Eurotopics.net

On Thursday night Israel and Hamas agreed on a ceasefire which has been observed by both sides so far. UN Secretary-General Guterres welcomed the move and called for talks to begin without delay. Europe's press, however, doubts that lasting peace can be achieved.

The Arctic Council, which has the task of balancing the interests of the Arctic states and the indigenous peoples of the region, convened in Iceland on Thursday. Both the US and Russia, which has taken over the chairmanship of the body for the next two years, are intensifying their activities in the area surrounding the North Pole. Commentators call for climate protection to be given precedence over geostrategic interests.

At a meeting with his Serbian counterpart Alexandar Vučič, Czech President Miloš Zeman apologised to Serbia for the Nato bombing in 1999 - as a purely personal gesture, he said. Although the Czech Republic did not take part in the attacks, under then Prime Minister Zeman it did grant US fighter jets the right to fly over the Czech Republic. The nation's press is nonplussed.

The Belarusian authorities have blocked news website tut.by - the country's most popular online media outlet and one of the last independent sources of information. Its editorial offices and the flats of staff were also searched, and several employees were arrested. The official line is that they are suspected of tax fraud. The authorities justified the blocking of the website by saying that it had published "prohibited information".

Around 8,000 migrants have arrived in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta on the Moroccan coast in recent days. The government in Rabat apparently reduced the military controls on the border with the enclave in retaliation for Spain allowing Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario Front Western Sahara independence movement, to receive treatment in a Spanish hospital. Commentators suspect there is more behind this diplomatic crisis.