The agreement will see extra US troops stationed in Poland at locations near Wroclaw and Lodz. Currently, some 4,500 American troops are based in Poland on a rotating basis but yesterday’s agreement will see forces permanently based inside Poland.

The troops will be accommodated at new facilities built by the Polish government. Back in June, the White House pledged an extra 1000 US troops for deployment to Poland. President Duda was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, which is taking place this week.

The two presidents are also understood to have discussed the possibility of Poland’s addition to the US Visa waiver programme in the near future. At the start of this month in talks following WW2 commemorations, Vice President Mike Pence mentioned that Poland was nearing eligibility for the programme, which would allow Poles to visit the US for up to 90 days without needing a Visa. 

Now, that prospect seems ever more present as Poland nears the key Visa rejection rate threshold. In order to qualify for the Visa waiver, a country must have less than 3% of it’s Visa applications to the US rejected each year. Until recently this had been an obstacle for Poland, which had a rate of 4% last year. 

Figures for this year will be known after September 30th. If this year’s rejection rate is below 3%, it’s likely Poland could be invited to join the programme very soon.

In the UK, the Supreme Court is expected to announce today it’s ruling on the legality of Boris Johnson’s suspension of Parliament earlier this month.

The Court will first rule on whether the matter is a case for the Supreme Court. Ministers say the suspension, or prorogation, is not a court matter, but critics argue it was intended to limit scrutiny of the PM’s Brexit plans.

If the Supreme Court goes on to rule on the substantive matter, both judgements would be made today at 11:30am Polish time. If the ruling goes against Mr Johnson, Parliament could be reconvened immediately.

The British government has said it would  abide by whatever the Court decides but has not ruled out the possibility of suspending parliament again if the Court decides the current suspension was unlawful.

In sports, Poland’s volleyball team have continued their incredible winning streak with a win against Germany yesterday.

The Red-and-Whites have been on an astonishing run at this year’s Euro championships, winning all seven matches so far! The team now move on to the semi-final on Thursday, where they will face Slovenia. 

Meanwhile, Poland’s Magda Linette took 2nd place at the Korean tennis open in Seoul.

And the 44th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia closed with an awards ceremony 

The Golden Lion for Best Film went Agnieszka Holland for Mr. Jones, with the Silver Lion going to Maciej Pieprzyca’s biopic Icarus: The Legend of Mietek Kosz.

The Weather 

A pleasant second day of Autumn today, with plenty of sunshine and temperatures up to 17 Celsius, that’s 62 Fahrenheit. 
No rain expected today, and light winds coming from the South.

RGEN NEWS/AG