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The Fifth Floor

Factual: Life Stories

Global stories from the BBC’s 40 Language Services, with Faranak Amidi

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services.

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services

The Fifth Floor: 21/07/2012

21/07/2012

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, 21/07/2012

Syrians reporting Syria - the despair of watching your hometown slide into chaos

Syrians reporting Syria - and how Russians and Iranians view the conflict; farewell to a Bollywood great; and a telephone hotline to Bangladesh's PM

A fresh look at the week's global news from across the World Service's 27 language sections, with David Amanor.

SYRIANS REPORTING SYRIA
"There was a sniper at the bus stop... just a few metres from my father's house."

As the conflict in Syria deepens, with fighting now in the capital city and senior officials of the governing regime killed, we turn to the Syrian journalists in the Arabic section who have been reporting the ongoing crisis for more than a year. What have been the challenges of a reporting a story that so dramatically affects your home country and your family - and can it ever be harmonious in a newsroom where underlying tensions and opposing viewpoints become part of a day's work?  Syrians Feras Killani and Dina Waqqaf give their insights.

FROM THE OTHER SIDE: VIEWS FROM RUSSIA AND IRAN ON SYRIA
Russia and Iran have their own alliances with Syria - not to mention gripes against the West - and their own complex perspective of the conflict. For BBC Russian's Artyom Liss and Kasra Naji of the Persian Service, reporting the Syrian war for their audiences has been a delicate balancing act.

PAPPON'S PICKS
Our internet guru Thomas Pappon gives the lowdown on the big-hitting stories across the World Service language sites this week - watch out for Spider-man cleaning windows and North Korea's mystery lady.

REMEMBERING RAJESH
Vineet Khare from the Hindi Service had a rather unusual impetus to get up for his early morning jogs when he used to report from Mumbai. The chance of getting a glimpse of his neighbour - the cigarette-puffing Bollywood superstar Rajesh Khanna, who passed away this week. The fan letters written in blood, the dogs named after his wife - Vineet fondly remembers what the film star meant to girls of his mother's generation and the stories she told him.

HELLO, PRIME MINISTER?
How would it be like to get through to the mobile numbers of Bangladesh's prime minister Sheikh Hasina? Well, good luck if you are trying. Though she gave out her 'personal' numbers to 150 million Bangladeshis to report any corruption, our Bengali Service reporter Akbar Hossain has failed to find anyone who has actually been able to speak to her. So, The Fifth Floor's very own Mahfuz Sadique imagines making that futile call.

(Image: Syrian refugees at an anti-government protest. Credit: Reuters)

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