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The Fifth Floor

Factual: Life Stories

Global stories from the BBC’s 40 Language Services, with Faranak Amidi

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services.

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services

The Fifth Floor: 05/05/2012

05/05/2012

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, 05/05/2012

Bin Laden's letters are released but what do his missives mean?

Maiduguri, my home town, what it's like to have Boko Haram on your doorstep; Bin Laden's letters revealed; and why when you're remembering Russian Presidents you need to focus on their hair.

A fresh look at the week's global news from the World Service's 27 language sections, with David Amanor.

BUSY WEEK FOR BBC HAUSA
Nigeria has been in the grip of increasing violence by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram this week. A surge in attacks means our BBC Hausa service has had a busy time reporting events. But for one man in the team it has been particularly hard. Jimeh Saleh is from Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram. He was back in his home town recently and in a moving interview he tells us he was shocked by the changes he saw there.

PAPPON'S PICKS
Our internet guru Thomas Pappon gives a rundown on the big-hitting stories across the World Service language sites this week - including why a toad made it big on BBC Brasil and how Justin Bieber caused a stir in Indonesia

BIN LADEN BACK IN THE HEADLINES
A year ago this week in the then little known town of Abbotabad a dramatic event was taking place which was first reported by an unsuspecting tweeter. It's a year since the world's most wanted man - Osama Bin Laden - was caught and killed by US forces and the occasion was marked by the release of some of his personal letters seized during the raid.  Aamer Ahmed Khan, the head of the Urdu Service got his head down and waded through hundreds of pages of script to give us his insights into what Osama's missives mean.

COUP PLOTTERS: PART THREE
Captain Mbango and his sidekick Sergeant Zumzoom have ousted their government, but the African Union is upset, so is a former UN chief, and rebels in the north of the country have declared independence. And now relations have gone sour between the captain and the sergeant and things are about to turn....

PUTIN ON THE RITZ
As President Putin prepares for his third inauguration, BBC Russian's Artyom Liss gives an overview of the grand spectacle - and compares the modern ceremony with the coronotion of Tsars past. And, here's a handy hint when you're remembering your Russian rulers: bald, hairy, bald, hairy...Lenin was bald, Stalin was hairy, Khrushchev was bald and Brezhnev was hairy, Gorbachev bald and Yeltsin hairy, then there's Putin who's receding followed by Medvedev with hair, and now Putin again. This pattern goes all the way back to 1825. Never say you never learnt anything from The Fifth Floor.

(Image: Osama Bin Laden picture held up in Taliban rally. Credit: Getty)

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