Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there is “some progress” in efforts to reach a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza, although he added he could not give a time frame for a possible agreement.

Of the roughly 250 people who were taken hostage in the Hamas-led raid on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that sparked the war, around 100 are still inside the Gaza Strip, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office.

The move spares the lives of people convicted in killings, including the slayings of police and military officers, people on federal land and those involved in deadly bank robberies or drug deals, as well as the killings of guards or prisoners in federal facilities.

Mourners laid flowers near the scene of the deadly Christmas market attack on Monday as investigators puzzled over the motive of the suspect and fears swirled that the rampage could deepen divisions in German society.

The Johanniskirche, a church a short walk from the scene of the attack, has become a central place of mourning since the suspect drove a car into the busy market on Friday evening, killing five people. A carpet of flowers now covers the broad sidewalk in front of the church.

Long-horned cattle wade through flooded lands and climb a slope along a canal that has become a refuge for displaced families in South Sudan. Smoke from burning dung rises near homes of mud and grass where thousands of people now live after floods swept away their village.

"Too much suffering," said Bichiok Hoth Chuiny, a woman in her 70s. She supported herself with a stick as she walked in the newly established community of Pajiek in Jonglei state north of the capital, Juba.

Kylian Mbappé added to his scoring streak with a superb strike in Real Madrid's 4-2 win over Sevilla in the Spanish league on Sunday to finish the year on a positive note after hitting what he called "rock bottom" in early December.

Mbappé sent a right-footed shot into the upper corner 10 minutes into the match for his fourth goal in as many games with Madrid in all competitions. It was Mbappé's sixth goal in his last eight matches with Madrid.

Liverpool heads into Christmas with a four-point lead, a game in hand and as the overwhelming title favorite in the Premier League on the back of a wild 6-3 win at Tottenham on Sunday.

As for Manchester United and its new manager Ruben Amorim, they stumble into the festive period in 13th place — as low as they've been at Christmas since the 1989-90 season — and with a familiar sinking feeling.

France marked a national day of mourning Monday for the victims of Cyclone Chido, which devastated the French overseas department of Mayotte earlier this month. Flags were flown at half-staff across the country, and a minute of silence was observed.

The cyclone, the most destructive to hit Mayotte in 90 years, caused extensive damage to the island, known as France's poorest territory, and left 35 dead and around 2,500 injured. The actual toll is likely much higher due to the widespread destruction of infrastructure and precarious living conditions.

Stepping onto the set of "Squid Game" season two, Lee Jong-jae felt like he had never left.

"Including promotion, I'd been living with Gi-hun for about two years," said Lee in a recent interview. "I really felt like I was him," he said in a recent interview.

On the walls of the palatial mausoleum built to house the remains of former Syrian President Hafez Assad, vandals have sprayed variations of the phrase, "Damn your soul, Hafez."

Nearly two weeks after the ouster of his son, Bashar Assad, people streamed in to take photos next to the burned-out hollow where the elder Assad's grave used to be. It was torched by rebel fighters after a lightning offensive overthrew Assad's government, bringing more than a half-century rule by the Assad dynasty to an end.

The British economy flatlined in the third quarter of the year, according to downwardly revised official figures Monday, in another blow to the new Labour government that has made growth its number one mission.

In its latest revision of the July to September period, the Office for National Statistics said the British economy showed no growth against the previous estimate of 0.1%.