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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: 08/12/2012

India Ganges Image

08/12/2012

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, 08/12/2012

A deity in the dock? How holy Hindu Gods can be called into court

An ear in Tahrir Square; Phone love in Pakistan; Do national anthems bring national unity? An Iraqi, S African and Ukrainian put their songs to the test; and Hindu deities in court

A fresh look at the week's global news from across the World Service's 27 language sections, with guest presenter Pooneh Ghoddoosi.

AN EAR IN TAHRIR
The world is watching Tahrir Square, but are they really listening? BBC Arabic's Yassmen Abo Khadra presents her soundscape from Cairo.

PAKISTAN: TELEPHONE LOVE
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has announced that it is banning late-night cheap rates on mobile phone calls, on the grounds that they are undermining the morality of the country's youth. Apparently young people have been caught making far too many intimate or indecent phone calls and the practice is supposedly threatening the social values of Pakistan. Urdu Service head Aamer Ahmed Khan and BBC Media Action's Fifi Haroon tell just how important the telephone is to relationships in Pakistan.

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 absconding Eritrean footballers, dinosaur discoveries, and seeking Hugo Chavez 

DO NATIONAL ANTHEMS MATTER?
Can national anthems bring national unity? An Iraqi, South African and Ukrainian put their songs to the test. Faris Couri, editor of BBC Arabic (and also an Iraqi) shares why, after nine years of wrangling, Iraq is still struggling to find a national anthem. He's joined by BBC Africa's Nick Ericsson who grew up during the Apartheid-era and was forced to learn the Afrikaans anthem, Die Stem; and Irena Taranjuk of the Ukrainian Service who, as a result of Europe's political convulsions, had to learn several national anthems.

DEITIES IN THE DOCK
It's been 20 years since the Babri Masjid was demolished by hardline Hindu activists in the Indian city of Ayodhya. For over 100 years, the site itself has been the centre of a land dispute between Muslims and Hindus, and as part of the long legal process, and along with the many living witnesses and legal entities, at some point even sacred deities, are called in to court. Suhail Haleem in Delhi explains how the holy Hindu Gods, such as Lord Rama, are called on to stand in the dock.

(Image: An Indian deity held in the hands of a swimmer in the Ganges. Credit: Getty)

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