Israel and Hamas have agreed to pause fighting in Gaza and release at least some hostages and prisoners in an agreement that was put forward by the Trump administration and would represent the biggest breakthrough in months in the devastating two-year-old war.

In a historic development for the Indian diaspora, California has designated Diwali as an official state holiday, becoming the third state in the US to officially recognise the Indian festival of lights as a holiday.

The White House clarified on Monday that no US government employees have been laid off “right now.” Stepping back from President Donald Trump’s earlier remarks suggesting that job losses were already underway due to the ongoing federal shutdown, officials, however, cautioned that layoffs could occur if Congress fails to restore government funding soon.

 John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis won the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for research into quantum mechanical tunnelling.

In one of her final recorded interviews, legendary primatologist Jane Goodall humorously suggested sending several world leaders and billionaires on a one-way trip into space, comparing their aggressive traits to those of alpha male chimpanzees.

The Vatican’s top diplomat, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, has strongly criticised Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, describing it as an “ongoing massacre” of a defenceless population. His remarks, published on Monday, mark one of the Catholic Church’s most severe condemnations of Israel’s actions since the war began.

Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.

France's new prime minister Sebastien Lecornu resigned on Monday, just a day after naming his government and after only two weeks in office.