There were "chaotic but joyous" scenes in Ramallah yesterday as more than 100 Palestinian prisoners were freed from Israel's Ofer prison as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

The prisoners were "met by a huge crowd" in the city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, who'd "gathered to welcome their release", said the BBC.

Who are they?
The West Bank "erupted in celebrations" earlier this month after 90 Palestinian prisoners – 69 women and 21 children – were released from Israeli jails, said Al Jazeera. Only eight of them had been arrested before 7 October 2023, the day of the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Why were they jailed?
Among those released yesterday was Zakaria Zubeidi (pictured above), the former leader of a Palestinian militant group who was jailed for attacks that killed several Israelis. Also freed was Abu Warda, who helped organise a series of suicide bombings that killed more than 40 people and wounded more than 100 others. He'd been arrested in 2002 and sentenced to 48 terms of life imprisonment, among the longest jail terms Israel has ever handed down.

Earlier this month, Khalida Jarrar, leader of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and a feminist activist, was one of the most prominent prisoners released. She'd served jail terms in Israel since 2015 for "being vocal about Palestinian prisoner rights" and being affiliated with an "outlawed" party that is considered a "terrorist" group by Israel, said Al Jazeera.

What happens to them now?
"Scores" of Palestinians "thronged" the buses carrying released prisoners into Ramallah yesterday, said PBS News. Some of the prisoners convicted of particularly serious crimes are not being allowed to return to the occupied Palestinian territories by the Israelis. Instead they're being sent to Egypt and other neighbouring countries.

Why are so many Palestinian children in Israeli jails?
The release of Palestinian child prisoners brought into focus Israel's "systematic" prosecution of Palestinian children in military courts, said Al Jazeera.

It is claimed that 320 children were being held in Israeli prisons before the latest prisoner exchanges, and an estimated 10,000 Palestinian children have been held in Israeli military detention over the past 20 years, according to rights groups.

"With 13 Oscar nominations and at least three probable wins, Jacques Audiard's 'Emilia Pérez' hardly needs additional praise at this point," said Tim Robey in The Telegraph. "That's lucky, since most people would rather be caught dead than bestow any."

The French director's musical crime drama tells the story of Mexican cartel boss Emilia (played by Karla Sofía Gascón), who fakes death, then undergoes gender-transition surgery and campaigns for victims of the drug war. The film, set mostly in Mexico, is the most nominated foreign-language film in Oscars history. Gascón is the first openly transgender actor nominated for an Oscar. But the film has also been "roundly discredited from every angle you could imagine". 

'Tour de force of disaster'
If it wins Best Picture, it would be "the lowest critic-scored movie to do so since 'Crash'", said Paul Tassi on Forbes. The film has become "nothing short of a meme". And rightly so, said Jack Hamilton on Slate. Its 132 minutes "unfold like a glittering and garish tour de force of disaster, a relentless procession of terrible ideas, terribly executed". In both content and form, the film is an "abomination".

It's also been deemed "wildly offensive". Queer critics are "concerned if not completely baffled", said Kyndall Cunningham on Vox. Even LGBTQ+ advocacy organisation GLAAD called the film "a step backward for trans representation". Mexicans have denounced the "regressive and lazy" depiction of their country, and the film's inauthenticity. None of the stars was born in Mexico while the film was shot mostly in Paris. Mexican screenwriter Héctor Guillén called it a "racist Eurocentric mockery". 

'Ostensibly inclusive credentials'
This film is "objectively poor", said The Economist. So why is Hollywood "besotted"? First, money: Netflix has spent "tens of millions of dollars" on its awards campaign. Second, the Academy's "liberal self-image": the film's "ostensibly inclusive credentials" no doubt contributed to its nominations.

With Donald Trump's administration "resuming the demonisation of Mexican and LGBTQ+ people", perhaps the Academy intended to "hit back with its 'Emilia Pérez' love", said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. All the criticism also risks "downplaying" Gascón's hard work to "shape her character", said Clarisse Loughrey in The Independent. "But in the end, what is the point of rallying around a representation that doesn't serve those it's representing?" Hollywood "wants to be seen as a liberal haven", but "only money really talks".

Norfolk: Princes Street, Norwich
A handsome 16th-century townhouse on one of Norwich's most photographed and historic streets. The property is entered through a 19th-century door, flanked on either side by elegant Doric columns. 3 beds, family bath, shower, kitchen, 2 receps, office, courtyard garden. £650,000; AbbotFox

Bristol: Somerset Street
An elegant and sensitively restored Grade II Georgian terraced townhouse. The property is located in the heart of Kingsdown, and has far-reaching city views. 6 beds, family bath, 2 showers, kitchen, 2 receps, garden. £1.195m; Hamptons

Devon: Mol's House, Cathedral Close, Exeter
A picturesque 16th-century timber-framed townhouse with impressive views of Exeter Cathedral and the uplands of the Exe Valley. Main suite, 1 further bed, family bath, open-plan kitchen/dining room with balcony, recep, courtyard garden. £1.5m; Knight Frank

Dorset: The Manor House, Sandford Orcas, Sherborne
A significant Grade I manor house and one of the finest surviving examples of a Tudor manor house in England. 8 beds, 2 baths, 5 receps, 3-bed cottage, 1-bed annexe, stables, outbuildings, garden and grounds of 12 acres. £3m; Strutt & Parker

Herefordshire: Church Street, Hereford
Fine Grade II house with 14th-century origins and a rich history that includes a connection to Edward Elgar. The property adjoins Hereford Cathedral and is on the market for the first time in more than 30 years. 5 beds, 3 baths, kitchen/ breakfast room, 5 receps, walled garden, parking. £1.5m; Morgan Aps

Labour can't understand why Trump hates snivelling Mandy
Tim Stanley in The Telegraph
"Heaven rejoices at repentant sinners," writes Tim Stanley, "but it laughs in the face of Peter Mandelson." His appointment as ambassador to the US is the UK's "geopolitical crisis in a nutshell": it "makes sense" to Labour to send "an experienced trade negotiator" to Washington but "to any Maga fanatic googling him", he'll seem "like globalism incarnate". And, by denouncing his past comments about the US president, "Mandy" has "rolled over to show Trump his soft, vulnerable belly".

Afghan women need the world's help
Shabnam Nasimi in the Financial Times
The three years that have passed since Kabul fell to the Taliban have been "marked by severe regression in the rights and livelihoods of Afghan women", writes Shabnam Nasimi. There's "a remarkable resilience" beneath the women's despair but "the global response" to their plight has been "alarmingly inadequate". The "global community" cannot "stand idly by". Afghan women "have not given up" so "we must not give up on them".

I was once yelled at by Maggie Thatcher – why can't politicians today get angry and speak their minds?
Brian Reade in The Mirror
"I only met the great She-Devil once", writes Brian Reade, when she "hurried past me in a Blackpool hotel lobby" and I shouted, "When are you going to drop your vile Poll Tax?" Margaret Thatcher "stopped, turned round and yelled back, 'Never. Because it's right and just'". I actually "admired her for confronting me". Back then, politicians "got angry, personal and spoke their mind" but now they "come across as overly-rehearsed and permanently defensive spreadsheet managers".