Main News of June 27

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his country is in "a state of war" and ordered his new cabinet to spare no effort in crushing the 15-month-old uprising against his rule, al Jazeera television reported

* U.S. Republican Senator John McCain said he expected President Barack Obama to consider additional sanctions in the case of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky’s death in 2009

RUSSIA

* Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted a bill to parliament bringing reform to the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament

* Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will be the first prize winner of the Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker Award, German news portal Presseportal.de has reported

* Russian opposition movements have discussed the possibility of teaming up in upcoming regional elections, former finance minister Alexei Kudrin said

BUSINESS

* Ukraine’s national energy company Naftogaz has agreed with Gazprom to import 27 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia next year, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Boiko said