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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: Women on the Frontline

Women on the frontline

25/10/2013

Women on the Frontline

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Women on the Frontline

Female war reporters covering conflict in Burundi and Syria

Women journalists reporting war; India and Ethiopia enter the space race; An election first-timer in Azerbaijan and Bangladesh six months after the Rana Plaza collapse.

It's a big week for the World Service - 100 women from all corners of the world have been brought together to talk about the challenges and opportunities they face. In the studio with David we bring together two female journalists who've reported some of the biggest stories of recent years. World Service journalist, Lina Sinjab, was reporting from her home city Damascus as it descended into civil war. And BBC Kinyarwanda's Florentine Kwizera was based in Burundi during the country's 12-year civil war.

The Ups and Downs of Space Exploration
Ethiopia isn't known as a big player in space exploration but this week it joined Africa's space race, opening an astronomy observatory tower. So could Ethiopians in Space soon be accompanied by Indians on Mars and Iranians on the Moon? The Fifth Floor mic goes star-gazing to find out more about the language-service links to all things astronomical. 

Rookie Reporter in Azerbaijan
Leyla Najafova is a reporter just starting out on her career at BBC Azeri. The 23-year-old has been working here on the Fifth Floor for the past year. Earlier this month she got the chance to go on her first reporting trip, when she was sent to Baku in Azerbaijan to cover the presidential elections.

Rana Plaza Six Months On
The Bengali Service have been marking six months since the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Dhaka, which killed over 1,000 people. Masud Khan recalls some of the most haunting moments in sounds and words.

Musical Fever in Nigeria
This week a theatre in Lagos opens its doors for the first ever western style musical. Tomi Oladipo has been to see what it's all about, in a place where dance and music form a backdrop to everyday life.

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

The Fifth Floor is presented by David Amanor.
Image credit: FABIO BUCCIARELLI/AFP/Getty Images

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