London - Britain's Barclays bank said in London Friday it plans to raise some 7.3 billion pounds (11.8 billion dollars) in fresh capital from investors, mostly from the Middle East, thereby avoiding a cash hand-out from the British government.

The investments would mostly come from state funds in the Gulf state of Qatar and the royal family of Abu Dhabi, but also from existing shareholders and institutional investors.

The investors would own 32 per cent of the bank after the capital injection.

Barclays said the move fulfilled the British government's strict regulations for raising capital.

Gaza City - A Palestinian policeman was killed early Friday in an explosion in the police headquarters in Gaza City, according to an official in the de-facto Hamas government.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Ihab Ghussein said the powerful explosion killed Ala Ijleh, 20, from Gaza City.

He said Ijleh, who belongs to the bomb squad in the police force, was killed while attempting to detonate an explosive device discovered in the bomb squad section of the Arafat Police City.

No one else was hurt in the explosion, which sparked a fire in the building, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Palestinian fighters engaged an Israeli force which crossed the southern Gaza border with Israel near the town of Khuza'a, east of Khan Younis.

Cairo - Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora denied on Thursday any Egyptian mediation to resume negotiations between Lebanon and Israel on the lines of Turkey's role in Syrian-Israeli talks.

Seniora, who was speaking at a joint press conference with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa in Cairo, said that "no such thing is taking place."

Istanbul - Isolating Iran and Syria is a misguided strategy, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Thursday during an opening speech at the World Economic Forum in Istanbul.

"Dialogue between countries in the region is better than pressure from outside," he said.

Though his speech did not name the United States specifically, his comments were considered to be aimed directly as US policy.

Washington - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heads to the Middle East next week for discussions on the peace process with Israeli and Palestinian officials, the State Department said Thursday.

Rice will travel to the region on Wednesday, one day after the US presidential election, for meetings in Israel, the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt during the five-day trip, spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Tel Aviv - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered the crossing points into the Gaza Strip to be shut Thursday, after militants in the salient fired a Qassam rocket at southern Israel.

The rocket, fired from the north of the strip toward the nearby Israeli town of Sderot, caused neither damage nor injuries, an Israeli military spokesman said.

Militants had also fired a rocket on Thursday, causing Barak to take a similar decision regarding the crossing points.