S Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said

HUMANITARIAN DEMANDS According to the Palestinian Statistics Bureau, some 4,000 residential buildings were reduced to rubble during the conflict. Western diplomats have said it could cost at least $1.6 billion to repair the infrastructure damage in Gaza. "I don't know what sort of future I have now only God knows my future after this," said Amani Kurdi, a 19-year-old student, as she surveyed the wreckage of Gaza's Islamic University, where she had studied science. Hamas officials, during talks with Egyptian mediators, said the faction demanded the opening of all Gaza's border crossings for the entry of materials, food, goods and basic needs. French President Nicolas Sarkozy joined on Sunday by leaders of Germany, Britain, Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic as current president of the EU for talks with Olmert called on Israel to open Gaza's borders to aid as soon as possible. Olmert said Israel wanted out of Gaza as soon as possible and his spokesman, Mark Regev, said "enormous amounts" of aid could be allowed in if the quiet holds. In Israel, which lost 10 troops in combat and three civilians to rocket attacks, the offensive was popular and bolstered the prospects of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak before a Feb 10 election.

Yet opinion polls still predict an easy win for right-wing opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who had opposed Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza after 38 years of occupation, arguing that it would embolden hardline Palestinian Islamists. Though much of the international community shuns Hamas, it has strong grassroots support and Gaza's suffering threatened to sap the credibility of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his efforts to negotiate peace with Israel. "The goal remains a durable and fully respected ceasefire that will lead to stabilisation and normalisation in Gaza," U.S Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. A spokeswoman for Obama said he welcomed the Gaza truce and would say more about the Gaza situation after he is inaugurated. (Adds details) Stocks Asian Markets TOKYO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average rose1.1 percent on Monday on a softer yen and after Wall Streetgained, with shares in exporters such as Honda Motor Co (7267.T)advancing The Nikkei .N225 added 88.11 points to 8,318.26.

By Patrick Lannin RIGA, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Standing in the X-ray room of the gleaming private clinic he opened last year, Leons Platacis is an incongruous champion for youths who rioted in Latvia last week, part of a wave of European protests. The Latvian businessman, who set up the clinic with his doctor wife, said it is managing to grow despite increasingly cautious banks, whose refusal to lend created a cash squeeze that has forced him to lay off five of his 20 staff But he is frustrated. Platacis and others like him in European Union countries from Greece to Bulgaria show how the economic crisis has dashed hopes for prosperity among the middle-classes and young people, compounding resentment of governments already exposed by perceived nepotism, arrogance and corruption. "We now have a situation like at the end of the Soviet period," he told Reuters, gesticulating as nurses outside escorted visitors along the freshly decorated hallways "It is them and us. We are not a united society with a clear vision and leaders we can trust." The Latvian capital was one of several where youths last week went on the rampage after a peaceful protest against the centre-right government, in power since the start of 2008. Platacis said he disagreed with their actions but understood their motives.