Briefly

RUSSIA

Kremlin shrugs off US sanctions threat

The Kremlin said on Monday that no sanctions will ever be able to force Russia to change course on Ukraine, just hours after both the United States and European Union indicated they were considering additional sanctions. "No sanctions will be able to force the Russian Federation to change the consistent position that our president has repeatedly spoken about," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Kremlin reporter Alexander Yunashev. US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he is ready to move to the second phase of sanctioning Russia, the closest he has come to suggesting he is on the verge of ramping up sanctions against Moscow or its oil buyers. The European Union's preparation of new sanctions against Russia is being closely coordinated with the US, European Council President Antonio Costa said on Monday.

GUYANA

Irfaan Ali sworn in for 2nd time as president

Irfaan Ali was sworn in as president of Guyana on Sunday at the presidential residence in the capital Georgetown, officially beginning his second presidential term, the Guyana Elections Commission said. Ali, as the candidate of the People's Progressive Party/Civic, won the general election on Sept 1 and was reelected as president, the commission said. In the election, the People's Progressive Party/Civic won 36 seats, the We Invest in Nationhood party secured 16 seats, A Partnership for National Unity garnered 12, and the Forward Guyana Movement secured one seat, according to election results.

NEPAL

16 killed in protest over social media shutdown

Unrest killed at least 16 people and injured dozens in Nepal's capital Kathmandu on Monday, state TV reported, as police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators demanding the government lift its ban on social media and tackle corruption. "Sixteen people have sadly died," Shekhar Khanal, spokesman for the Kathmandu valley police, told Agence France-Presse. "About 100 are under treatment, including police." Some protesters forced their way into the parliament complex by breaking through a barricade, a local official said, setting fire to an ambulance, hurling objects at riot police and ferrying the injured to hospital on motorcycles.

Agencies - Xinhua