Fifth Floor

In 2014 the so-called Islamic State blew up the Nabi Yunus mosque in Mosul, and tunneled under the remains in search of archaeological artefacts in the ancient Assyrian palace beneath. When IS was expelled from Mosul the tunnels were sealed off, but BBC Arabic cameraman Namak Khoshnaw, and journalist and former archaeologist Eli Melki, got permission to film inside the tunnels earlier this year. W...

Why are there so many superstitions around the world based on cats? If a black cat crosses your path in England it's lucky, but impending doom in Vietnam. BBC Vietnamese ran a story on this recently, we thought we'll take the superstition theme further with our Fifth Floor colleagues. Starting with Khue Luu of BBC Vietnamese. Image: black cat Credit: PHAS/Getty Images

Algeria’s war of independence left enduring hostility towards the Harkis, Algerians who fought on the side of the French. Rachid Sekkai of BBC Arabic, Algerian himself, has been in Paris to meet Harkis and hear their stories. Image: Harki veterans at The Invalides ceremony, marking national day of homage to the Harkis. Paris 2018. Credit: Phillipe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images

Hunting for wild honey is an old tradition in rural Nepal, and extremely dangerous too, as the bees make their combs on sheer cliff-faces. Villagers descend rope ladders suspended over the void to harvest the honeycomb. And this year the action was filmed by BBC India journalists Aamir Peerzada and Neha Sharma. Image: Aamir Peerzada and Neha Sharma with wild honey hunters in Nepal Credit: BBC

Since taking office in April, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has transformed Ethiopia. Peace has been agreed with Eritrea, the streets are largely clear of protesters, and the new cabinet is half female. Ethiopian Christine Yohannes of BBC Amharic tells us more about the man behind the changes. Image: fan of Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed with his face on her T shirt Credit: BRENDAN SMI...

Queuing for vegetables, fetching boiling water, and jumping the trams: a newly published collection of black and white photographs of Hanoi, taken not long after the end of the Vietnam War, has transported Ha Mi of BBC Vietnamese back to her childhood. Image: A queue outside a Hanoi vegetable shop Credit: John Ramsden

Renowned for its colour, price and fragrance, 90% of the world's saffron is grown in Iran. The BBC's Golnoosh Golshani has family ties to a famous saffron-growing region and she tells us about her relationship with this precious spice. Image: Iranian saffron in a gold box Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Makoko is a floating slum in Lagos with a lawless reputation. BBC Pidgin’s Dan Ikpoyi has been a victim of extortion there himself, but his latest video shows a community full of life and optimism. (Image: Makoko floating slum in Lagos. Credit: BBC)

The two Russian "tourists" linked to the Salisbury poisoning have been unmasked as secret agents, using little more than open source websites. So is the golden age of Russian spycraft over? Famil Ismailov and Andrei Soshnikov of BBC Russian share insights. Image: A Man Silhouette In The Night Credit: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

Brazilians vote this weekend for a new President and currently ahead in the polls is right-wing candidate Jair Bolsonaro. To his supporters he’s the man to clean up politics and restore order, to his detractors he’s a misogynist who openly supports the former military dictatorship. Camilla Costa of BBC Brasil has been following a campaign she describes as “quite a ride”. Image: Brazilian President...

Kyrgyz singer Zere Asylbek showing her bra in music video, Uzbek teachers in mini-skirts, and controversial portraits of Tajik women. Diloram Ibrahimova of BBC Uzbek and Gulnara Kasmambet of BBC Kyrgyz discuss stories from Central Asia that have started a debate about how women should behave and what they should wear. Image and credit: Zere Asylbek, Kyrgyz singer

In 1979 Somalia opened a state of the art sports stadium to host international sporting events. But with the beginning of the civil war in the 1990s the stadium became a base for successions of fighting forces. Last month it was formally handed it back to the state, so can it reclaim its former glory? BBC Somali’s Ahmed Abdinur was a sports official at the stadium during its glory days. Image: Mog...

Last week Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, appointed a renowned Pakistani economist to an advisory economics panel. But Professor Mian is also a member of the Ahmadiyya religious community, which many Muslims consider to be sacrilegious. Following protests he resigned. So why do the Ahmadiyya stir such passions in Pakistan? BBC Urdu's Khalid Karamat explains. Image: A man cries as he prays a...

Bengalis are united by a love of good food, but divided over who cooks it. West Bengalis love poppy seeds and sugar, East Bengalis dried fish and chilli. BBC Bangla journalists Manoshi Barua from India's West Bengal state, and Masud Khan from Bangladesh, shed light on the Bengali kitchen divide. Image: Shukti, or dried fish, is popular in Bangladesh Credit: Majority World/UIG via Getty Images

A chance encounter in a Tashkent street brought BBC Uzbek's Ibrat Safo an amazing story. A local academic took him to a museum dedicated to the Uzbek victims of Stalin's purges, and shared some of the stories he'd uncovered. Image: Brothers Muhammadjon and Rahmatjon Avazjanov Credit: Bahrom Irzayev

As the Indian state of Kerala struggles to cope with the worst floods in a century, Pramila Krishnan of BBC Tamil and Salman Ravi of BBC Hindi tell David Amanor how they've reported on the disaster, and how they came uncomfortably close to the floodwaters. Image: Indian volunteers rescuing a local resident in Ernakulam Kerala August 2018 Credit: AFP/Getty Images

Experts predict that large parts of the Indonesian capital will be submerged by 2050 unless action is urgently taken. As a low-lying coastal city, Jakarta is vulnerable to climate change, but the biggest problem is the massive extraction of groundwater, as Mayuri Mei Lin of BBC Indonesian has been finding out. Image: Residents in Jakarta during floods in February 2018 Credit: NurPhoto/Getty Images

Ten years ago, conflict broke out between Georgia and Russia over the break-away region of South Ossetia, with the first shells falling on the capital Tskhinvali on 7th August. Watching events unfold from the Georgian capital Tbilisi was Temur Kighuradze, now a journalist with BBC Russian, but then an ambitious young newspaper journalist. Image: a destroyed building in South Ossetia in August 2008...

A new musical called Broken Wings is on in London this week, based the life of Lebanese-born writer Kahlil Gibran. BBC Arabic's Nahed Najjar is a fan, and explains why Gibran remains so popular across the Arabic-speaking world nearly 90 years after his death. Image: Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) Credit: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

President Trump’s zero tolerance immigration policy has polarised opinion in the US. BBC Mundo reporter Patricia Sulbaran followed the story of 11 year old Honduran Brayan, separated from his father. Brazilian Hugo Bachega visited a small town in Ohio which recently saw raids on undocumented Mexicans working there, a move residents support. Image: holding hands Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

It's election time in Pakistan, and BBC Urdu has been finding out what voters think. Hassan Zaidi has been following the social media chatter; and Hussain Askari has been criss-crossing the country in the company of 3 women bikers, 3 life-sized cardboard cut-outs of prominent politicians, and a big yellow chair. Photo: The yellow chair of power in Karachi Credit: BBC

Overnight laundry, halal meals, and the reading habits of the rescue chief: insights from BBC Thai's Watchiranont Thongep into some of the volunteers helping behind the scenes with the rescue of the Boo Pa football team from the Tham Luang caves. Image: cooking food for the Thai cave rescuers Credit: BBC

Many parts of Nigeria have seen increasingly violent clashes between farmers and Fulani herdsmen. Who are the Fulani, and what really lies behind the violence? Questions for Halima Umar from BBC Hausa and BBC Yoruba's Ahmed Ambali. Photo: Nigerian Herdsman. Credit: Emmanuel Arewa / AFP /Getty Images)

This week an Eritrean government delegation arrived in Ethiopia, an event unimaginable even a month ago. The two countries clashed in a border war in 1998, and despite a ceasefire the standoff has continued over the border town of Badme. But with a new Prime Minister in Ethiopia it seems peace may finally be possible. BBC Tigrinya journalists Tesfalem Araia from Eritrea, and Berihu Lilay from the...

Afghans had a rare taste of peace during the Eid ceasefire between the government and the Taliban. At the same time, a peace march from Helmand reached Kabul. The BBC's Malaika Ahmadzai interviewed a member of the Taliban, and Karim Haidari met the marchers as they approached the capital. Image: Taliban greet people on Eid al-Fitr amid ceasefire in Herat, 17 June 2018 Credit: Jalil Rezayee/Europea...