Fifth Floor

Tanzanians have been mystified by the recent kidnapping and reappearance of two rappers. Who was behind the abductions? Why are musicians being singled out? Sammy Awami has been following the story for BBC Swahili.Kathmandu bans horn-honking Horn-honking reaches deafening proportions on Nepali New Year, 14th April. So will a new honking ban for drivers in Kathmandu return the city to a quieter, more bucolic soundscape? BBC Nepali's Surendra Phuyal considers the question.Turkish online surveillance Social media is being used by Turkish citizens to spy on and denounce people suspected of anti-government sentiments. Tweets and Facebook posts are enough to lose someone their job or land them in court. Pinar Sevinclidr of BBC Monitoring talks us through some recent cases.Indonesia's 'motherless' generation BBC Indonesian's Rohmatin Bonasir has been finding out what happens to children left behind by migrant worker mothers. Millions of Indonesian women work abroad, and mothers and children pay a high price.Senegalese seductresses BBC Afrique's Leone Ouedraogo, who's from Burkino Faso, is spending time in Dakar in Senegal. Which seemed an excellent opportunity to find out if Senegalese women really are the best wives and expert seductresses everyone at home had always told her they were.And Fifi Haroon's pick of the world wide web.Image: Rapper Roma giving a press conference after being released by kidnappers Credit: BBC/Sammy Awami

Since leaving Gambia, former President Yahya Jammeh has been living in Equatorial Guinea. Home to Africa's longest serving leader, it's rich in resources, but tends to be in the news for all the wrong reasons. BBC Africa's Umaru Fofana has been following ex-President Jammeh's progress. He gives us a short guide to his new home. The famous guavas of Kohat Kohat in northern Pakistan is famous for its fabulous guavas. BBC Urdu's Rifatullah Orakzai shares memories of family picnics in the guava orchards and laments their decline.A guide to Afghan warlords Why are Afghanistan's warlords still so important? First they fought the Soviets, then each other, and now they seem to be permanently woven into society and politics. Insights from BBC Afghan's Dawood Azami.Capoeira in Brazil and Africa As the Brazilian martial art capoeira continues to gain new fans around the world, BBC Brasil's resident capoeirista Rafael Barifouse explains its magic and mystery. Why bets are on in Vietnam For decades, the Vietnamese passion for gambling has largely been indulged illegally due to strict restrictions. So how significant is the government decision to allow bets on selected sporting events? Over to Nga Pham of BBC Vietnamese.And Fifi Haroon's stories from the world wide web.Image: Ex-President Jammeh leaves Gambia Credit: STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images

A hometown on the front-line in Yemen; revisiting Brazilian childhood stories; a behaviour guide for Russian's abroad; African communities in India; Fifi Haroon's web roundup; and cleaning up the sex trade in Thailand.

First daughters; Thai street food; India's phone Romeos; escape from Raqqa; joy in CARImage: Influential First Daughters Credit: Getty, Reuters, BBC and Presidency of Tajikistan

Astana; Brazilian ghosts; Harare potholes; Belarus protests; fire jumping; Somali pirates Image: Astana Credit: LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images

Passions that unite - and divide: what does it mean to be Indian? Stories from BBC Delhi. (Photo: David Amanor and Vikas Pandey in Delhi)

South Africa has recently seen immigrant communities targeted in a spate of attacks, with Nigerians, Somalis and Zimbabweans among those whose homes and businesses have been looted. Mpho Lakaje who reports for the BBC Africa from Johannesburg compares this current wave of violence with previous xenophobic attacks. Congolese Libanga With the collapse of CD sales and little to share out from concerts, Congolese musicians have found a new way to make money. It's called Libanga, with the rich and aspiring paying to get their names dropped into the music. It's keeping musicians paid but is it ruining the music? We asked Mila Kimbuini, a Congolese journalist with BBC Afrique.Poets, carpets and reformed assassins I Stared at the Night of the City by Bakhtiyar Ali is thought to be the first Kurdish language novel to be translated into English. There's poetry, magic, murder and corruption, so what can this novel tell us about life in the autonomous Kurdish region? Over to translator Kareem Abdulrahman and fellow Iraqi Kurd Roj Ranjbar of BBC Monitoring.Taliban Trees This week the head of the Taliban in Afghanistan urged Afghans to plant more trees. So does this mark a change of direction? BBC Afghan's Ismael Saadat explores the country's problems with trees.Coptic Christians in North Sinai The recent flight of Coptic Christians from North Sinai has drawn attention to Egypt's long-running struggle against an IS-affiliated group in the province,which is now targeting Christians. Mariam Rizk of BBC Monitoring in Cairo explains why it's so hard to discover what's really happening in North Sinai.Plus Fifi Haroon rounds up the week's wackier online stories.Image: Demonstrator holding banner in Johannesburg to protest against xenophobic attacks in South Africa. Credit: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images.

Empty football stadia; Ethiopian raw meat; PC Carnival; mother tongues; Somali nicknames

A Sri Lankan astrologer was recently arrested for wrongly predicting the death of his president during January. In many cultures, the advice of an astrologer is a crucial part of everyday life, and often influences business and political decisions. Why are astrologers still so popular in this technological age? A question for Carol Yarwood of BBC Chinese, Nopporn Wong-Anan of BBC Thai, and Sangeetha Rajan of BBC Tamil.Dead presidents Rumours about Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari's death have been rife this week. He is apparently alive and in London, and has found time to speak on the telephone to Donald Trump. But it's not unusual for presidents to be killed off long before they actually die, as we find out from Bara'atu Ibrahim of BBC Hausa, Famil Ismailov of BBC Russian and Rafael Chacon of BBC Mundo.Romance without Valentine's Day This week's court ban on celebrating Valentine's Day in the Pakistani capital Islamabad put a spotlight on the challenges of enjoying romance in a conservative society. Ghazanfar Hyder of BBC Urdu tells us what it's like to be young and romantic in Pakistan today.Tajikistan and Uzbekistan: the thaw After a freeze of 25 years, relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have started to thaw with the re-opening of a direct air link. The BBC's Khayrulla Fayz - an ethnic Uzbek from Tajikistan - remembers when you could cross from one country to the other without realising. He explains what went wrong in the relationship, and what the current thaw means to people in both countries.India in space India's space agency launched a flock of 104 satellites into space over the course of 18 minutes on Wednesday, nearly tripling the previous record for single-day satellite launches and establishing India as a key player in a growing market. Although there is no direct space rivalry between China and India, some analysts have made comparisons with the US-Soviet space race. We hear from Suniti Singh of BBC Monitoring.And Fifi Haroon's pick of the world wide web.Image: Solar Eclipse observed in Asia. Credit: Feng Li/Getty Images.

Jiyar Gol recently met the Iranian Kurdish strongmen who haul dozens of tyres on their backs over the border from Iraqi Kurdistan. It's a story that went out on BBC Persian, and had a big impact in Iran, as it coincided with the death this week of three smugglers in an avalanche. Jiyar tells us more about the people he met and the dangerous border crossing.The many accents of Colombia Cachaco, pastuso, caleño - not new Latin dance fads, but just three of the dozens of dialects spoken in Colombia. For BBC Mundo, Beatriz de la Pava enlisted people from across her country to share words and accents with the rest of Latin America. She speculates about why there's such diversity in Colombia - and analyses her own accent.A brief history of Russian poisoning The Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza was this week reported to be in a coma in hospital. His wife claims that he had been poisoned, and for the second time. He's not the first troublesome Russian to be the victim of suspected poisoning: from Rasputin to Litvinenko, traces of poison run through Russia's political history. Over to BBC Russian news editor Famil Ismailov. Indian snake-catchers in Florida The Irula tribesmen from southern India are serious snake-catchers, hunting snakes and milking them for their venom. Their fame has spread to the Florida Everglades, where two Irula snake-catchers have been called in to help catch Burmese pythons which have been eating their way through the local wildlife. Soutik Biswas in Delhi has been following their progress and investigating their lucrative snake venom trade.Protesting Romanian-style Recent demonstrations in the Romanian capital Bucharest have caught the world's attention. The catalyst was a government move to soften anti-corruption legislation, and last Sunday an estimated half a million people took to the streets. Ioana Dumitrescu of BBC Monitoring is our guide to the language and style of Romanian protests.And Fifi Haroon's pick of the world wide web.Image: Iranian Kurdish smugglers Credit: BBC