Fifth Floor

Apr 13 2024 401 ep. 4.6k

Fifth Floor Podcast artwork

Faranak Amidi takes a fresh look at the stories of the week with journalists from our 40 language sections.

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A journalist’s life in Israel

Apr 13 2024 27 mins

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

My Ramadan

Apr 06 2024 27 mins

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 durin

From prison to president

Mar 29 2024 40 mins

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 c

Women's radio in Afghanistan

Mar 22 2024 41 mins

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 e

Israel’s Orthodox Jews and the army

Mar 15 2024 40 mins

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 Uk

The gangs of Haiti

Mar 08 2024 40 mins

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, a

Searching for missing migrants

Mar 01 2024 40 mins

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

Living with war: Ukraine's new normal

Feb 23 2024 40 mins

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

Medicines and cinema: Gaza Lifeline

Feb 19 2024 40 mins

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

What is happening at Zaporizhzhia?

Feb 09 2024 40 mins

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