Politics

Israel opened the border to the first post-war truckloads of rebuilding material for Gaza on Tuesday and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon lamented what he called destruction "beyond description" in the Palestinian enclave.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel on Monday to scrap plans to expand settlements in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as the capital of a future state, and urged both sides to return rapidly to peace talks.

Behind thick glass in a laboratory nestled in French woodland, a silvery molten metal swirls like a liquid mirror. But the material is no mere novelty; as dangerous as it is captivating, it could offer a solution to the nuclear power debate.

The leader of Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement rounded off a three-day party rally on Sunday with renewed calls for a referendum on the euro and an angry attack on Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's labor reform plans.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian troops to withdraw to their permanent bases after military exercises in Rostov region near the border with Ukraine, the Kremlin said, in a sign of some tension easing before a key meeting next week.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Sunday for a renewed commitment to achieving Middle East peace, saying a lasting deal between Israel, the Palestinians and all their neighbors was possible.

Egypt, which brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza after a 50-day war, used a reconstruction conference in Cairo on Sunday to call for a wider peace deal based on a 2002 Arab initiative.

Cyclone Hudhud, packing gusts of up to 195 kilometers an hour (over 120 mph), reached peak strength and caused extensive damage to India's eastern seaboard on Sunday morning.

It was expected to hit the coast with full force around noon local time.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Saturday he expected planned talks with Russia's President Vladimir Putin next week in Italy to be difficult but said Moscow had a crucial role to play in bringing peace to his country.

Hundreds of student activists camped overnight at major protest sites in Hong Kong as the democracy movement sought to regather momentum after the government called off talks with its leaders aimed at defusing unrest in the global financial hub.