Tokyo  - The Japanese government on Friday sent 1 million dollars of relief goods to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, officials said.

Japan's assistance was aimed at helping make temporary shelters for civilian victims of Israel's military attacks on the strip, which destroyed thousands of homes.

It included 29,000 blankets, 20,000 sleeping mats and 8,000 plastic sheets and is to be sent to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

London - The British government was Thursday reported to be in talks with Barclays after the bank admitted that raising extra capital from the government could trigger a clause that would deliver control of the bank to its Middle East investors.

Barclays and HSBC are the two major British banks which have so far refused to join a massive recapitalization scheme offered by the government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown last October.

The prospect that Barclays, Britain's fourth-biggest lender, could be surrendered to Middle Eastern control has alarmed officials, newspaper reports said.

Vienna - Passenger numbers at troubled carrier Austrian Airlines declined by 1.1 per cent in 2008, as business caved in amid the global economic crisis in the third quarter, the company said Thursday.

Lufthansa is set to take over the Austrian flag carrier, pending approval from the European Commission.

The airline's long-distance flights were hit the hardest, with passenger numbers dropping 9.4 per cent year-on-year. In December, numbers fell by 13.1 per cent from the same month in 2007.

Bucking the trend, 6.2 per cent more seats were filled on flights to Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Gaza City /Tel Aviv  - Israel Navy gunboats opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Gaza Thursday morning, causing no fatalities but sending the fishing vessels scurrying back to shore, Israeli military officials and Palestinians said.

Palestinians said five people were injured by the Israeli gunfire.

An Israeli military spokesman in Tel Aviv said the Israeli ships fired "warning shots" when they noticed the Palestinian boats had sailed too far from shore.

Gaza City /Tel Aviv - Israel Navy gunboats opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Gaza Thursday morning, causing no fatalities but sending the fishing vessels scurrying back to shore, Israeli military officials and Palestinians said.

Palestinians said five people were injured by the Israeli gunfire.

An Israeli military spokesman in Tel Aviv said the Israeli ships fired "warning shots" when they noticed the Palestinian boats had sailed too far from shore.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama called four key leaders in the Middle East on Wednesday, his first full day in office, promising engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process from the start of his term as president.

Obama spoke with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, according to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.