Fifth Floor

By BBC World ServiceNews

Fifth Floor episodes

October 09, 2020 India's secret soldiers
This year armies from India and China clashed along the disputed border between Indian-administered Kashmir and China. A recent funeral with full military honours on the Indian side revealed an intriguing story. Nayima Tanzin was a Tibetan refugee, who his family say was serving with a covert Indian regiment, the Special Frontier Force, a force never acknowledged by Indian authorities. The BBC’s Aamir Peerzada travelled to Ladakh to find out more.
Flights to nowhere
Here’s an odd phenomenon. Airlines in South East Asia are offering “flights to nowhere” – you fly, you don’t land, you come back. So what’s going on? Hong Kong-based BBC Chinese journalist Martin Yip fills us in.
Hotels of Pyongyang
Why would South Koreans be interested in a new book showing photographs of hotel restaurants and reception areas? Because these hotels are in the North Korean capital Pyongyang. The BBC’s Julie Yoonnyung Lee tells us more about the fascination of the photographs for Koreans.
Image: Funeral with full military honours of Tibetan refugee Nayima Tenzin in Ladakh
Credit: Nisar Hussain
25 min
October 02, 2020 The battle over Nagorno-Karabakh
As fighting flares again over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, we ask why it's so hard to resolve this conflict, and why a chunk of Armenian-controlled territory came to be inside Azerbaijan in the first place. BBC Russian editor Famil Ismailov is originally from Azerbaijan, and has followed this story for decades.
Pot plants and plant influencers in Indonesia
Houseplants have become a trend among urban Indonesians keen to ease the boredom of lockdown. There’s an industry of plant “influencers” and experts to feed the fascination, shared by BBC Indonesian’s Astudestra Ajengrastri.
The fund-raising campaigns to free captured IS families
Stories are emerging of donation campaigns by so-called Islamic State and Al Qaeda aimed at freeing the wives and children of IS fighters from detention camps in Syria. Abdirahim Saeed of BBC Monitoring tells us what he’s discovered from jihadist social media groups, which are raising funds to smuggle the women out.
Picture: Elderly woman in Nagorno Karabakh
Credit: European Photopress Agency
24 min
September 25, 2020 Music and Memory
This week, the World Service marked World Alzheimer's Day with a BBC Music and Memory project, exploring the power of music to reach sufferers with the disease. It launched a website of global tracks to trigger memories, compiled with the help of the BBC's language services. Behzad Bolour compiled BBC Persian's list, his father suffered from dementia, but still sang with him. He also explores Iran’s complex relationship with music.
But what tracks does the rest of the world dance and remember to? We hear from BBC Arabic's Nahed Najjar, Adedayo Owolabi of BBC Yoruba, Kateryna Khinkulova of BBC Russian and Partha Prasad from the Indian languages hub in Delhi about some of the tracks they contributed to the world music database, and why.
Image: Elderly Indian lady listening on headphones looking at smartphone
Credit: BBC
24 min
September 18, 2020 Protests against Colombia's police
A video showing the repeated tazering of a Colombian lawyer Javier Ordóñez by police as he begged for mercy, and his subsequent death from internal injuries, triggered riots in which several people died. BBC Mundo's Daniel Pardo is based in Bogota, and explains what this story reveals about Colombians relationship with law enforcement.
My Hometown: Hanoi
A return visit with Nga Pham to her hometown of Hanoi, Vietnam and a walk down the tree lined streets.
Ghana Nigeria sibling rivalry
The rivalry between Nigeria and Ghana is well known, but the two countries also share a close relationship despite not being neighbours. We bring together Nigeria’s Peter Okwoche and Mark Wilberforce from Ghana to explore how the countries see each other.
Image: Colombian protests after death of Javier Ordóñez
Credit: JOAQUIN SARMIENTO/AFP via Getty Images
25 min
September 11, 2020 The Indian diamonds losing their shine
Surat in Gujarat is the world's diamond polishing hub, cutting and polishing 70% of all diamonds. But lockdown brought that industry to a halt, with many losing their jobs. BBC Indian languages journalist Nitin Srivastava spoke to some of those affected.
Ethiopians in Yemen
The Gulf states and Middle East are historically popular destinations for migrant workers from Ethiopia, and travelling through war-torn Yemen a well-established trafficking route. But since the start of the global pandemic thousands of migrants have become trapped there, unable to go back or move on. BBC Arabic's Julien Hajj has been finding out more about their plight.
Image: Alpesh, diamond polisher in Surat, one of many who lost jobs during lockdown.
Credit: BBC
19 min
September 04, 2020 The refugee children of Cox's Bazar
It's been three years since violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people to flee to Bangladesh. Since then home has been the crowded Cox’s Bazar refugee camp. BBC Bangla’s Shahnewaj Rocky has revisited the camp and met some of the children living there.
My Hometown: Samut Prakan
We travel to the outskirts of Bangkok with Chaiyot Yongcharoenchai of BBC Thai to sing karaoke with his many, many cousins.
Spain’s royal soap opera
The Spanish royal family has been through a turbulent time with corruption allegations involving former King Juan Carlos, and revelations about his numerous affairs. Juan Carlos recently left Spain to live in the United Arab Emirates. But his wife, Queen Sofia, has remained respected and admired. Mar Pichel of BBC Mundo tells us why.
Image: Nayeem, born in Cox's Bazar
Credit: BBC Shahnewaj Rocky
24 min
August 28, 2020 Getting to know Navalny
Last week Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was taken seriously ill on a flight to Moscow. Poisoning is suspected, and he remains in a coma in Germany undergoing treatment. But who is Navalny and what does he stand for? We speak to BBC Russian editor Famil Ismailov to get a closer look at Putin's biggest political rival.
In praise of mariachi
In Mexico City, Plaza Garibaldi is the heart of mariachi music, where flamboyantly suited, sombrero-wearing musicians entertain drinkers and diners alike. But the Covid-19 lockdown also shut down mariachi, and led to mariachi band protests across Mexico. BBC Monitoring contributor Marcos Martínez Chacón explains what mariachi means to him and Mexicans.
Image: Alexei Navalny's face is green after an attack with antiseptic dye
Credit: BBC/Navalny.com
18 min
August 21, 2020 Breaking taboos in Iran
The taboo of domestic violence in Iran is being tackled by a podcaster who calls herself Maryam. She tells the story of her own abusive marriage, and is joined in each podcast by other women who share their experiences. Nooshin of BBC Monitoring explains why this taboo persists in her home country.
From the streets of Belarus to Franco’s Spain: the story of a song
The anthem being sung by protesters on the streets of Belarus has a story that starts in 1960s Spain, during the regime of General Franco. It was written by a Catalan singer-songwriter and is a call for unity of action to achieve freedom. Since then it has had several new lives in different countries, where many are unaware of its origins. BBC Mundo’s Enric Botella, who’s from Catalonia, tells the story.
Picture: Iranian women in Tehran
Credit: ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images
25 min
August 14, 2020 Beirut: after the explosion
Last week's catastrophic explosion in Beirut devastated the port area and left at least 170 dead, thousands injured, and many more homeless. It's a painful time for our journalists who come from Beirut - in both BBC Arabic and BBC Monitoring. We hear the reflections of Nahed Najjar, Nisrine Hatoum, Hesham Shawish, Nidale Abou Mrad and Julien Hajj.
The dream of Gran Colombia
Gran Colombia was a vast country which included the modern nations of Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela and Colombia. It was born in 1819, the dream of Simon Bolivar, hero of the revolutionary wars that liberated Spanish America. Ana Maria Roura has been researching the history and legacy of Gran Colombia for BBC Mundo.
25 min
August 07, 2020 The teenager who took on the Taliban
A teenage Afghan girl was recently celebrated as a hero, and photos of her holding an AK47 widely circulated, after she killed two Taliban fighters who attacked her home. But Firuz Rahimi of BBC Uzbek – himself from Afghanistan – shares the story behind the story, revealing the complexity of Afghan life and loyalties.
Unmasking the masks
Nasobuco, barbijo, tapabocas and mascarilla – the proliferation of words for facemasks in Latin America, with BBC Monitoring journalist Rafael Rojas in Miami.
When monuments say more than ministries
Olga Ivshina was part of the BBC Russian team investigating what the new names being added to war memorials can reveal about military operations in the absence of government information.
Image: Qamar Gul, Afghan girl holding AK47
Credit: Social media
25 min