The German Sense of Humour

Reporters around the world with the news behind the headlines: Aleem Maqbool talks of the 14-hundred-year old conflict which lies behind today's breakdown in law and order in Iraq; the bicentenary of the controversial composer Wagner causes Steve Evans to question preconceptions about Germans and their society; Ed Butler meets a billionaire in Azerbaijan and chuckles over his plans for a huge building project; the African Union's optimistic about the continent's future but Gabriel Gatehouse finds good news in short supply in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And French schoolchildren will soon lose their traditional midweek day off school. Joanna Robertson tells us they're not happy about it!