Main News of February 6

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours.

WORLD

* The United States closed its embassy in Syria and pulled out its staff, including Ambassador Robert Ford, over security concerns, the State Department said

*Anders Breivik, the Norwegian right-wing extremist who killed 77 people in twin attacks in July, asked an Oslo district court on Monday to release him immediately, Norway media said.

*Ukraine has suggested reducing its consumption of Russian gas to satisfy Europe with above-contract demands of the blue fuel, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said.

*Sauli Niinisto, a candidate of Finland’s moderate conservative National Coalition Party won Sunday’s presidential elections, ending the 30-year-long period of Social Democratic Party presidents.

RUSSIA

*Russia defended on Monday its rejection of a UN resolution condemning the violent crackdown in Syria, saying the UN Security Council was too hasty in putting it to a vote.

*Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday dismissed the idea of a political amnesty because there are no political prisoners in the country.

*After decades of drilling , Russian scientists have finally managed to pierce through Antarctica’s ice sheet to reveal the secrets of a unique sub-glacial lake, Vostok, that has been sealed there for the past 20 million years, a scientific source said.

*Russian Prime Minister and presidential frontrunner Vladimir Putin called for anti-corruption and pro-democracy measures in his new article, “Democracy and the Quality of State,” published on Monday in the Kommersant business daily.