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The Fifth Floor

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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

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The Fifth Floor: War on Error: Reporting Insurgency

Documentaries

An Afghan man holds a radio to his ear

21/08/2015 GMT

War on Error: Reporting Insurgency

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, War on Error: Reporting Insurgency

How to separate rumours from truth when reporting on Boko Haram and the Afghan Taliban.

Separating rumours from truth when reporting on insurgency; a clampdown on bellydancers in Egypt; and Soweto performers at the Edinburgh festival.

Journalists covering the latest attacks by Boko Haram in Nigeria or the Taliban in Afghanistan have to unravel the truth from a mass of rumours, contradictory statements and propaganda. Dawood Azami of BBC Afghan has been dealing with the Taliban for two decades, as they transformed from government officials to insurgents. BBC Hausa's Jimeh Saleh is from Borno State in northern Nigeria, which has been at the heart of the Boko Haram insurgency. They share and compare their experiences.

Goodbye bellydancing?
Egyptians say it has been in their blood for thousands of years. But are its days numbered?  As a Cairo court considers the sentence on two famous bellydancers accused of inciting debauchery, BBC Arabic's Ranyah Sabry gives her verdict on the future of bellydancing.

Soweto in Edinburgh
South Africa's famous township features strongly at this year's Edinburgh Festival, inspiring plays, musicals and choirs. Kim Chakanetsa discovers how Soweto has been represented with Nkululeko Vilakazi from Soweto Afro-Pop Opera, Zoey Martinson from Ndebele Funeral, and Morgan Njobo from After Freedom.

Mexico: Searching for the disappeared
On 10th August, Miguel Angel Jimenez Blanco was found killed in Mexico's Guerrero state. He was an activist who helped families search for their missing relatives, including the 43 students who went missing in September 2014 in the town in Iguala. BBC Mundo's Juan Carlos Perez recalls a day spent with Miguel Angel searching for the disappeared in the hills of Iguala. He tells the Fifth Floor about the stories of the disappeared he has covered in Mexico and in his home country of Colombia.

Cuba: Take me out to a ball game
Cuba and the United States disagree on many things but one thing that unites both countries is a love for baseball. Rumour has it that a young fastball pitcher called Fidel Castro earned the interest of many Major League baseball teams in his university days. In the latest part of his series on how life is changing in Cuba, BBC Monitoring's Emilio San Pedro steps up to the plate and meets Cuba's star baseball pitcher Yosvani Torres to talk about why Cubans love the game and what hopes they have for the sport as relations improve with the US.

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(Photo:An Afghan man holds a radio to his ear.Credit: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

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