Russia:
* Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called his tandem with President Dmitry Medvedev an “effective instrument” but again refused to comment on his plans for 2012 election
* The Russian Air Force and NORAD, the U.S. and Canadian joint air defense command will hold a second round of anti-terrorism exercises on August 8-11, the Commander in Chief of the Eastern military district, Igor Muginov said
* Moscow hit out at a U.S. resolution that urges Russia “to remove its occupying forces from Abkhazia and South Ossetia”, calling it an ill-advised “PR move”
* The Russian Armed Forces have to reduce the consumption of fuel and lubricants due to rising prices, Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Dmitry Bulgakov said
World:
* U.S. President Barack Obama has said he had reached a deal with Republican and Democratic leaders to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by at least $2.1 trillion and avoid default
* The U.S. spends beyond its means and “lives like a parasite off the global economy,” Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said
* Egypt’s prosecutor general summoned ousted president Hosni Mubarak to appear in court to face charges he ordered the killing of protesters during February’s revolution, regional media said
* The use of force against both peaceful civilians and representatives of state structures in Syria is unacceptable and should be stopped immediately, the Russian Foreign Ministry said
* The mother of Anders Behring Breivik, the self-confessed perpetrator of last week’s twin terror attacks in Norway, is “shocked and devastated” over her son’s violence and “does not understand that her son may have done these things,” a Norwegian prosecutor has said
* Five people were killed when a powerful bomb went off in a market in the Indian state of Manipur, police said
Business:
* Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of energy giant Gazprom, has bought a 30 percent stake in a project to develop four blocks on the Cuban shelf of the Gulf of Mexico, the company said
*Up to a hundred small Russian airlines could face bankruptcy in the next few months, if the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) brings in new rules tightening minimum requirements for scheduled airlines