Elections in Germany "are usually dull affairs" but, as Germans head for the polls this weekend, "this time it's different", said Adam Boulton at Sky News.

The country's proportional voting system, and the decades-old agreement between the mainstream parties to work together to exclude the far-right, "usually means that there is not much change in Germany's political settlement". But the "emergence of a challenger party on the far right which is commanding significant levels" of voter support risks throwing the mainstream "into turmoil".

How does the German electoral system work?
Around 61 million people aged 18 and over are eligible to vote in Germany's federal (general) elections. In a system known as "personalised proportional representation", each person gets two votes: one for a candidate to represent their constituency, and the second for a party's state list. The second vote determines the strength of each party in the Bundestag (the equivalent of the UK's House of Commons).

Under election law, a party must obtain a minimum of 5% of second (party) votes before it can claim representation in parliament. First introduced in 1953, this law was "intended to prevent tiny splinter parties" from getting into parliament "and fragmenting it, making it hard to form a viable majority", said DW.

What are the key issues?
The most populous country in the EU has been contending with "a stagnating economy, a fraught immigration debate and profound angst over the fast-deteriorating transatlantic relationship under the new Trump administration", said the Financial Times. The most heated exchanges of a final four-way election TV debate held yesterday (pictured above) were about Ukraine. 

Who is ahead in the German polls?
Friedrich Merz, leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is on track to become Germany's next chancellor, according to Reuters' most recent poll of polls. His party is slated to draw in just under 30% of the vote. The parties that make up the ruling "traffic-light" coalition have seen their support plummet, with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) on 15%, the Greens just behind on 13%, and the Liberals (FDP) on 3%. But the big story of these elections is the strong rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), endorsed by Elon Musk, which is currently polling second at just over 21%.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has condemned Hamas for its "despicable and cynical" exploitation of hostages, after three men freed in this weekend's prisoner swap were forced to mount a stage and answer questions before their release.

The liberation of Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Sasha Troufanov was preceded by a "performative release 'ceremony'" staged by their captors, said The Telegraph. In one particularly "chilling" stunt, Hamas fighters handed Horn an hourglass (pictured above) with an image on it of the yet-to-be-released hostage Matan Zangauker, and the caption, "time is running out".

'Grotesque spectacle'
In the previous prisoner exchange, on 8 February, three "emaciated and pale" Israeli hostages – Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy – were paraded in front of crowds, presented with "release certificates" and interviewed before their release, said The Independent. Relatives of the liberated men said they were "horrified" by the "grotesque spectacle".

The Red Cross called on both Hamas and Israel to ensure future prisoner exchanges were "dignified and private" affairs. But it's clear from this weekend's event that Hamas has no intention of releasing its captives behind closed doors.

For the terror group, this has become a way of "projecting its power", said The Jerusalem Post's Seth J. Frantzman. For example, when three female hostages were marched to a Red Cross vehicle during their release last month, they were surrounded by a "sea of men", leading to "tense moments when it looked like the women would be swarmed by the crowd".

'Choreographed' visuals
There had also been controversy during earlier exchanges, in which hostages were given branded Hamas "gift bags" containing woolly hats, key rings, photos of hostages, images of Gaza and a certificate bearing the message in Hebrew: "Zionism will not prevail".

These "carefully curated bags" are a "strategic act of story-telling", wrote Safa Othmani at Middle East Monitor, because "they convey messages of power, humanity and propaganda". The photos of the hostages are a "stark reminder" of the control Hamas has over their lives – that "even moments of concession are framed under Hamas' power".

"Throughout history", participants in conflict have tried to "capitalise on the plight of those in captivity" to make themselves look "virtuous and strong" and the other seem "monstrous and weak", said the Associated Press. Even in times of war, "branding is a potent force".

Plates in Shoreditch, east London, has become the first plant-based restaurant in the UK to earn a coveted Michelin star.

The kitchen is headed by Kirk Haworth, winner of last year's "Great British Menu". A few months after competing on the TV show, the Blackburn-born chef – who cut his teeth at The French Laundry in California – set up the vegan eatery with his sister, Keeley. His passion for plant-based food began back in 2014 when he overhauled his diet following a Lyme disease diagnosis.

With just 25 covers, the restaurant is small and the phone "always engaged", said The Guardian. You won't find the word "vegan" anywhere on the menu and there's a surprising absence of fake meat; instead, meat and fish are "completely swapped out" for vegetable alternatives. In keeping with "Michelin tradition", "plumes of dry ice fog hover over some dishes" and there are "at-table sauce-pouring performances".

What Haworth has achieved here is "beyond impressive", said Adam Kay in The Sunday Times. It becomes clear pretty quickly that "you won't miss meat here". Japanese tomatoes are served with some "basilly shiso" and a "lovely light ricotta", and the flaky bread appears "without a curl of Lurpak in sight". "Would it have been better with real butter? Probably a bit. Does it matter? Probably not."

It is with the desserts, though, that the restaurant "really comes into its own". Apricots are perfectly complemented by an "absurdly fluffy" custard, while the best is saved until last: a "deceptively technical, gorgeous chocolate cake, its edges perfectly chamfered by the sourness of cherry, cooled with a coconut ice cream you'd be hard pressed to describe as vegan-tasting".

Deepfake dystopias
Sarah Kuszynski on The Critic
In a new show about deepfake pornography, reality TV star Vicky Pattison creates explicit AI-generated content of herself, writes Sarah Kuszynski. "While she is right to identify online abuse as a growing problem", this treatment of the topic will "likely do more harm than good". So often, "issues that degrade women's autonomy have been sidelined". The deepfake porn epidemic "should not be being treated this blithely" or turned into "the subject of entertainment".

Trump is selling out Ukraine before our eyes
Ian Birrell in The i Paper
Donald Trump has called Vladimir Putin to "offer the Kremlin a dream peace deal", while "brushing aside its atrocities in Ukraine", writes Ian Birrell. In doing so, he's telling Putin that, "once he has rebuilt his battered yet battle-hardened and bigger military", he can "continue his clearly stated mission to revive Moscow's empire". Meanwhile, Keir Starmer has "the unenviable task of trying to nudge Trump away from Putin's manipulation, while fending off US tariffs. Anything could still happen."

Corporate gift-giving culture smells bad to me
Libby Purves in The Times
My "ancestral Presbyterian blood" is "racing in disbelief" over the culture of the banking world revealed by the Rachel Reeves expenses saga, writes Libby Purves. "The concept of grown-ups routinely giving one another expensive party bags and tasty indulgences on corporate money" did "startle me". Perhaps "I don't understand high finance", but "I do understand work". Anyone with "old-fashioned 'proper pride'" would find it "creepy" to get "a handbag or earrings from a colleague using company money".