What is it like to work in Jerusalem right now? BBC journalist Shaina Oppenheimer shares her experience of living in Israel and monitoring the conflicting narratives published on Israeli and Palestinian media. Plus, BBC Mundo's Alicia Hernandez explains why Equatorial Guinea is the only African country which has Spanish as one of its official languages and shares the unusual local Spanish words she discovered. Produced by Caroline Ferguson and Alice Gioia For future episodes of The Fifth Floor, ...
Apr 13, 2024•27 min
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It’s a period of prayer, celebrations and community gatherings and Muslims worldwide observe it by fasting from dawn to sunset. As this year’s Ramadan draws to a close, Faranak Amidi is joined by three BBC World Service colleagues who share their personal experiences and the stories that made headlines in their countries during this year’s celebrations. Asif Farooqi, Aalia Farzan and Deena Easa have been looking at how conflict, natural disaste...
Apr 06, 2024•27 min
After an election held just days after his release from prison, Bassirou Diomaye Faye is set to become Senegal's next president, and at 44, the youngest in the country’s history. From Dakar, the BBC's Khadidiatou Cissé and Thomas Naadi tell us more about the new Senegalese leader. Banksy's new neighbour BBC Mundo's Carlos Serrano shares his experience of finding himself at the centre of a big news story, after a Banksy mural was painted outside his apartment. Kashmiri carpet weavers In Indian-ad...
Mar 29, 2024•41 min
As a new school year starts in Afghanistan, 330,000 more girls will be excluded from secondary education, one of the ways in which women and girls are increasingly confined to their homes under the Taliban regime. In light of this, BBC Media Action is running the Women’s Voice radio project, training women to make programmes for other women on vital topics like health, work and education. Getti Sediqi is one of the trainers in Kabul. Isabel, the giant armadillo The giant armadillo, found only in...
Mar 22, 2024•41 min
The war in Gaza is forcing Israeli society to confront a long-standing conflict over who serves in the army. Ultra-Orthodox Jews enjoy an exemption, but many Israelis now say this should end. Both sides took to the streets to protest, while the Israeli Supreme Court hears a case related to this matter, as BBC Arabic’s Michael Shuval reports. Ukraine's Ushanka hat sell off The Ukrainian government plans to auction 40,000 ushanka hats it bought in the early 2000s. The warm winter hats became popul...
Mar 15, 2024•41 min
The Caribbean nation of Haiti is in the grip of gang violence, with armed groups controlling much of the country. The lawlessness came to a head after gangs stormed two jails, freeing thousands of prisoners. Meanwhile Prime Minister Ariel Henry is being prevented from returning after a trip abroad. Luis Fajardo from BBC Monitoring in Miami tells us about the key players in Haiti, and the background to what’s happening. The women saving a river A group of women in Bangladesh have been mobilising ...
Mar 08, 2024•40 min
The Eagles of the Desert are a group of volunteers who look for migrants who've been reported missing while crossing the hazardous Sonoran Desert from Mexico into the United States. BBC Mundo reporter Valentina Oropeza and cameraman Jose Maria Rodero joined them on a search, and they share their experience of the desert and the work of the volunteers. Policing Uzbekistan's schools Last month, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan told the National Guard to go into schools to tackle truancy....
Mar 01, 2024•41 min
Two years after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, we hear from colleagues in BBC Ukrainian about life in Kyiv. How different is the new normal from their old lives, and how have they adapted? Daria Taradai and Halyna Korba share their stories. Sri Lanka's cashew village Kajugama is famous for its cashew nuts, in fact its name means "cashew village" in Sinhala. Many local women depend on selling cashews to make a living, but the business is in decline and they're struggling to earn enou...
Feb 23, 2024•41 min
BBC Arabic's Gaza Lifeline launched 3 months ago to provide life-saving information for citizens forced from their homes by the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, and struggling to find the necessities of life. Journalists Karim Moustafa, Amira Dakroury and Marwa Gamal tell us about the information they provide, and the stories they've covered. Kazakhstan’s school headscarf ban There's a dilemma for Muslim schoolgirls in Kazakhstan who want to wear the hijab. It violates the country's school ...
Feb 19, 2024•41 min
There have been concerns about the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, which was seized by Russian forces in March 2022. Following this week's visit to the plant by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Vitaliy Shevchenko of BBC Monitoring explains the findings of the team. The Year of the Dragon At the start of the Year of the Dragon, we look at the importance of the dragon in Chinese culture. We also find out why there's growing pressure to diff...
Feb 09, 2024•41 min
Electoral symbols are crucial in Pakistani elections, helping illiterate voters find their party on the ballot paper. So when Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld a decision to strip the PTI party of Imran Khan of its cricket bat symbol last week, many cried foul. BBC Urdu editor Asif Farooqi explains the rich history of symbols, and how this relates to Pakistan's forthcoming elections. The 63-year-old Pakistani going back to school BBC Urdu's Azizullah Khan met the 63 year old man in north west Paki...
Feb 02, 2024•41 min
This month Iran launched a missile attack into Pakistan's Balochistan region, claiming to target an Iranian anti-regime militant group based there. Days later Pakistan retaliated with missiles it claimed were directed at Baloch-Pakistan militants in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province. BBC Urdu's Saher Baloch visited the border city of Turbat in Pakistan's Balochistan province to find out what impact this is having on cross border relations, and what these militants want. Chinese students choose ...
Jan 26, 2024•41 min
Since the 7th October attacks, BBC Arabic's Michael Shuval has interviewed many of the families of those abducted by Hamas and held captive in Gaza. The families held an event marking 100 days since their abduction, close to the Nova festival site, as part of their campaign to bring their loved ones home. The new Ram temple and the transformation of Ayodhya Next week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fulfil a decades-long Hindu nationalist pledge by opening the Ram Mandir on one of India...
Jan 19, 2024•41 min
A BBC Africa Eye investigation has found evidence of widespread abuse and torture by the late TB Joshua, founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos, which has followers around the world. The team was supported by Nigerian investigative journalist Adejuwon Soyinka, who tells us when the pastor first came to his attention and what he discovered about him. Secret trains and Russian prisoners The disappearance of imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, and his reappearance three weeks...
Jan 12, 2024•40 min
The BBC’s Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abualouf reported from Gaza for more than 20 years, but last November he and his family left for the safety of Istanbul. He tells us about the challenges of his new life, and the chaos, death and destruction of his final weeks in Gaza, as Israel retaliated for the Hamas cross-border assault of 7 October. The Brazilian bat rediscovered after 100 years A bat discovered in part of Brazil's Atlantic Forest in 2018 has been officially confirmed as a species which h...
Jan 11, 2024•41 min
BBC language service journalists share stories and experiences that lifted their spirits in a year with more than its fair share of tragic news. BBC Russian's Nataliya Zotova explains how an imperious seagull named Agamemnon helped her settle in her new home in Riga, after leaving Russia. BBC Delhi’s Divya Arya tells us about helping an interviewee who had shared her story of surviving domestic violence and living with significant facial burns, to become a guest presenter for BBC Hindi. BBC Afgh...
Dec 29, 2023•41 min
Presented by Irena Taranyuk A stalled front line and diplomatic challenges - we look at the pressures on Ukraine with Vitaliy Shevchenko, Russia editor at BBC Monitoring. And Daria Taradai of BBC Ukrainian tells us about the return to Kyiv of hundreds of ancient Scythian treasures from Crimea, which were on loan to a European museum when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Their arrival in Kyiv follows almost 10 years of legal battles with Russia. Pilgrimage to Aksum Thousands of pilgrims recently ma...
Dec 15, 2023•41 min
Somalia is struggling with the aftermath of its worst floods for many decades, which have affected more than two million people. Some were already displaced, having lost their livelihoods in the acute drought which preceded the flooding. It’s a big story for BBC Somali, and journalist Fardowsa Hanshi tells us how they’ve been covering it. Being a tourist in Afghanistan Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Afghanistan has seen a reduction in violence. This has opened up the country to bot...
Dec 08, 2023•40 min
A BBC Arabic investigation has revealed that toxic pollutants released during gas flaring are endangering millions more people than previously feared. Flaring - the burning of waste gas during oil drilling - is taking place across the Gulf, including by COP28 hosts, the United Arab Emirates. Reporter Sarah Ibraham tells us what the documentary, Breathless, reveals about how the pollution can spread hundreds of kilometres, affecting air quality across the entire region. Hong Kong city walks Samps...
Dec 01, 2023•41 min
It's seven months since fighting in Sudan erupted between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Peace talks in Saudi Arabia have so far failed to secure a truce, leaving over five million Sudanese internally displaced, and a humanitarian crisis imminent without a ceasefire according to the UN. BBC Arabic's Mohamed Osman was forced to leave his home in Omdurman, but returned to Port Sudan, the country's de facto capital, to report on those made homeless by the war. Kimchi D...
Nov 24, 2023•41 min
Following the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7th October, conservationists have been using unconventional methods to locate the bodies of the dead. Its civilian Nature and Parks Authority is using tracking devices on rare migratory birds to help locate the missing, passing information on where they stop onto the authorities. It says one eagle has helped recover four bodies, as BBC Arabic’s Michael Shuval reports. Indonesia's village influencers Two young village women in Indonesia have become surpri...
Nov 17, 2023•41 min
Presented by Andrea Kennedy BBC Arabic has begun an emergency radio service for Gaza in response to the conflict in the region. Adel Soliman tells us about providing news and information, and also key lifeline advice on access to medical care, food and water. The floating duck farms of Bangladesh Low-lying farmland in north east Bangladesh is flooded every year during the monsoon, and local people used to survive by fishing as well as farming. But climate change and over-fishing have ruined thei...
Nov 10, 2023•41 min
Presented by Irena Taranyuk The intense focus of the world’s media on events in the Middle East has taken attention away from the war in Ukraine. We ask what's the latest on the war, and what important stories are being reported from the region? Answers from Diana Kuryshko of BBC Ukrainian and Vitaliy Shevchenko, Russia editor at BBC Monitoring and co-presenter of Ukrainecast. Factories versus fishermen: the story of Rempang Island A small Indonesian island off Sumatra has been in the news becau...
Nov 03, 2023•41 min
The Fifth Floor visits the BBC's Seoul Bureau to meet the journalists working for BBC Korean, serving audiences across the whole of the Korean peninsula, with different output for both North and South Korea. Journalists David Oh, Hyunjung Kim and Yuna Ku talk about the stories they've been working on for the domestic audience, from the growing global interest in Korean popular culture to what divides, and unites, Koreans. They also broadcast a daily radio programme to North Korea. Editor Woongbe...
Oct 27, 2023•48 min
With constant new developments in Israel and Gaza, we find out how BBC Monitoring is reporting and analysing news from the heart of the conflict. Joel Greenberg from the team in Jerusalem tells us about the war of words between Israeli and Palestinian media; Kian Sharifi analyses what’s being said on Iranian state media and social media; and Alex Wright has been looking at online jihadist sources to see how they are exploiting the conflict. Feeling the heat in Brazil Parts of Brazil have just co...
Oct 20, 2023•41 min
A week after the attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, we look at how some of the BBC’s major language services have been covering the conflict for their audiences, with William Marquez from BBC Mundo, Zubair Ahmed from BBC Delhi and Daniel Dadzie from the Focus on Africa podcast team. Banking and slavery in Brazil Brazil’s oldest bank, the Banco do Brasil, is facing a public inquiry into its alleged involvement in the slave trade during the 19th century. It's been a big stor...
Oct 13, 2023•41 min
Presented by Sana Safi Millions of Afghans living in Pakistan and Iran are facing growing pressure to return to Afghanistan. In Pakistan, around 1.7 million unauthorised Afghan asylum seekers have been ordered to leave by the end of this month. In Iran, the authorities say there are five million Afghans living without legal status, and forced removals are increasing. We hear from BBC Urdu’s Asif Farooqi and BBC Persian’s Zia Shahreyar about the latest developments. Turkish beach towel revolution...
Oct 06, 2023•40 min
Last week Venezuela sent 11,000 troops into the notorious Tocorón jail to retake control. For years it's been run by inmates, and was headquarters to the international crime organisation, the "Aragua Train", although its leader, Héctor Guerrero, escaped. BBC Mundo's Valentina Oropeza shares insights into the story and the prison, which boasted a pool, nightclub and even a mini-zoo. Esports at the Asian games The 19th Asian Games kicked off in the Chinese city of Hangzhou last Saturday. Esports m...
Sep 29, 2023•41 min
In the aftermath of the devastating floods in Derna, following the collapse of two dams, we hear from Sara Alhouni, outreach officer for BBC Media Action's platform for Libyan audiences, about their response to the catastrophe and how they are providing lifesaving information for those affected. India or Bharat? Could India be officially renamed “Bharat”? The idea was reported in the press this week after invitations to G20 summit members asked them to join the “President of Bharat”, not India, ...
Sep 22, 2023•41 min
As the world marks the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death, we hear from journalist Farzad Seifikaran, who gained an exclusive interview with her mother, Mojgan Eftekhari, for BBC Persian. Farzad, who’s from Mahsa’s home town in Kurdistan, tells us what he learned from Mojgan about the young woman whose death led to protests that shook Iran. Job-hunting in Africa and “full-time children” A growing number of young people in China, especially recent college graduates, are struggling to find j...
Sep 15, 2023•40 min
