Gaza/Tel Aviv - Israel resisted mounting international calls Wednesday to cease hostilities in the Gaza Strip, with its security cabinet rejecting a French proposal for a
48-hour truce to allow humanitarian aid to flow into the enclave.

Vowing to continue until its goals were achieved and a "durable" solution was found to seven years of rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian militants from the coastal salient, there was no let up in Israeli airstrikes on the fifth day of the offensive.

Gaza - The head of Hamas' government in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya, called for an unconditional end to the five-day old Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip as the first step toward ending the violence.

Haniya, who gave a speech while in hiding that was broadcast by the pro-Hamas al-Aqsa television, also demanded and end to the blockade of Gaza, the reopening of crossings, and talks on Palestinian reconciliation.

Haniya and his Hamas lieutenants have gone underground over fears of being being targeted by Israeli warplanes.

Wellington - Falling petrol prices helped reduce the number of deaths on New Zealand's roads last year to the lowest figure in nearly half a century, the transport ministry reported on Thursday.

The 2008 road toll was 359, well down from 421 the previous year and 393 in 2006 and the lowest since 1959. Petrol in New Zealand is now at its cheapest for three years.

Amman - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks at the Red Sea resort of Aqaba Wednesday with Jordan's King Abdullah as part of regional tour aimed at ending the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Abdullah urged the world community "to move immediately to stop the Israeli aggression which represents a flagrant violation of humanitarian, legal and ethical standards", the statement said.

Bangkok - A fire that broke

Brussels - Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Wednesday called the head of the European Union's executive to set out her country's position in its gas row with Russia, less than two hours after her Russian counterpart did the same, EU officials said.

Tymoshenko called European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso to "inform him about the negotiations over the gas supply to Ukraine and the possible consequences for Europe," a statement released in Brussels said.