Ramallah  - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Saturday for the United Nations Security Council to hold an urgent meeting to stop the Israeli air and ground offensives on the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement that Abbas called on the Security Council to convene immediately "to halt and stop the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip."

"President Abbas intensified his contacts with Arab and foreign countries to stop the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip without any preconditions," Erekat said.

Wellington  - A 26-year-old New Zealander was recovering Sunday after spending 24 hours swept out to sea by a storm when his jetski broke down.

Nathan Maclure was picked up 13 kilometres off the coast of the South Island on Saturday evening when a Russian trawler came across him in what police described as the "good luck story of the year."

Maclure, who took his jetski out for a spin Friday in a river estuary, survived two severe storms that pelted him with hail and was menaced by three sharks, attracted by jellyfish swimming underneath him.

He fell off his jetski twice before he managed to rope himself to it and told the Sunday Star-Times, "I was really scared."

Beirut  - The Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah called late Saturday on Hamas to "defeat Israel and kill as many Israeli soldiers as they can."

"Hamas will defeat Israel in ground attack," Hezbollah chief told his followers in Beirut's southern suburbs during the Shiite religious ceremony of Ashoura.

Nasrallah urged Hamas to inflict heavy losses on the Israeli soldiers who launched a ground operation in the Gaza Strip after eight days of attacks by air and sea on the region.

"It is by inflicting the biggest possible losses on the Israeli enemy during the ground confrontation that (Hamas) will win the battle," Nasrallah told an Ashoura gathering.

Madrid  - Spanish leaders Barcelona kicked off 2009 with a 3- 1 comeback at home over lowly Mallorca, a win that leaves them with a 13-point lead.

Record-breaking Barca now have 44 points from 17 games - the highest-ever total at this stage of the season - 13 more than second- place Sevilla, who are at home Sunday to bottom team Osasuna.

"It was a great way for us to start the year," said Thierry Henry, scorer of Barca's first goal.

Barca coach Josep Guardiola raised eyebrows by leaving Lionel Messi - who returned late from holiday - in the stands, and Daniel Alves on the bench. The tight win, however, tends to vindicate his "rotation" policy, though his team did not play particularly well.

Jakarta/Washington  - An underwater earthquake early Sunday off the coast of eastern Indonesia registered a magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale, the US Geological Survey reported.

Gaza  - The Islamic Hamas movement warned Israel Saturday night that by sending ground troops into the Gaza Strip it was falling into "the trap that our fighters had prepared for its soldiers and t