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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: BBC Arabic and Iraq

Iraq Violence

20/06/2014

BBC Arabic and Iraq

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, BBC Arabic and Iraq

We take you inside BBC Arabic's newsroom to hear the challenges of reporting Iraq

BBC Arabic and covering Iraq, remembering a peaceful Baghdad, a Russian sobriety bus, religious violence in Sri Lanka, Chile's glacier republic, and Syrian singer Lena Chamamyan

It's been a bleak weak in Iraq. As turmoil and uncertainty continues across the country we look at the story through the eyes of BBC Arabic. They have deployed more people to cover this crisis than any other this year. BBC Arabic Editor Mohammed Yehia talks us through the challenges of shaping and explaining such a complex story.

Remembering Peace in Baghdad
With real questions over the future of Iraq we look back at a different time in the country, when it was at the forefront of the arts and brimming with music, poetry and painting. BBC Arabic's Lily Al-Tai grew up in Baghdad in the 1970s and has always been closely tied to the arts community there.

Russia's Sobriety Bus
A British health charity this week suggested the launch of a pilot scheme of "booze buses" across the UK. The aim is to treat drunks and relieve pressure on Accident & Emergency units struggling to cope with hordes of boozers. Russia, orginator of the "drunk tank", has long dealt with occasions of widespread drunkenness - and getting citizens to sober up. From Moscow, journalist Sergei Berets gives a potted history of the Russian sobriety stations.

Online greatest hits
Digital diva Fifi Haroon gives the lowdown on the top-hitting stories across the language service websites, including Buffalo Bill's bear claw necklace and dodgy condoms in Vietnam.

Breaking the silence on Sri Lanka's sectarian violence
BBC Sinhala's Azzam Ameen has been reporting on what's being called the worst violence in Sri Lanka in recent years. Four people were killed and hundreds of shops and homes looted after hardline Buddhists attacked a muslim area. Azzam tells us why the local media were silent on this and why he had to console victims of the violence.   

Chile's Glacier Republic
Can you declare a large block of ice a republic? It's a debate that's been raging in Chile, where a legal loophole has meant that a vast spread of glaciers in the country has been declared an "independent nation" by climate activists as a way of highlighting the environmental threat of melting ice. BBC Mundo's Paula Molina in Santiago tells us why she'd like a Republica Glaciar stamp on her passport.

Syrian singer song-writer Lena Chamamyan 
Syrian-Armenian musical trailblazer Lena Chamamyan is considered one of the best singers of her generation. A spirit of Middle Eastern jazz runs through her music - a fusion of traditional eastern songs from the Arab world and Armenia with western styles. The BBC's Soumer Daghastani went backstage at her recent concert to talk music, and her memories of Syria. 

Picture: Iraqi tribesman holding a weapon 
Picture credit: Getty Images

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