Americas

Washington: President of the United States, Donald Trump has signed a bill authorizing imposing new sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine. Approved by the US Congress this week, the legislation targets Russia's energy and defense sectors, senior individuals and officials, as well as what is known as the 'shadow fleet' of tankers used by Russia to circumvent Western sanctions. The bill gives President Trump the authority to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on major buyers of Russian oil and gas, as well as foreign companies and entities that support the Russian military. The Republican-led US House of Representatives had passed the legislation last Wednesday by a vote of 262 to 159. Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has earlier welcomed the US legislation, saying that it is an extremely powerful tool capable of bringing the war to an end. Sanctions must be strong for all efforts toward peace to succeed, he has added, including Ukraine's joint diplomatic efforts together with the US, Europe, and other friendly countries.

Asia

Kathmandu: Nepal generated more than 5.09 billion Nepali rupees ($33.11 million USD) from cross-border power sales to India and Bangladesh between mid-August and mid-September, according to official figures released by the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). The country exported a total of 565.6 million units of electricity during the month through bilateral agreements and India's electricity exchange market despite the Aug. 26 flood in the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers damaging a dozen hydropower projects, the state-owned power utility said on Saturday. However, electricity exports to Bangladesh have currently been suspended following damage to structures at the Chilime and Trishuli hydropower plants caused by the flood. "Despite the floods affecting exports to Bangladesh and partially affecting exports to India, Nepal's export earnings in the month remained higher than in the same month last year," Achyut Babu Ghimire, a director at the NEA, told Xinhua. The NEA said it has requested the Indian side to provide the necessary approval to resume electricity exports to Bangladesh from other hydropower projects. In recent years, Nepal's electricity exports have grown rapidly as the country has been generating more power than domestic demand, particularly during the summer months. According to the NEA, Nepal earned a total of 29.32 billion Nepali rupees (190.70 million dollars) from electricity exports to India and Bangladesh in fiscal year 2025-26, representing a 68 percent increase from the previous fiscal year.

Asia

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook announced his resignation on Saturday, the decision coming in protest to the conditional pardon granted to former Prime Minister Najib Razak. Loke made the announcement following the party's central executive committee meeting that had been convened to discuss the Democratic Action Party's (DAP) response to the pardon. Loke, who is the secretary-general of the DAP, which is the biggest party in terms of members of parliament in the coalition government, said the other DAP ministers would not be resigning. The resignation came the day after Najib was granted a conditional pardon, which includes serving the remainder of his sentence under house arrest. He has been imprisoned since August 2022 over abuse of power related to SRC International, a former unit of the state investment fund 1MDB.