Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday opened a controversial Hindu temple built on the ruins of a historic mosque in the northern city of Ayodhya, in a political triumph for the populist leader who is seeking to transform the country from a secular democracy into a Hindu state.

The temple is dedicated to Hinduism's Lord Ram and fulfills a long-standing demand by millions of Hindus who worship the revered deity and extoll him for the virtues of truth, sacrifice and ethical governance. Modi's party and other Hindu nationalist groups who seized on the demand have portrayed the temple as central to their vision of reclaiming Hindu pride, which they say was suppressed by centuries of Mughal rule and British colonialism.

A motorist was killed, tens of thousands of people were without electricity and hundreds of trains were canceled Monday after the latest in a wave of winter storms lashed Britain and Ireland with heavy rain and wind gusts of almost 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour.

The U.K.'s Met Office weather service issued an unusual blanket wind warning for the whole country before Storm Isha, which reached its peak overnight.

Authorities in Turkey are investigating eight bodies that washed up in the Mediterranean province of Antalya, including two found Monday on a beach in the vacation resort of Serik.

The Antalya governor's office said one body is believed to be a Turkish citizen who was reported missing. Authorities believe the seven other bodies discovered over the past week may be migrants from a boat that went missing off the coast near the Syria-Lebanon border last month on its way to Cyprus.

A landslide buried 47 people in a remote village in mountainous southwestern China on Monday, state media said. Hours later, two survivors were rescued amid freezing temperatures and falling snow.

The disaster struck just before 6 a.m. in the village of Liangshui in the northeastern part of Yunnan province. By evening, nine bodies were retrieved and about 500 people were evacuated from the area.

Egypt star Mohamed Salah is leaving the Africa Cup of Nations — at least temporarily — and returning to Liverpool for treatment on a muscle injury, the Premier League club announced late Sunday.

The influential forward was forced off during the first half of Egypt's 2-2 draw with Ghana in Thursday's Africa Cup group match, causing concern for club and country.

Iran's foreign minister will visit Pakistan next week, the two countries said Monday, following unprecedented attacks on either side of the border last week that appeared to target Baluch militant groups with similar separatist goals.

The countries accuse each other of providing a haven to the groups in their respective territories.

Iran is "very directly involved" in ship attacks that Yemen's Houthi rebels have carried out during Israel's war against Hamas, the U.S. Navy's top Mideast commander told The Associated Press on Monday.

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the Navy's 5th Fleet, stopped short of saying Tehran directed individual attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

On Monday, dozens of family members of the hostages stormed into a Finance Committee meeting in Israel's Parliament, yelling: “You won’t sit here while they are dying there!”

Families of the hostages, as well as other protesters, have set up a tent camp outside Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem and vowed to remain until a deal is reached to bring the rest of the hostages home. Other protests have called for new elections.

Hezbollah attacked overnight through Monday two Israeli forces near the Zar'it post and the Abu Djaj heights and another group of soldiers at the Raheb post as Israel hit several areas of southern Lebanon.

Israeli warplanes struck a two-story house in Shihine and the southern towns of Tayr Harfa, Merwahin and al-Taybeh.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister says the kingdom will not normalize relations with Israel or contribute to Gaza's reconstruction without a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan's remarks in an interview with CNN broadcast late Sunday were some of the most direct yet from Saudi officials. It puts them at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has rejected Palestinian statehood and described plans for open-ended military control over Gaza.