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Racing against time, US lawmakers submitted amendments to the Russia sanctions bill, with one seeking to name its top trading partners -- including India -- in the legislation, and another proposing to scrap the section imposing tariffs altogether. The Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, passed by the US Senate by an overwhelming 86-11 vote last month, seeks to impose sanctions not only on Russia's leadership and energy sector, but also on the "shadow fleet" of vessels that enable Moscow to evade sanctions on oil deliveries. The US believes that Russia's crude oil trade is funding the war against Ukraine. The Bill also seeks to authorise President Donald Trump to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Russia's top oil trading partners, including China and India. The bill passed by the US Senate on August 7 does not name Russia's trading partners, but mentions the five largest importers of oil and gas by volume. The bill must be passed by the House of Representatives before it
Lawmakers worried about the existential risk posed by new artificial intelligence products on Thursday demanded information from OpenAI with separate queries that underscored growing concerns in Washington about the technology's potential to elude human control. Senator Josh Hawley launched an investigation on Thursday into OpenAI for its artificial intelligence system hacking into another AI company on its own. He is seeking more details about the attack on AI startup Hugging Face, which was disclosed by OpenAI in July, and leads a Senate subcommittee with jurisdiction over disaster management. "The American people deserve to know the details of what went on in the Hugging Face incident and other incidents of AI models going rogue," Hawley said in a letter to Sam Altman, OpenAI's chief executive officer. "This investigation will seek those answers." Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland called on Altman to immediately grant federal cybersecurity agencies access to ...
A bipartisan group of US Senators have written to the Trump administration seeking action against three India-based companies that allegedly hacked and stole data from thousands of Americans and US companies. Democratic Senators Ron Wyden and Sheldon Whitehouse, and Republican Pat Harrigan, have urged Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to take action against Sunkissed Organic Pvt Ltd, BellTrox Ltd, and CyberRoot Ltd, contending that they hacked and stole data from thousands of Americans and US companies. "Several India-based cyber-mercenary groups have spent more than 15 years conducting targeted espionage against US citizens, businesses and the lawyers representing them," Wyden, Harrigan and Whitehouse wrote to Lutnick. According to investigations by Reuters and The Citizen Lab, these companies conducted widespread hacking campaigns targeting private equity firms, pharmaceutical companies, and more than 1,000 attorneys across major US law firms to manipulate ongoing litigation, the
Nancy Kassebaum Baker, a Kansas governor's daughter who became the first woman elected to the US Senate without following a spouse into office, has died. She was 94. Kassebaum Baker died Friday of natural causes, according to her son, Bill Kassebaum. "She loved Kansas. She loved people from Kansas and representing Kansas for 18 years in the US Senate," he told The Associated Press. "She was an independent-minded Republican who was willing to stand up for what she thought was right, even if that meant going against the party." She was elected to the US Senate in 1978 and served three terms. Her modest demeanour endeared her to voters of all political stripes, though she shared the moderate, progressive Republican politics of her father, Gov. Alf Landon, the unsuccessful 1936 GOP nominee for president. Even after leaving the Senate early in 1997, she continued taking on public service roles. She married former Sen. Howard Baker, a Tennessee Republican, in 1996. He died in ...
A US Senate vote to advance tougher sanctions on Russia raises the risk of disruption to Russian crude supplies but is unlikely to immediately alter oil flows to India and China, according to Kpler analyst Sumit Ritolia. The US Senate on Friday passed a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill that would give President Donald Trump authority to impose tariffs of up to 100 per cent on imports from countries that are among the world's largest buyers of Russian oil and gas. The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026 targets the five biggest purchasers of Russian energy and is aimed at cutting Moscow's revenues from oil and gas sales. The measure still needs to clear the US House of Representatives and faces further legislative and administrative steps before it could take effect. According to Ritolia, the measures still face further legislative and administrative hurdles, while their impact will depend largely on how aggressively the US administration implements them, including wheth
The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general in a vote early Saturday morning, cementing President Donald Trump's former personal attorney's command of a Justice Department the Republican president has sought to bend to his will. The Republican-led Senate voted 50-49 to make Blanche the second confirmed attorney general since Trump returned to the White House last year with a stated desire to use the law enforcement agency to investigate his political enemies. While Blanche has already been leading the department in an acting capacity, his confirmation could free him to pursue the Trump administration's agenda even more aggressively. The vote followed a tumultuous confirmation fight that exposed deep concerns - from some Republicans as well as Democrats - about installing Trump's close ally atop a Justice Department that historically prided itself on its independence from the White House. In the end, Blanche was confirmed by the narrowest of margins, opposed by two ...
The US Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill to punish Russia and key buyers of its petroleum products, such as China and India, claiming that such trade helps fuel the Ukraine war. The bill, renamed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, was approved by the Senate by an 86-11 vote. It allows President Donald Trump to impose 100 per cent tariffs on goods from countries that are top five importers of Russian oil and gas. At present China, India, Azerbaijan, Hungary and Slovakia are top five importers of oil and gas from Russia. In addition to Russia sanctions, the bill would extend till 2031 the expiration date of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996, which penalises companies that invest in Iran's energy sector. The bipartisan bill was championed by Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who passed away on July 11, and Democrat Richard Blumenthal. After Graham's sudden death following a trip to Kyiv, leaders across the aisle moved with renewed vigour to ensu
The Senate has confirmed Jay Clayton to become head of the nation's intelligence agencies, putting a permanent director in place weeks after President Donald Trump sought to delay his nomination. Clayton, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, was confirmed 51-47 along party lines. Republicans had initially hoped to confirm Clayton in June, but Trump delayed his hearing in order to allow his temporary pick for the job, Bill Pulte, to take over for several weeks after former director Tulsi Gabbard resigned. Senators from both parties have expressed concerns about Pulte, a former housing regulator who had no intelligence experience. Pulte was in charge when Trump delivered a speech from the White House earlier this month doubling down on his false claims about the 2020 election, which he lost, and released classified documents that he said were relevant to his arguments. Pulte has also said he has presided over a
The Senate is expected to confirm Jay Clayton on Tuesday to become head of the nation's intelligence agencies, ensuring that a permanent director is in place as the midterm elections approach. Clayton is expected to be confirmed along party lines after a contentious hearing two weeks ago in which he repeatedly refused to say that former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Still, Democrats have said they have more confidence in Clayton than they do in Trump's temporary pick for the job, Bill Pulte, who has no known intelligence experience and investigated the president's perceived enemies in his previous post as a federal housing regulator. Senators from both parties have expressed concerns about Pulte, who took over on an interim basis last month after Tulsi Gabbard resigned. Pulte was in charge when Trump delivered a speech from the White House earlier this month doubling down on his false claims about the 2020 election, which he lost, and released classified documents that h
The House adopted a Republican-only USD 95 billion budget proposal Wednesday, a long-shot effort to fund the Iran war and other White House priorities over objections from Democrats and a few GOP holdouts in a final push before the midterm elections. House Republicans were divided over the plan, with conservatives wary because there are no offsetting budget cuts. But Speaker Mike Johnson plunged ahead, viewing the go-it-alone process as the best chance to usher President Donald Trump's priorities through the split Congress, despite scepticism in the Senate. The vote tally was 216-214, with all Democrats opposed. "Just bullets and bombs to finish the job," said Rep Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, the chairman of the Budget Committee. Democrats argued the money should be spent at home, particularly on efforts to lower costs for Americans. "Republicans plan to spend tens of billions of dollars on Trump's failed war in Iran," said Rep Pete Aguilar of California, chairman of the House Democr
A bill seeking to impose 100 per cent tariffs on five countries, including India and China, for buying Russian oil, while exempting European nations purchasing gas from Moscow, was introduced in the US Senate with the support of over 60 lawmakers. The bill, introduced on Thursday, was conceived by Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal and late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. It is designed to deprive Russian President Vladimir Putin of revenue used to finance the war against Ukraine by imposing mandatory sanctions on Russia's political leadership, financial institutions, energy sector, and sanctions evasion networks. Blumenthal had said on Tuesday that the proposed legislation was aimed at imposing 100 per cent tariffs on five major purchasers of Russian oil -- China, India, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan. The text of the bill introduced in the Senate on Thursday imposes tariffs on imports from countries that are the world's top five purchasers of Russian crude oil or natural ga
Sen. Lindsey Graham's pursuit of a Russia sanctions bill has taken on renewed urgency after his death as colleagues look to pay tribute and build on the progress he made in gaining the White House's support for the measure. Supporters of Ukraine have been working for more than a year to pass a bill that would impose steep tariffs on goods from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas and other exports. They unveiled a revised measure Tuesday with the goal of depriving Russia of money it uses to fund its war against Ukraine. Some lawmakers worried the original bill was too broad and could harm the economies of some of the US' strongest allies that have also helped Ukraine. The White House wanted to ensure the president had adequate flexibility to waive sanctions when it is the national interest to do so. The revised bill attempts to address both concerns. The final bill more narrowly applies the tariffs to the world's top five purchasers of Russia oil or natural gas, according
Sen Lindsey Graham, one of President Donald Trump's closest allies in Congress who traveled the globe to advocate for a more aggressive US foreign policy, died after a rupture in his aorta, according to a preliminary medical examiner's finding shared by his office. The rupture was related to the hardening of Graham's arteries. An official cause of death will be disclosed after toxicological and microscopic testing. Graham, a prominent South Carolina Republican and former Air Force lawyer who served in Congress for more than three decades, had turned 71 years old just two days before dying on Saturday night. His office had originally said he had suffered from a "brief and sudden illness." Trump, who talked to Graham frequently, said he was "like a member of the family. It's very tough." He said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that Graham had called him on Saturday night after returning from a trip to Ukraine and "sounded a little bit tired, but perfect." The president ordered that flags ..