

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

Sep 8, 2017 • 9min
Afghanistan's Volatile North
In Northern Afghanistan, a ferocious and complicated fight has been raging for years with little attention from the outside world. In the remote Darzab distict in Jowzan province the Taliban, so called Islamic State, government forces and local warlords fight for control. It's a very difficult place to access as a journalist, but BBC Uzbek's Firuz Rahimi grew up in the area, and recently returned.Image: a machine gun emplacement in Afghanistan's Jowzan province
Credit: BBC

Sep 1, 2017 • 11min
What's in a Name?
Geeta Pandey recently reported on a rare move by women in an Indian village to challenge the practice of wives never saying their husbands' names; a tradition her own parents observed. In Afghanistan a social media campaign #Whereismyname asserted the right for women to be known by their own names and not just by their relationship to a male relative. Shekiba Habib of BBC Afghan and Geeta Pandey in Delhi tell us what happens when traditions are challenged.Image: couple holding hands with wedding rings
Credit: JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images

Aug 25, 2017 • 9min
Damascus Nightlife
It's Saturday night, bars and pubs are busy, and loud music pumps out of nightclubs. BBC Arabic's Omar Abdel-Razek tells David Amanor about discovering a surprising side to life in the Syrian capital Damascus, where six years into the civil war a new nightlife has emerged. Image: barman pouring shots in Damascus
Credit: BBC

Aug 18, 2017 • 9min
On the world's highest battlefield
The Siachen Glacier is the world's highest battlefield, straddling the disputed border between India and Pakistan in northern Kashmir. Thousands of soldiers have died there - mostly, since the 2003 ceasefire, from the harsh conditions. BBC Urdu's Abid Hussain paid a rare visit. Photo: Pakistan army drills on Siachen Glacier, credit: BBC

Aug 11, 2017 • 9min
It all started with a letter
In 2007, BBC Urdu's Arif Shamim made a documentary based on letters he discovered after the death of his great-uncle in Lahore. They were written in 1947 by the original owner of his uncle's house, who fled to India after Partition. He was unable to trace the writer or his family, but the story has now moved on. Arif told Faranak Amidi how it all started. Image: Letter and envelopes.
Credit: Arif Shamim/BBC.

Aug 4, 2017 • 8min
The Trouble with Che
The Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara is an iconic figure whose face adorns countless t-shirts and posters. But some of his countrymen have mixed feelings about him, and there's even a campaign to pull down his statue in his birthplace, Rosario. BBC Mundo's Macarena Gagliardi explores Argentina's complex relationship with its famous son.Image: Graffiti painting of Che Guevara
Credit: EITAN ABRAMOVICH/Getty Images

Jul 28, 2017 • 9min
Brazil: Facing the Legacy of Slavery
Cais do Valongo, or Valongo Wharf, was recently designated a world heritage site. It's an old stone pier in Rio de Janeiro built for the landing of almost one million enslaved Africans in the 19th century. It was unearthed a few years ago and has brought to the fore difficult questions about the legacy of the slave trade. Fernando Duarte of BBC Brasil, who's from Rio, feels it's a story that's been hidden from view for too long.Image: People passing the Valongo slave wharf in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Jul 21, 2017 • 10min
Inside Myanmar's Rakhine State
This week a Thai court convicted 60 people for human trafficking, with victims including Rohingya people. Rohingya are a muslim minority in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, but the Burmese government doesn't recognise them as citizens, and five years ago large numbers began to flee their homes after becoming victims of widespread violence and abuse. Rohmatin Bonasir of BBC Indonesian recently went to Rakhine State, where many of the Rohingya live, to visit an Indonesian funded school there, as well as a refugee camp in Bangladesh.Image: BBC Indonesia's Rohmatin Bonasir holding a Rohingya child in Bangladesh refugee camp
Credit: BBC

Jul 14, 2017 • 10min
Taking Journalism to New Heights
BBC Urdu's Aliya Nazki and Suhail Haleem talk us through their reporting trip up a mountain in Indian-administered Kashmir - to visit the remarkable Haji Public School. The only way up was on foot or on horseback. So they saddled up, and tried not to look down...Image: Aliya Nazki
Credit: BBC

Jul 7, 2017 • 9min
Biafra War 50 Years On
This week marked the 50th anniversary of the Biafra war. Millions died, mostly from famine, as Nigerian government forces defeated attempts by the Igbo people in the south east to claim an independent Biafran state. You might think an event of such magnitude would be burned into the nation's memory, but it's not a part of history that many young Nigerians know much about. BBC Africa's Tomi Oladipo has been filling in some of those gaps.Image: Biafran flag painted on a wall
Photo credit: STEFAN HEUNIS/AFP/Getty Images