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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

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The Fifth Floor: Militias, Magic and Wooden Guns

Documentaries

DR Congo Kasai conflict

28/04/2017 GMT

Militias, Magic and Wooden Guns

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Militias, Magic and Wooden Guns

Meeting DRC's mysterious rebels; don't stand so close;  Lenin's train journey to Russia; Aghan's MOAB bombsite; Paraguay Brazil Argentina border; Fifi

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has a long history of instability and conflict.  Trouble recently flared up in the central Kasai region, and the BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga got rare access to the area, meeting the rebel militias fighting in this little-known uprising. 

Keep Your Distance!  
When it comes to personal space how close is too close?  We get up close and personal with our Fifth Floor colleagues to find out why there's so much variation worldwide.   

Brazilian borders 
This week's audacious bank robbery in Paraguay was made possible by the relatively porous borders between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina.  BBC Brasil's Fernanda Odilla has visited the area, popular with tourists visiting the Iguazu Falls, as well as with criminals keen to shift loot.   

The Mother of all Bombsites
News that America had dropped a Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), also known as "the mother of all bombs", on caves used by Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan made headlines worldwide.  Auliya Atrafi of BBC Afghan was surprised by what he found at the site. 

All aboard Lenin's train 
It's 100 years since Vladimir Lenin set off from exile in Switzerland to join the revolution in Russia.  BBC Russian has followed his train journey from Zurich looking for answers to questions which are rarely asked in Russia itself.  Answers from Anastasia Uspenskaya.

And Fifi Haroon shares the odder moments from the web this week.

Rebel militias in the DR Congo Kasai conflict.
Credit: BBC

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