Main News of August 1

Roundup of what has happened over the last 24 hours

WORLD

* Russia launched a Progress class space freighter on a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS), Mission Control said

*As Ukraine marks the official start of the campaign season this week for the October 28 parliamentary election, all eyes have turned to President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, which will fight to keep its control over parliament amid growing criticism at home and abroad

*Belarusian special forces will be equipped with ultralight aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) by 2015, the Defense Ministry said on its website

*Uzbekistan’s lower house of Parliament passed President Islam Karimov's new foreign policy strategy, which rules out Tashkent’s membership in any military alliances and bans foreign military bases on Uzbek territory, Central Asian Fergana News Agency reported

*American foster parents Kathleen and Martin O'Brien were formally charged in a court in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on Tuesday with 17 counts of child abuse and disorderly conduct for severe, protracted mistreatment of their adopted children, most of whom were Russian-born, RAPSI news agency reported

RUSSIA

*Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed that Russia would continue its support of the NATO military operation to ensure order and security in the troubled Central Asian country

*Russian investigators suspect that some of opposition lawmaker Gennady Gudkov’s business dealings ran afoul of the law, Russia's Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told reporters

*Moscow’s Khamovniki Court requested journalists refrain from reporting verbatim witness testimony from the courtroom in the trial of all-female punk band Pussy Riot, court press secretary Daria Lyakh said

*Russian billionaire and social media investor Yury Milner began offering multimillion-dollar prizes for achievements in fundamental physics, a move that could turn him into a role model for the rich in Russia

*Russia’s Baltic Shipyard has started metal cutting for the hull of the first Mistral class amphibious assault ship being built in France for the Russian Navy, the United Shipbuilding Corporation said

*Access to the RIA Novosti website has been blocked in Tajikistan, a spokesman for a local internet provider said, claiming that the measure has been ordered by Tajik authorities

SPORTS

*An appeal by four South Korean badminton players against their disqualification from the Olympics for match-fixing has been rejected, the head of the Badminton World Federation said

*The Chinese pair of Luo Yutong and Qin Kai won the men's three-meter synchronized springboard diving, ensuring that Chinese divers won all four synchronized events for the second Olympics running

*Serena Williams thrashed Russian No. 2 Vera Zvonareva in the third round of the Olympic tennis tournament

*American rider Kristin Armstrong charged to victory in the women’s Olympic cycling time trial

*Ukraine charged to Olympic rowing gold in the women's quadruple sculls on Wednesday, beating the world champion Germans by clear water

*The British pair of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning gave the host nation their first gold medal of the London Olympics with victory in the women’s pair rowing