

Fifth Floor
BBC World Service
Faranak Amidi takes a fresh look at the stories of the week with journalists from our 40 language sections.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jan 3, 2020 • 12min
India's controversial new citizenship law
India's new Citizenship Amendment Act has sparked protests across the country. Its stated aim is to offer sanctuary and Indian citizenship to people fleeing religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. But critics say it undermines India's secular constitution and may also affect India's own Muslim population. Clashes between protestors and police have led to violence and even deaths, and accusations that the police have carried out attacks on Muslim property. Zubair Ahmed of BBC Hindi went to Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh to investigate. Picture: Protesters burning copies of the CAA
Credit: Sumit Sanyal-SOPA Images-LightRocket via Getty Images

Dec 27, 2019 • 17min
A refugee's story and a football shirt
Namak Khoshnaw is a journalist and award winning film maker with BBC Arabic. His documentary ‘Iraq: A State of Mind’ charts the impact of decades of conflict on mental health, ‘Life on the Rubbish Dump’ is about the children who pick rubbish in the city of Erbil, and his fascinating 3D journey below the Nabi Yunus shrine near Mosul reveals an ancient Assyrian palace in underground tunnels. These films all took him back to Iraq, the country he left nearly two decades ago, following a dream to play football for Chelsea. It was a perilous journey.
Image: Namak Khoshnaw
Credit: BBC/Daniel Adamson

Dec 20, 2019 • 11min
Chernobyl: Lyudmila's story
The 1986 nuclear reactor explosion was dramatised this year in the HBO/Sky series Chernobyl. It includes the story of Lyudmila Ignatenko, whose husband was one of the firefighters who tackled the blaze at the nuclear plant. The series has brought her back into public view, with many people critical of her behaviour at the time. Lyudmila tells her side of the story to Olga Malchevska for BBC Russian.
Picture: Lyudmila Ignatenko and husband
Credit: Lyudmila Ignatenko

Dec 13, 2019 • 11min
Music and lockdown in Kashmir
The My Indian Life podcast looks at India through young people’s eyes. It recently told the story of Ahmer Javed, a rapper from Indian-administered Kashmir. Ishleen Kaur met him and other artists during August’s lockdown, and found a generation who feel very separate from the rest of India.
Image and credit: Ahmer Javed, Kashmiri rapper

Dec 6, 2019 • 9min
In praise of pine nuts
Afghanistan’s pine nuts are in demand, with China signing a 5-year deal worth US$2.2 billion. BBC Afghan editor Shoaib Sharifi tells us about the importance of this tiny but valuable nut.Picture: Pine nut harvest in Afghanistan.
Credit: EPA/Ghulamullah Habibi

Nov 29, 2019 • 11min
Behind the tragic headlines
The first funerals of the victims of human trafficking were conducted in Vietnam this week. 39 people died in the back of a lorry trailer discovered in Grays, Essex. The victims were initially thought to be Chinese, but BBC Vietnamese journalists Giang Nguyen and Khue Luu Binh were among the team who confirmed they were Vietnamese and pieced together their stories. Image: Candles for the Vietnamese lorry dead
Credit: Yui Mok/PA Wire

Nov 22, 2019 • 10min
What’s the secret of a happy and active old age?
The Nicoya peninsula is a “blue zone”, where people live much longer than average. The BBC's Rafael Rojas joined an inspiring group of people aged 100 plus to find out the secrets of their longevity. Image: Nicoya peninsula, Costa Rica.
Credit: Gerhard/ullstein bild via Getty Images

Nov 15, 2019 • 10min
Inside the Taliban prison
Block Six of Afghanistan’s Pul-e-Charkhi prison is where the Taliban prisoners are held. BBC Afghan’s Zuhal Ahad was part of the team given rare access to their cells to see how they live, and discover what views they now hold.

Nov 8, 2019 • 10min
The peace corridor of Kartarpur
The Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan is one of Sikhism's holiest sites, but since Partition between India and Pakistan in 1947, Indian Sikhs have been unable to visit. This weekend an historic arrangement will allow Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit the Shrine visa-free. Umer Draz Nangiana of BBC Urdu has been covering the story.

Nov 1, 2019 • 14min
Bought and sold like used cars
BBC News Arabic’s undercover investigation, Silicon Valley’s Online Slave Market, exposes the mainstream app users in Kuwait breaking local and international laws on modern slavery by trading domestic staff, including a 16-year-old girl from Guinea in West Africa.
Picture: Domestic workers for sale on an online app. Credit: BBC