Main News of August 2

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

RUSSIA

 

* Investigators said a sect may be involved in the death of five people in the Russian Tula region, the head of the region's Investigative Committee, Tatiana Sergeyeva, said

 

* Just two weeks after racy Moscow students vowed to strip for Premier Vladimir Putin, glamorous female activists have come out in equally risqué support of President Dmitry Medvedev

WORLD

 

* The UN Security Council may impose tough sanctions against the Syrian government, the head of the Russian upper house's international affairs committee said

 

* Russian investigators have rejected some of the key findings of a Polish report into the crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski last year

 

* Egypt's ousted president Hosni Mubarak will be transferred on Wednesday from a Red Sea resort to Cairo to stand trial on charges that he ordered the killing of protesters during February's revolution, regional media said

 

* The U.S. Senate passed a bill raising the debt ceiling signed by President Barack Obama