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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: Biafra War 50 Years On

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Biafran flag

07/07/2017 GMT

Biafra War 50 Years On

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Biafra War 50 Years On

What do young Nigerians know about arguably the worst conflict in the country's history?

Biafra war remembered; Salsa in Kenya; Palestinians' generation gap; protest march to Istanbul; Baku's claims the world's first oil well; plus Fifi Haroon.  With David Amanor.

This week marked the 50th anniversary of the Biafra war.  Millions died, mostly from famine, as Nigerian government forces defeated attempts by the Igbo people in the south east to claim an independent Biafran state.  You might think an event of such magnitude would be burned into the nation's memory, but it's not a part of history that many young Nigerians know much about.  BBC Africa's Tomi Oladipo has been filling in some of those gaps.

Palestinian youth
Nida Ibrahim, who reports for BBC Arabic from Ramallah, has been talking to young Palestinians for a documentary series about the lives of young people around the world.  The Palestinian Territories has the youngest population in the Middle East, but politics and administration are dominated by older generations.  Nida says young people are finding different ways of expressing themselves.

Bringing salsa home 
After a long day in the office it's nice to unwind, and BBC Swahili's Judith Wambare in Nairobi likes nothing more than to pop on her dancing shoes and salsa the night away.  She's made a video about it, and she's not alone - salsa has taken off in Kenya.  And according to Judith, it's a homecoming of sorts for the dance most think of as Cuban.  

Turkey's long march
Thousands of demonstrators are walking from Ankara to Istanbul to protest against what they see as increased authoritarianism in Turkish politics.  Selin Girit from BBC Turkish has visited the protesters as they walk in the blazing heat. 

We were first!  Azerbaijan and the oil well dispute 
History books say that the first oil well was dug in Pennsylvania in 1859.  Not so, say the Azeris, who sent a team into the archives to back up their claim that Baku got there first.   BBC Azeri's Tural Ahmedzade has been investigating.

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




Image: Biafran flag painted on a wall 
Credit: STEFAN HEUNIS/AFP/Getty Images

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