Main News of August 02

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron and set an ambitious task to more than double bilateral trade

* Russian President Vladimir Putin said he regrets Kofi Annan’s resignation from the post of the UN and Arab League special envoy on Syria

* The new Egyptian government led by Prime Minister Hesham Qandil was sworn in before President Mohamed Morsi

* Kofi Annan is quitting his post as the UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said

* The U.S. Congress nearly unanimously passed a new package of sanctions against Iran punishing insurance and shipping companies and banks which help Iran to export its oil

RUSSIA

* Russia and Britain have almost similar views on some elements of the Syrian crisis and will work together to find possible solutions to the conflict, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London

* Russia’s Justice Ministry registered the Republican Party of Russia – People’s Freedom Party (RPR-PARNAS) political party, comprising the former People's Freedom Party and the Republican Party, the ministry said on its website

* Russians generally support a number of recently passed laws that impose restrictions on the freedoms of speech and assembly and on access to information, according to a poll by the independent Levada Center

SPORTS

* Russia’s Maria Sharapova reached the Olympic semifinals after beating Belgian veteran Kim Clijsters

* Tagir Khaibulaev gave Russia a gold medal with President Vladimir Putin in attendance

SOCIETY

* Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the Pussy Riot punk band for their performance in downtown Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral but said the punishment for them should not be “too harsh”

SCIENCE

* Russia and Britain are discussing a number of space projects, President Vladimir Putin said

* Russia’s Progress class space freighter automatically docked with the International Space Station just six hours after blasting off from Earth, a spokesman for Mission Control said