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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: Turkey's War on Mules

Mules

01/05/2015

Turkey's War on Mules

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Turkey's War on Mules

Why the Turkish Army is waging a war against mules

Turkish army's war on mules; Shakespeare in Somaliland; living and reporting through the Nepal Earthquake and the culture of wine around the world.

In a remote Kurdish village near Turkey's border with Iraq, the Turkish army has been carrying out a bloody operation - against mules.  The region is a smuggling hotspot, with billions of dollars' worth of goods, particularly cigarettes, coming in from Iraq - carried by mules which know the route so well that they can make the journey on their own. BBC Arabic's Shahdi Alkashif has been investigating.

Shakespeare in Somaliland
William Shakespeare has been described as the world's favourite writer. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is travelling the globe with his play Hamlet and has so far been sighted by Fifth Floorers in places as far afield as Somaliland, Kiev and Santiago. David Amanor is joined in the studio by two Shakespeare fans Chilean Constanza Hola from BBC Mundo and Syrian Soumer Daghastani from BBC Arabic to discuss his global appeal.
  
Nepal: Living and Reporting Through the Earthquake
Just over 2 years ago the BBC Nepali team in Kathmandu was engaged in a training exercise on how best to communicate in a time of crisis - it was involved in a simulation of an earthquake in Kathmandu in preparation for the inevitable big one. When it hit, at 11.58 last Saturday, it sent the city and its surrounding areas into chaos. The death toll continues to rise and many thousands are still sleeping out in the open, afraid to return to their homes. Amongst them are members of the BBC Nepali team Jitendra Raut and Sanjaya Dhakal. They share their experiences of documenting and surviving the earthquake.

Whose wine is it anyway? 
When it comes to wine what does the drink tell you about the country that makes it? This week, as China has overtaken France to become the second-largest vineyard area in the world The Fifth Floor looks at the stories behind countries' relationships with wine from the ancient Persian city of Shiraz to popping the corks of Sovetskoye Shampanskoye, the Soviet "Champagne".

And FIFI 
The best stories from across the world wide web with Fifi Haroon.

Picture: Mules
Credit: Getty Images

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