Tel Aviv/Gaza  - Israeli-Palestinian violence in and from the Gaza Strip showed no sign of letting up Saturday, as the Israel Air Force (IAF) attacked 40 targets in the salient, and artillery also opened fire, and militants in the enclave continued launching rockets at the Jewish state.

For the first time since the offensive began one week ago, Israeli guns positioned along the border opened up in the late afternoon in what could be an indication that the long-expected ground invasion is close.

The artillery barrage continued for several hours. It was unclear whether it was an artillery shell or an airstrike which hit a mosque in the north of the Strip in the late afternoon, killing 11 Palestinians and wounding 50 others, 24 of them seriously.

Nairobi/Accra - Ghana's opposition candidate John Atta Mills has emerged the victor from an incredibly tight run-off presidential election, Ghana's electoral commission announced Saturday.

Atta Mills, who was running for president for the third time, took 50.23 per cent of the vote, ensuring he will be the man to lead Ghana into the oil era.

The race was decided in the remote farming constituency of Tain, which could not complete its vote in Sunday's presidential run-off election due to problems distributing the ballots.

Prague  - The European Union Saturday threatened to bypass Russia and Ukraine for the bloc's gas needs if irregularities in Russian gas supplies via Ukraine persist in the future, Czech officials said.

Czech Vice-Premier for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra said the EU was ready to speed up work on Nord Stream and South Stream pipelines that would bring Russian gas to Europe without passing through Ukraine.

London - Big-spending Manchester City were the highest-profile casualties on third-round day in the FA Cup as they were humiliated 3-0 at home by struggling Championship side Nottingham Forest.

Chelsea were forced to a replay by League One side Southend, while Portsmouth and West Bromwich Albion were both held to draws by lowly opposition.

Tel Aviv  - Tens of thousands of Israeli Arabs in the northern Israeli town of Sakhnin demonstrated against the ongoing military offensive in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported Saturday.

Moscow/Kiev/Prague  - Russian natural gas deliveries fell in downstream markets on Saturday, drawing a sharp European Union demand that the Kremlin and Ukraine end a row over energy.

The volumes of Russian natural gas pumped via Ukrainian pipelines to Romania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia were all were reportedly down, with Romania registering a 33 per cent cut in deliveries.