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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: 18/08/2012

18/08/2012

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, 18/08/2012

The BBC's Iranian reporter in Israel on the paradoxes of living with the so-called 'enemy'

The secret world of Vietnamese workers in Russia; our Iranian reporter in Israel; Ramadan TV dinners; and where is Cameroon's First Lady?

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

SECRET WORLD OF VIETNAMESE WORKERS IN RUSSIA
It started with a phone-call. Last month BBC Vietnamese got a distress call from a woman in northern Vietnam claiming her daughter and son-in-law were being forced to work in slave-like conditions in a Vietnamese-owned factory in Russia. The story was picked up and the result was a major piece of investigative reporting by the Russian and Vietnamese Services - which ultimately lead the Russian authorities to raid the factory and free the workers. BBC Vietnamese's Hung Nguyen and BBC Russian's Oxana Vozhdaeva describe the collaboration - the thrill of being on the scent of such a remarkable story and the sorrow of what it revealed.  

ONLINE GREATEST HITS
Marco Silva gives the lowdown on the big-hitting stories across the World Service language sites this week.

AN IRANIAN IN ISRAEL
Kambiz Fattahi is the Persian Service reporter in Jerusalem. Not an easy role when the two countries are at such loggerheads. Kambiz talks about the minefields he has to pick his way round and the rich mix of Persian and Afghan Jews that fill his microphone.

RAMADAN TV DINNERS
Breaking the fast in Egypt during Ramadan happens in front of the TV. Every year specialist soaps are created for this event - this year around 70 soaps have topped the listings. Naglaa El-Emary, head of BBC Arabic's Cairo bureau looks at what's been dished out on TV this year - a mix of sex and violence and assesses what it says about Egypt today.

WHERE IS CAMEROON'S FIRST LADY?
You may have heard about the seven members of the Cameroon Olympic team who have failed to return home after the games, but they are not the only prominent Cameroonians to go missing. For many months now, the First Lady Chantal Biya has been conspicuously absent from public life. Although traditionally she has been beside her husband for almost every official outing, the President has now carried out three major public engagements without her. This has raised many eyebrows in the country as to the whereabouts and real condition of the First Lady. As of yet there has not been any official announcement about her. What could possibly be going on? BBC Africa's Veronique Edwards gives her theories.

(Image: Orthodox Jews in Israel. Credit: Reuters)

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