Washington - As US President George W Bush's eight years in office near the end, he plans to lunch with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday at the White House.

At the top of the agenda will be the future of the United Nations and remaining challenges such as UN reform, the Middle East, Burma, Somalia, and peacekeeping in Darfur, said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe in a statement.

First Lady Laura Bush will also join the affair.

Gaza/Tel Aviv - After a week of relentless Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip, Israeli ground troops along the Gaza border are readying for an order for an incursion.

Since Israel launched its offensive shortly after 11 am (0900 GMT) last Saturday, its air force has destroyed more than 700 targets, a military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said Friday.

At least 100 smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt, as well as police stations, offices, houses, vehicles and rocket launching-, storing- and production sites belonging to the radical Islamic Hamas movement and its activists, were hit, many more than once.

After one week, the Israel Air Force's "pool of targets are close to exhaustion," one Israeli government official said.

Washington - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Friday charged that Hamas is holding the people of Gaza hostage and warned that a ceasefire, to be acceptable, must be "durable."

She said a "durable and sustainable" ceasefire would be one which would not allow Hamas to "continue to launch rockets out of Gaza."

"We're going to continue our work toward a ceasefire that will not allow a return to the status quo ante and that will be durable," Rice told reporterse after briefing US President George W Bush.

Vienna - Around 6,000 protesters gathered in Vienna on Friday to protest Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, according to police estimates, in a demonstration largely organized by Muslim groups.

While most signs carried by demonstrators read "Stop the massacre in Gaza," some in the crowd in Vienna's city centre had placards saying: "I have a dream: A world without Israel."

"Many people must scream," said Reyep Imanz, a 24-year-old immigrant from Turkey. "Maybe Israel's president hears us and calls back his army."

Some 400,000 Muslims live in Austria, accounting for over 4 per cent of the population. Many of them have their roots in Turkey and the former Yugoslavia.

Brussels  - The Belgian parliament on Friday approved a new government made up of the same five political parties that formed the last ruling coalition, bringing at least a temporary end to the country's long-running political instability.

Lawmakers approved the formation of the government by a majority of 88 votes to 45, with no abstentions, parliamentary officials confirmed.

London - Manchester City have agreed a fee with Chelsea to sign their full back Wayne Bridge, manager Mark Hughes confirmed on Friday.

"My understanding is the clubs have agreed a fee," Hughes said, with the deal expected to be around 12 million pounds.

"We need to speak to the boy and try to agree personal terms. If we can do that hopefully Wayne will be a Manchester City player, that's the aim.

"Wayne will probably travel to Manchester this evening and hopefully negotiations will go well and he can have a medical tomorrow.

"Hopefully if the deal can be concluded I'll be absolutely delighted to welcome him to Manchester City."