In March this year, a team of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers accepted the Oscar for best documentary. Their film No Other Land is a glimpse into the reality of life in the West Bank, the most populous of the Palestinian Territories. Before the month was out, though, one of the people on that stage - co-director Hamdan Ballal - would return home to the West Bank and be attacked and detained by Israeli settlers and soldiers. Times reporter Venetia Menzies went to meet Hamdan and his co-director and star of the documentary, Basel Adra, to find out what life is like now for Palestinians in the West Bank.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory

Guest: Venetia Menzies, ​​assistant data editor at The Times and The Sunday Times

Host: Luke Jones

Producer: Hannah Varrall

Further reading: https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/palestinian-film-director-oscar-israeli-settlers-q62756r9v

Clips: Oscars, No Other Land, CBS Chicago, France 24 English, Hollywood Reporter.

Photo: Basel Adra (Venetia Menzies)

Get in touch: thestory@thetimes.com

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Two men have been found guilty of criminal damage, for the felling of the iconic Sycamore Gap tree in Northumbria. Constance Kampfner sat through the trial, in which the prosecution called what Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers had done, ‘a moronic mission to cause mindless vandalism.' The men were remanded in custody for their own protection after the verdict was announced.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory

Guest: Constance Kampfner

Host: Luke Jones

Producer: Hannah Varrall and Shabnam Grewal

Clips: BBC News, Sky News, Channel 4 News, National Trust .

Photo: Getty Images

Get in touch: thestory@thetimes.com

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This episode was originally published last November.

On Sept 12, 2001, Blerim Skoro was approached by a man and a woman while he was in prison. They turned out to be CIA agents. That one meeting would change the course of his life and lead him on a journey across countries, inside terrorist groups, as he tried to make it home to his family.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory

Guest: Josie Ensor, US Correspondent, The Times and The Sunday Times.

Host: Luke Jones.

Producer: Taryn Siegel.

Clips: Video filmed by Blerim Skoro, provided by ‘The Accidental Spy’, directed by Anthony Wonke.

Photo: John Beck for The Times.

Further reading: I gave my life to the CIA. They betrayed me

Get in touch: thestory@thetimes.com

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