has denied attacking Putin’s residence, saying the Russian claim was a ruse to derail the negotiations.

In his New Year’s address, Zelenskyy said a peace deal was “90% ready” but warned that the remaining 10% — believed to include key sticking points such as territory — would “determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe, how people will live.”

New overnight attacks Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia struck a residential area of Kharkiv with two missiles Friday, Zelenskyy wrote on his Telegram page, adding that Moscow's forces "continue the killings, despite all the efforts of the world, and above all the United States, in the diplomatic process.”

At least 15 people in the eastern city were injured, according to regional administration head Oleh Syniehubov.

Earlier Friday, Russia conducted what local authorities called “one of the most massive” drone attacks at Zaporizhzhia. At least nine drones struck the city, damaging dozens of residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure but causing no casualties, according to Ivan Fedorov, head of the regional administration.

Overall, Russia fired 116 long-range drones at Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s air force, with 86 intercepted and 27 striking their targets.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted 64 Ukrainian drones overnight in multiple Russian regions.

The Russian city of Belgorod was hit by a Ukrainian missile, according to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. Two women were hospitalized after the strike, which shattered windows and damaged an unspecified commercial facility and a number of cars in the region that borders Ukraine, he said.

World

A Building Under Construction Collapses in Nairobi, Leaving an Unknown Number of People Trapped

Members of The Disaster Response Battalion (DRB) of the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) gather at the site of a 16-storey building under construction that collapsed, as search and rescue operations begin with possible casualties still unconfirmed, in the South C neighborhood of Nairobi, on January 2, 2026. (AFP)
Members of The Disaster Response Battalion (DRB) of the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) gather at the site of a 16-storey building under construction that collapsed, as search and rescue operations begin with possible casualties still unconfirmed, in the South C neighborhood of Nairobi, on January 2, 2026. (AFP)
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A Building Under Construction Collapses in Nairobi, Leaving an Unknown Number of People Trapped

Members of The Disaster Response Battalion (DRB) of the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) gather at the site of a 16-storey building under construction that collapsed, as search and rescue operations begin with possible casualties still unconfirmed, in the South C neighborhood of Nairobi, on January 2, 2026. (AFP)
Members of The Disaster Response Battalion (DRB) of the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) gather at the site of a 16-storey building under construction that collapsed, as search and rescue operations begin with possible casualties still unconfirmed, in the South C neighborhood of Nairobi, on January 2, 2026. (AFP)

A multi-story building under construction in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, collapsed Friday, leaving an unknown number of people trapped.

Rescue workers are digging through the rubble. The building was in an area of Nairobi known as South C, according to the Kenya Red Cross, and local media say it was a 16-story structure.

“A multi-agency response team is on site managing the situation,” the Kenya Red Cross said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from authorities on the likely cause of the collapse or the number of victims. The toll is not expected to be high, The Associated Press said.

Building collapses are common in Nairobi, where housing is in high demand and unscrupulous developers often bypass regulations or simply violate building codes.

After eight buildings collapsed and killed 15 people in Kenya in 2015, the presidency ordered an audit of buildings across the country to see if they were up to code. The National Construction Authority found that 58% of the buildings in Nairobi were unfit for habitation.