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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: Ukraine: A Year Since Maidan

Maidan Square, Kiev, Ukraine

21/11/2014

Ukraine: A Year Since Maidan

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Ukraine: A Year Since Maidan

How has Ukraine changed one year on from the Maidan Square protests

Ukraine, one year on from the Maidan Square protests; The diary of a Liberian ambulance worker treating Ebola; Why countries rewrite their history; Nigerian politics through music

This Friday marks exactly a year since the first anti-government protests in Kiev's Maidan square - signalling the start of the ongoing demonstrations and conflict that Ukraine is still experiencing. From Kiev, BBC Ukrainian reporters Anastasiya Gribanova and Vitalii Chervonenko reflect on what the past year has been like for them, when such unrest lands on their doorstep. Anastasiya - who is originally from Donetsk - has not been home since the start of the war, and Vitalii was in Maidan when protesters were killed by riot police.

Nigeria: Political Dissent Through Music
Fela Kuti left a big legacy in Nigeria, but are contemporary musicians doing his political activism justice? BBC Africa's Peter Okwoche looks back at some of the troubles his country is facing - corruption, sectarian war, poverty - through the music that has been written around them. With music from MI, Eedris Abdulkareem, and 2Face Idibia

A Diary of a Liberian Ambulance Worker 
Of the West African countries hit by the Ebola crisis this year, Liberia has been the worst affected, with the highest number of deaths. One of the people at the front line of the crisis in the country is Foday Gallah, he is a long serving ambulance worker in Monrovia. He's transported hundreds of patients across the city since the crisis began until he became an Ebola patient himself. He survived and is now back at work - this is his first-hand account of living and working with Ebola.

Rewriting History, Erdogan Style
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan raised a few eyebrows recently when addressing a conference of Latin America Muslim leaders. He announced to the group that "Muslims discovered the Americas in 1178 not Christopher Columbus". This won't be the first time that a leader has taken a creative pen to the history books, but who's best at making fiction into fact? BBC Urdu's Aamer Ahmed Khan, Xin Li of the Chinese Service, and Serbian journalist Dejan Radojevic shared some unusual tales that changed the history of our world.

Online Greatest Hits
Digital diva Fifi Haroon gives the lowdown on the weird and wonderful stories across the web, including a crime busting dog and man who has turned himself into an animal.

New Writing from Mexico: Meeting Ana Gonzalez Bello
Every year the BBC Drama department invites writers from all over the world to compete in various categories of the BBC International Playwriting Competition. This year there is a brand new prize for most promising writer and it has been won by Ana Gonzalez Bello, she's from Mexico City and her play is called Diablo and Romina.

Picture: Protesters in Maidan Square, Kiev
Picture Credit: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

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