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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: Behind the Rohingya Crisis

Documentaries

Rohingya Muslim Refugees (credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

08/09/2017 GMT

Behind the Rohingya Crisis

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Behind the Rohingya Crisis

Does history shed light on the current plight of Myanmar's Rohingya population?

In the past fortnight more than 100,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled violence in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar.  So what is behind this enmity?  With David Amanor.

It's a story that's been dominating news bulletins.  The Muslim Rohingya people forced to flee from their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine state over the border into Bangladesh.  They are denied citizenship by Myanmar's government, who label them Bengali migrants and terrorists.  But the Rohingya themselves say their ancestors have lived in the country for generations.  Here to shed light on the story are BBC Burmese Editor Tin Htar Swe and Masud Khan of BBC Bangla.

Ukrainian snails
It's not often that export figures inspire our colleagues with poetic thoughts and misty memories.  But that's what happened to Anastasiya Gribanova of BBC Ukrainian when she noticed that exports of that beloved national foodstuff, pork lard, had been overtaken - by snails.

African Comedy Awards
This weekend Johannesburg celebrates African comedy in its annual awards.  And this year there's a new category - "pan African comic of the year".  Which raises an impossible question - whose comedy is the funniest?  Let's take it to the fifth floor, and ask some supposedly very serious journalists what makes them laugh.

Afghanistan's volatile north
In Northern Afghanistan, a ferocious and complicated fight has been raging for years with little attention from the outside world. In the remote Darzab distict in Jowzan province the Taliban, so called Islamic State, government forces and local warlords fight for control.  It's a very difficult place to access as a journalist, but BBC Uzbek's Firuz Rahimi grew up in the area, and recently returned. 

Travelling home for Eid
Eid al Ahda is an important family occasion across the Muslim world. But in Dhaka Bangladesh, getting home isn't always that simple.  Akbhar Hussain of BBC Bengali has endured the journey on a few occasions himself.

And Fifi Haroon brings us her unique take on the week's news

Image: Rohingya Muslim Refugees 
Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

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