Fifth Floor

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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.

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 Tigray region of Ethiopia, discuss developments.

Image: Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (L) and Eritrea's Foreign minister Osman Saleh Mohammed (R) in Addis Ababa as Eritrea's delegation arrives for peace talks

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