Following last Thursday's approval by Israel and Hamas on an agreement which includes the release of Israeli hostages and a ceasefire, the mediating states signed an accord on Gaza in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Monday, after more than two years of war. Further steps towards peace are now to be negotiated. Commentators voice a mixture of scepticism and hope.

Last Friday, Estonian border guards reported sightings of several heavily armed soldiers without insignia in the Saatse Boot area, where the road to the village of Saatse runs through Russian territory for one kilometre. The Estonian authorities closed the road as a precautionary measure. The incident has reignited the debate over whether the Baltic states are under threat.

After resigning, Sébastien Lecornu has been appointed French prime minister for a second time. However, several key portfolios in his cabinet remain in the hands of the previous incumbents. The government policy statement and 2026 draft budget due to be presented today will now be decisive, as both the far left and far right opposition groups in parliament have already tabled motions of no confidence which will likely be put to vote on Wednesday.

In local elections in Portugal on Sunday, the two major parties, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro's centre-right PSD and the Socialist Party (PS), won a majority of the votes in most cities and municipalities. By contrast, the right-wing populist Chega party, which had emerged as the main opposition party in the parliamentary elections in May, fell far short of expectations in these elections.

The Gaza ceasefire deal is to be signed on Monday afternoon in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh, with US President Donald Trump in attendance. The remaining living Israeli hostages who have been held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the massacre on 7 October 2023 were all released this morning. Commentators examine the chances of a lasting peace.

The decision to award this year's Nobel Peace Prize to María Corina Machado, a long-time opposition activist in Venezuela who has been in hiding for over a year for safety reasons, has put the conflict between the Maduro regime and the opposition back into the spotlight. The media discuss whether she deserves the prestigious award.

Transnistria, the unrecognised breakaway region of Moldova, has once again been left with barely any gas or electricity. Russia is having major difficulties paying for natural gas deliveries from Moldova to Transnistria now that payments previously processed via Dubai and Hungary have come to a standstill as a result of sanctions. Will the energy crisis force the pro-Russian separatist region to reach an agreement with Chişinău after 34 years of de facto independence?

Israel's government has agreed to implement the first phase of the US plan to end the war in the Gaza Strip. The terrorist organisation Hamas had previously agreed to US President Trump's proposal, which provides for the withdrawal of the Israeli army and the release of all Israeli hostages and around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Commentators voice scepticism and hope.

Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai (71) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday. Krasznahorkai, who has achieved worldwide fame with novels such as "Satantango" and "Melancholy of Resistance", had already won the International Booker Prize in 2015. He is a controversial figure in Hungary because of his harsh criticism of Viktor Orbán's government.

The winners of the 2025 Nobel prizes have been announced by the Swedish and Norwegian institutions responsible for awarding them. Four of the ten winners in the categories of physics, chemistry, medicine and literature come from the US, two from Japan and one each from the UK, France, Australia and Hungary. The media discuss the significance of the awards as "Nobel Prize Week" draws to an end.

Panos Routsis, the father of a 22-year-old victim of the Tempi train crash in February 2023, ended his 23-day hunger strike outside the Greek Parliament on Tuesday after the Prosecutor's Office ordered new DNA and toxicological tests to confirm his son's identity and the exact cause of death. The investigation into the tragedy in which 57 people died remains a highly emotional issue in Greece.

France's leadership seems confident that the government crisis will soon be resolved. A new prime minister could be appointed by Friday evening, the Élysée Palace has stated. Macron and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who resigned on Monday, are now trying to get the Socialists on board. The latter are demanding that the country's controversial pension reform be withdrawn.