What happened
Israel is demanding the release of all 50 hostages still thought to be in Gaza, casting doubt on a ceasefire plan agreed by Hamas. The 60-day truce proposal, brokered by Egypt and Qatar, would see about half the hostages freed in stages alongside prisoner exchanges and partial Israeli withdrawals.

Who said what
Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned against giving "a lifeline to the enemy". In contrast, Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said the deal aimed to pave the way for a permanent ceasefire, while Qatar described it as "98%" similar to a US plan that Israel had accepted.

Growing protests in Israel have "exposed a yawning chasm between many Israelis and the unpopular hard-line government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu", said Isabel Kershner in The New York Times. The Israeli public is "particularly divided" over Netanyahu's twin goals in Gaza: eliminating Hamas and releasing the remaining 50 hostages, which many experts say are "incompatible".

What next?
With Hamas having accepted the current ceasefire proposal, the "ball is in Netanyahu's court", said Foreign Policy. Mediators now await Israel's formal response – while its cabinet prepares to approve a Gaza City offensive later this week.

What happened
The oldest son of Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit has been charged with 32 offences, including four counts of rape, domestic abuse, assault and filming the genitals of women without their consent. Marius Borg Høiby, 28, became the stepson of Crown Prince Haakon when his mother married the heir to the Norwegian throne in 2001.

Who said what
Describing the case as "very serious", state prosecutor Sturla Henriksbø said equality before the law meant that Borg Høiby (pictured above) would not receive special treatment. But the scandal "poses a significant problem for the Norwegian royal family and is the most high-profile sexual offences case in the country's modern history", said The Telegraph. Borg Høiby was recently stripped of his diplomatic passport, the existence of which had "itself caused controversy because he is not a working royal", having withdrawn from public life at the age of 20.

What next?
The trial is expected to begin early next year and should take about six weeks. If found guilty, Borg Høiby faces up to 10 years in prison.

"On classroom walls from Lagos to London", the standard map of the world depicts an "inflated Britain at the centre" and a dramatically "shrunken Africa", said The Times.

But this could soon change. The African Union has thrown its weight behind a "correct the map" campaign, calling for an end to the use of the standard Mercator map in favour of one that accurately reflects the scale of the world's second-largest continent.

"It might seem to be just a map," said Selma Haddadi of the African Union Commission, "but in reality it is not."

Created in 1569 by Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator, the world map commonly used today "did a good job" of depicting the general shape of countries, said USA Today. But when trying to map a spherical planet on to a flat piece of paper, "something's got to give". In the case of the Mercator map and its successors, "what gives is the size of places near the poles", which become distended compared to land masses nearer the Equator.

The result? A map that "disproportionately" enlarges the "rich and powerful regions of the world", said Al Jazeera.

The Mercator projection is still "widely used" by "schools and tech companies" alike, but there has been progress towards adopting a more accurate map. The World Bank says it is "phasing out" the Mercator map, while the desktop version of Google Maps switched "to a 3D globe view in 2018, although users can still switch back to the Mercator if they prefer" and it remains the default view on the mobile app.