Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a conversation with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
“I informed the prime minister about preparations for possible trilateral meetings at the technical level between Ukraine, the United States, and Russia. There are no obstacles on our part, but it is important that the American side prepare on its end and ensure the Russian side’s readiness,” Zelenskyy wrote on his Telegram channel.
The parties also discussed preparations for the Ukrainian power grid ahead of winter and other sensitive issues.
“Not everything can be discussed in detail over the phone—we agreed to meet in person in the near future. I am grateful to Donald and Poland for their support. Only by joining forces across Europe can we stop Russia and prevent this insane war from continuing,” the president concluded.
The joint U.S.-Ukrainian Recovery Investment Fund has signed its first deal in the critical minerals sector and approved four other projects, Conor Coleman, head of investments at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), told Reuters.
According to him, the total value of the fund’s current project portfolio is estimated at approximately $70 million.
The first deal in the mining sector involves an investment of about $30 million in a joint investment platform with BGV Group, co-owned by Hennadiy Butkevych, the owner of the “ATB” retail chain. Initially, the partnership will focus on the exploration and development of deposits of rare earth elements, uranium, beryllium, and zirconium. As Coleman emphasized, all of these items are included in the official U.S. list of critical raw materials.
Two other initiatives are aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s energy and heat generation capacity amid hostile attacks on the eve of winter. Specifically, one of the initiatives will supplement a nearly $100 million credit line that the DFC approved for the DTEK energy holding company to implement a battery storage system capable of providing backup power to up to 600,000 households for up to two hours.
In addition, the fund will invest in a combined heat and power platform for the construction of a network of local “energy hubs.”
As previously reported, the U.S.-Ukrainian Recovery Investment Fund was established under an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the minerals sector at the initiative of U.S. President Donald Trump. The fund’s activities are focused on five strategic areas: mineral resources, the defense-industrial complex, energy, logistics, and infrastructure. The fund is currently working to raise additional capital.
According to Fixygen, U.S. banks have opened a new front in their battle with the crypto industry—the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), challenging the decision to grant crypto companies simplified national banking licenses.
The lawsuit was filed on October 2 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the ICBA reported. The association represents American community banks—that is, small and medium-sized banks—a significant portion of whose business involves lending to individuals and companies in local markets.
The subject of the dispute is the so-called national trust bank charters. These charters allow companies to operate at the federal level with digital assets, provide custody services, and participate in payment transactions, but do not authorize traditional banking activities such as accepting deposits and issuing loans.
The ICBA believes that the OCC has effectively created a simplified path for crypto companies to enter the regulated banking system.
“Congress did not create the national trust license as a back door into the banking system for crypto companies,” said ICBA President and CEO Rebecca Romero Reyni.
Banks point to a fundamental difference in regulation.
Traditional deposit-taking banks must meet capital and liquidity requirements, be subject to consolidated supervision, and participate in the FDIC deposit insurance system. Companies with a national trust charter that do not take deposits are exempt from a significant portion of these requirements.
At the same time, the ICBA believes that a federal license may give customers the impression that a crypto company’s assets have the same government guarantees as funds held at a traditional bank.
The association is demanding that the final rule adopted by the OCC on March 2, 2026, and the related Interpretive Letter No. 1176 be declared unlawful.
Separately, the ICBA is demanding that the conditional approval of a national trust banking license for Protego Holdings be revoked. The company specializes in the custody, trading, lending, and issuance of digital assets.
The dispute extends far beyond a single license.
If the OCC maintains its current approach, crypto companies will be able to obtain federal banking status without converting into traditional commercial banks. This could simplify institutional custody of cryptocurrencies, settlements using digital assets, and the integration of crypto infrastructure into the U.S. financial system.
At the same time, traditional banks are stepping up pressure on the stablecoin market. The ICBA opposes paying interest and rewards to stablecoin holders, fearing a flight of funds from bank accounts into digital dollars. According to the association, a reduction in the deposit base could diminish small banks’ resources for lending to businesses and the agricultural sector.
The U.S. has imposed new visa restrictions on foreign nationals who knowingly participate in organizing so-called “birth tourism” or facilitate such trips, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced.
The State Department’s new policy took effect on September 23, 2026, and is enforced under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act. The restrictions may apply to individuals who participate, have previously participated, or assist in organizing trips to the U.S. with the primary purpose of giving birth to a child and securing U.S. citizenship for that child.
Specifically, the measures may affect owners, executives, and managers of companies specializing in “birth tourism,” visa brokers who instruct clients to provide false information when applying for visas, as well as foreign healthcare professionals who knowingly facilitate such trips or the fraudulent use of the Medicaid program. The restrictions may also extend to other individuals who support commercial schemes and, in certain cases, to their family members.
According to Rubio, commercial “birth tourism” networks advertise their services abroad, help applicants conceal the true purpose of their trip, and may charge tens of thousands of dollars to arrange childbirth on U.S. soil.
However, this is not the first time a ban has been in place on using a B-category visitor visa for a trip whose primary purpose is to give birth to a child in order to obtain U.S. citizenship for that child. Since January 24, 2020, U.S. consular officers have been required to deny a B visa if they have reason to believe that this is the primary purpose of the trip.
The new 2026 policy shifts the focus from the applicants themselves to the organizers, intermediaries, and infrastructure behind such schemes. Immigration lawyers note that the State Department has not yet disclosed in detail what evidence will be used, how exactly individuals subject to the restrictions will be identified, or whether the new measures will affect visas that have already been issued.
Pregnancy alone is not an automatic basis for visa denial. The State Department continues to allow travel to the U.S. for medical treatment, including medical care during pregnancy, provided the applicant meets the requirements for the relevant visa and can confirm the purpose of the trip and the ability to pay for medical expenses. However, “birth tourism”—where the primary purpose is to obtain U.S. citizenship for a child—is not officially considered a valid basis for issuing a visitor visa.
According to Experts Club, on September 10, the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post published its annual list of the 50 Most Influential Jews of 2026. The editorial board awarded first place to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, second place to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and third place to former Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took 21st place, with the publication describing him as “the Jewish face of Ukrainian resistance.” (Jerusalem Post)
The Experts Club think tank notes that the term “Top 50” in this case refers to 50 ranking positions, not 50 individual people. In 2026, these 50 positions featured 109 individuals, as the editorial board allocated 27 spots to groups of two or more people. When determining national affiliations, Experts Club primarily considered the country where a person’s political, civic, or business activities are centered, rather than just their place of birth or possession of dual citizenship. The complete official ranking was published in The Jerusalem Post.
From the Experts Club’s perspective, the 2026 ranking demonstrates, first and foremost, the bipolar geography of global Jewish influence—Israel and the United States. These two countries make up virtually the entire top twenty and the majority of the remaining positions. Israel is particularly well represented by politicians, military officials, diplomats, and leaders of civil society organizations, while the U.S. is represented by business, technology, finance, media, and federal politics. Outside these two centers, Ukraine, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada stand out as notable independent representatives.
Another notable feature of the ranking is the sharp increase in the influence of the technology sector. It includes executives and founders of OpenAI, Meta, Wiz, Anthropic, Google, Oracle, Dell, Mobileye, Palantir, Thrive Capital, and Playrix. In other words, the editorial team now associates influence not only with government power, capital, and civil society organizations, but also with control over key technologies—primarily artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, and defense technologies.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s position remains particularly telling for Ukraine. In 2022, he ranked first in The Jerusalem Post’s list following the start of the Russian invasion. In 2023, Zelenskyy did not make the top 50. In 2024, he returned to 22nd place, and the publication itself explicitly noted his return after a year-long absence. Zelenskyy was again absent from the 2025 ranking, and in 2026, he ranked 21st—one spot higher than during his previous inclusion on the list.
Source: The Jerusalem Post’s full “50 Most Influential Jews of 2026” ranking.
https://www.experts.news/posts/the-jerusalem-post-nazvav-50-nayvplyvovishykh-yevreyiv-2026-roku
Copper rose to a record high on Tuesday amid concerns over a shortage of the metal outside the U.S.
The price of three-month copper futures on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose to $14,617 per metric ton, breaking the previous record set the day before. Since the start of this year, futures have risen 16%.
The most actively traded copper contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 1.3% on Tuesday to 110,620 thousand yuan ($16,484) per metric ton, while during trading, prices rose to a high of 110,890 yuan per metric ton, the highest level since January 30.
Physical copper shipments continue to be redirected to the U.S., exacerbating shortages in markets outside the country, according to analysts at the Chinese brokerage firm Everbright Futures.
The flow of metal to the U.S. is driven by expectations that the country will impose tariffs on copper imports starting in 2027.
Copper inventories at Comex warehouses rose last week to a record 695,624 thousand metric tons. At the same time, an outflow of the metal is being recorded at warehouses registered with the LME, as well as with the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
The spot price of copper on the LME continues to exceed the price of the three-month contract, signaling limited supply of the metal in the short term.
Three-month zinc futures on the LME rose 0.54% to $4,005 per metric ton. Earlier, their price had climbed to a four-year high of $4,035 per metric ton.
Earlier, the Experts Club information and analytical center released a video on global copper production and leading producing countries – https://youtube.com/shorts/_h8iU50z8C0?si=a-XkgGEfeUxseQNa
