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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: Working on a Nepalese National Holiday

Worshipping the goddess Durga on Dashain - Nepal's national festival

18/10/2013

Working on a Nepalese National Holiday

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Working on a Nepalese National Holiday

Alone in the BBC Kathmandu office at festival time

The challenges of court reporting; Mexico football; Annual festival in Nepal; Uzbek writer; Swat Valley dengue fever; and Miami English.

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

Challenging Court Reporting 
Uncovering the facts or burying the truth? BBC Russian's Oleg Boldyrev and Zhuang Chen from BBC Chinese discuss the challenges of court reporting in their respective countries. The high profile trials of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny and China's former Communist party boss Bo Xilai have posed different problems. How tempting is it to speculate and make your own interpretations when decisions are made behind closed doors? 

Football Foes 
BBC Mundo's Arturo Wallace tells us why he thinks Mexico is the most despised football team in Latin America. Apparently their difficulties during the World Cup qualifiers this week were cause for celebration for the rest of the continent. 

Lonely Office Days 
This week, all of Surendra Phuyal's colleagues were at home with their families, celebrating Nepal's annual Hindu festival, Dashain. He got the short straw and had to look after the BBC's Kathmandu newsroom on his own. Surendra tells David that at least his journey to work was quick on the empty roads.  

Uzbek Writer 
BBC Uzbek's Pahlavon Turgunov tells David the extraordinary story of how prominent writer Mamadali Mahmudov survived in Uzbekistan's most notorious prison. He watched fellow inmates being tortured to death and had to write his novels in secret, exchanging food for paper and pens.   

Dengue in Swat Valley
Authorities in Pakistan have declared a health emergency in the north-western Swat Valley after almost 5,000 cases of dengue fever were reported in a month. Adnan Rashid lives there and tells The Fifth Floor how this outbreak has affected his family and why he's had to resort to burning cow dung outside his front door.

Miami English
What you might hear in downtown Miami is not English, Spanish, or even Spanglish. It's a new phenomenon - Miami English. BBC Mundo's Eulimar Nunez explains what 'irregardless' and 'supposebly' mean.

Online Hits
Fifi Haroon brings us some of the most surprising and intriguing stories from the BBC's web pages. 

Picture: Girl depicting goddess Durga during Dashain festival
Picture credit: AFP/Getty Images

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