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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: Lashkar Gah: City on the Edge

Documentaries

An Afghan National Security Forces serviceman takes position during a military operation in Helmand province.

19/08/2016 GMT

Lashkar Gah: City on the Edge

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Lashkar Gah: City on the Edge

An inside view of the fighting in Helmand Province from BBC Afghan's Auliya Atrafi

Inside an Afghan city on the edge of war; representing a nation in an emoji; a showcase for the artists of Kampala and political dynasties in India.

Guest presenter: Paul Bakibinga

For over a decade of international intervention, Afghanistan's Helmand was the deadliest province for foreign troops. Since they left in 2014, the Taliban have made significant gains, and thousands of people have fled their homes to take refuge in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah. It's all painfully close to home for BBC Afghan's Auliya Atrafi, whose town has been at the heart of fierce fighting. 

Kampala Art Biennale
The idea of the Kampala Art Biennale is to get art out of museums and take it to the people, while showcasing the work of contemporary Ugandan artists. What's out there for Ugandans to enjoy, and will next month's Biennale succeed in making art more accessible?  We asked Victoria Uwonkunda and Catherine Byaruhanga of BBC Africa. 

An emoji for a nation
This week saw a petition launched for the porrón, a drinking vessel and symbol of Catalan life, to be recognised in emoji form. That made us wonder what symbols would represent the nations of the Fifth Floor in emoji form? We set our microphone loose to find out. 

Keep it in the family
Following speculation in India that Priyanka Gandhi will be the face of the campaign for the Congress Party in forthcoming elections, Zubair Ahmed and Vandana Dhand discuss why the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has played such a big role in politics in India and what it is about family dynasties that makes them so common in the region and beyond. 

Ukraine's divided church 
The political faultline in Ukraine is mirrored by a religious one, within the Orthodox Christian church. People have come to blows, families have split, friendships have broken. Olga Smirnova of BBC Russian has been untangling the arguments for this weekend's Heart and Soul programme. She told the Fifth Floor what she found in an apparently idyllic village.

And Fifi Haroon's pick of the world wide web.

Photo: An Afghan National Security Forces serviceman takes position during a military operation in Helmand province.
Credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images.

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