Israel has freed six of 27 passengers and crew who were aboard two ships intercepted by its navy while trying to run the Jewish state's blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, an official said on Saturday.

Commandos boarded the Irish-flagged Saoirse (Freedom) and the Canadian ship Tahrir (Arabic for Liberation) in international waters off Gaza on Friday before the navy escorted them to the port of Ashdod, the military said.

Petra Kvitova helped give the Czech Republic a 1-0 lead in their Fed Cup final encounter with hosts Russia after beating Maria Kirilenko in straight sets here on Saturday.

The 21-year-old left-hander, who is currently ranked second in the world, won 6-2, 6-2 in one hour 10 minutes to record her first win over Kirilenko in their third meeting.

Andy Rooney, 92, a U.S. television legend for his weekly rants on "60 Minutes," has died following complications after minor surgery, his former employer announced early Saturday.

CBS News said Rooney had passed away late Friday at a hospital in New York City.

France's year-long G20 term stumbled to a messy end at the Cannes summit, where President Nicolas Sarkozy's dreams of reforming world finance were torpedoed by the eurozone debt crisis.

The leaders of the world's most powerful economies cobbled together a list of promised measures to boost growth and reinforce the IMF, but the statement was short on detail and all eyes were fixed on Rome and Athens.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou Saturday was to start talks on forming a national crisis government to stave off bankruptcy in his debt-laden country after winning a nail-biting confidence vote.

In a dramatic late-night parliament session that began Friday evening and went well into the early hours of Saturday morning, Papandreou also hinted he would step aside in the interest of national unity.

India's prime minister returned from abroad on Saturday to face a political revolt over a petrol price increase with a key coalition ally threatening to withdraw support unless the hike is reversed.

The regional Trinamool Congress, the second-largest party in the coalition with 19 lawmakers, said it may quit the ruling alliance unless Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rolls back the price rise.

Europe will need a decade to clean up its finances and emerge from the current debt crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared Saturday.

Resolving the debt crisis "is a path which calls for much effort, and along which we will have to advance step by step," Merkel said the day after the end of a G20 summit in Cannes, France, which was dominated by the issue.

Paris Saint-Germain have confirmed to AFP that they are in "discussions" over the signing of David Beckham but that they are not in a position to confirm anything at the moment.

Beckham, 36, will be freed from his Los Angeles Galaxy contract in a matter of days and has expressed interest in the project that PSG are assembling with the huge financial backing of owners Qatar Sports Investments (QSI).

The jury in the manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray failed Friday to reach a verdict on its first day of deliberations, and will reconvene next week.

The seven men and five women went home and will resume their reflections on Monday on whether the 58-year-old medic is guilty of involuntary manslaughter over the star's June 25, 2009 death.

Harmful carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels made their biggest ever annual jump in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's latest world data released this week.

China led the way with a spike of 212 million metric tons of carbon in 2010 over 2009, compared to 59 million metric tons more from the United States and 48 million metric tons more from India in the same period.