Dubai - France midfielder Franck Ribery said Thursday he could not pledge to stay at Bayern Munich until the end of his contract in 2011.

"I have a four-year contract. But promise that I will fulfil it? That is difficult. You never know what will happen in football," he said at the team's training camp in Dubai.

Ribery, 25, has been in outstanding form for Bayern since moving to the Bundesliga club from Olympique Marseille for 25 million euros (34 million dollars) in summer 2007.

London - Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo emerged unscathed after his Ferrari was involved in an accident on Thursday.

The Portugal international crashed into a barrier as he was driving through a tunnel beneath the runways of Manchester airport.

Ronaldo gave a negative breath test to officers at the scene of the crash, the police said, and Manchester United said he was training as normal.

"He was involved in an incident this morning. No other cars were involved," a United spokesman said.

Belgrade/Budapest - Hungary would release a "certain" amount of natural gas from its reserves to neighbouring Serbia, President Boris Tadic announced in Belgrade.

Tadic said he arranged with Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany for an emergency delivery due to start in mid-afternoon. Only a day before a Serbian delegation returned from Budapest empty- handed, failing to secure a delivery from Hungarian reserves.

In Budapest, Gyurcsany confirmed that Hungary would sell between 1 and 2 million cubic metres of gas to Serbia daily, as long as the situation permits. That amount covers up to one-quarter of Serbia's needs.

Johannesburg - Several thousands in South Africa on Thursday took

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday in Paris that Israel must be given certain security guarantees before the fighting in the Gaza Strip can end.

"Certain conditions for a ceasefire must be created. The key is to give Israel security guarantees that arms smuggling across Egypt's border with Gaza will cease," Merkel told journalists after a meeting with Sarkozy.

Washington - US president-elect Barack Obama is expected to call for drastic measures to revive the ailing US economy on Thursday, even if that means tipping the US deficit over 1 billion dollars.

In prepared comments for a speech scheduled for 1600 GMT, Obama said the economic situation could deteriorate further and a recession last for years without government intervention. He said unemployment threatens to reach 10 per cent.