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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: 17/11/2012

17/11/2012

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, 17/11/2012

Tragedy in Gaza for a BBC Arabic reporter

A devastating night for BBC Arabic in Gaza; the highs and lows of Kurdish culture; and Somali comedy in London's diaspora.

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

TRAGEDY IN GAZA
This week, an air strike in Gaza killed the baby boy of BBC Arabic picture editor Jihad Misharawi. His home was close to a factory targeted by the Israeli military on Wednesday amid a tit-for-tat series of attacks bringing casualties to both sides.  Events unfolded live on television with Jihad walking through a crowd holding the body of his son wrapped in white cloth. He was interviewed by Shahdi Al-Kashef, who reports for the BBC from the Palestinian territories. We talk to him about this horrendous experience.

THE KURDISH WAY
The Kurds live in an area encompassed by five nations, including Turkey where thousands of lives have been lost in a 30 year old conflict between Kurdish militants and the Turkish government. Some Kurds want an independent Kurdistan, others want cultural rights, but what does it mean to be Kurdish? Jiyar Gol, an Iranian Kurd reporting for BBC Persian, Kareem Abdulrahman, an Iraqi Kurd with the BBC's media monitoring service, and Guney Yildiz, with the Turkish language service, enlighten us.  

ONLINE GREATEST HITS
BBC Brasil's Thomas Pappon gives the lowdown on the big-hitting stories across the World Service language sites this week - including amorous bicycles, grasshopper chat-up lines and an expensive diamond.   

SOMALI COMEDY
Somalia, a country ravaged by two decades of civil war, is not known for its comedy. In an attempt to find the lighter side of the Somali character, David visits a comedy gig in London, fronted by Somali comedian Prince Abdi, with BBC Somali's Farhan Jimale, Abdirahman Koronto, and the Arabic Service's Abdiraheem Saeed.

(Picture: Girl playing outside graffiti-stained wall in Gaza. Credit: Getty.)

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