Main news of August 4

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* The Belarusian government denied rumors that Minsk had allegedly sold S-300 air defense systems to Iran

* Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad survived an assassination attempt when a hand grenade was thrown at his convoy, regional media reports said

* Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko expressed hope that his country and the United States could write a new page in bilateral relations

RUSSIA

* NASA satellites Terra and Aqua registered some 376 hotspots from wildfires across Russia, according to the ScanEx website where information from the satellites are sent

* There is no threat of a nuclear explosion at the Sarov Federal Nuclear Center surrounded by wildfires since all the explosive materials have been removed, the head of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency Rosatom said

* As wildfires continue to rage around Moscow, smog has cut visibility to 20 meters (65.6 feet) in the cities and towns to the east, south-east and north-east of the Russian capital

* The death toll from wildfires raging across central Russia has now risen to 48, the country's emergencies ministry said

BUSINESS

* Ukraine has suggested to Russia to expand its gas transit to Europe by upgrading the Ukrainian gas transport system, which will be much cheaper than constructing the South Stream pipeline

* The government commission on foreign investment approved contracts amounting to a total of almost $1 billion, the head of the Russian Anti-Monopoly Service said

* A Moscow ice cream plant holding the franchise of Baskin-Robbins, the world's largest chain of ice cream specialty shops, intends to supply its products to Europe in the medium term following approval from the European Commission, a company official said

* Russia will soon send revised terms for its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to interested WTO member states reflecting its plans to join as part of a customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, Moscow's chief WTO negotiator Maxim Medvedkov said

* BP's incoming head Robert Dudley is due in Russia for a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin

SPORTS

* Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor will come to Moscow as a Sports Envoy as part of an exchange conducted under the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission

* Zenit St. Petersburg progressed to the playoff round of the 2010/11 Champions League with a 1:0 win over Romania's Unirea Urziceni

* Zenit St. Petersburg have paid 22 million euros to sign Portuguese international Bruno Alves from Porto, setting a new domestic transfer record in the process, the Russian club said