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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: Surviving the Somali Civil War and the 7/7 attacks

Forensic investigators examine the remains of the bombed out bus in Tavistock square in London 09 July 2005.

10/07/2015

Surviving the Somali Civil War and the 7/7 attacks

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Surviving the Somali Civil War and the 7/7 attacks

A life-changing decision to step off a bus.

A BBC Somali journalist caught up in London's 7/7 attacks; the global appeal of Alice in Wonderland; mountain air and militants - a guide to the North Caucasus.

Abdirahman Koronto was on his way to work on the 7th July 2005 when he boarded the Number 30 bus at Tavistock Square but he changed his mind and stepped off again. Moments later the bus exploded in front of his eyes. As crowds fled the scene, he walked towards it, and set about administering first aid to the injured. It was a shocking but not altogether unfamiliar sight for him. Abdirahman is Somali and grew up in Mogadishu where he witnessed the height of the violence of the civil war in the 1990s.

Alice in Wonderland
2015 marks the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  Since her first appearance in English, Alice has been translated into more than 170 languages.  We hear about the impact she made in Arabic, Bengali and Russian from Angy Ghannam of BBC Monitoring in Cairo, Manoshi Barua of BBC Bengali, and Katerina Linnik of BBC Russian. 

Spas, Mountains and Militancy: a tour of the North Caucasus
Russia's North Caucasus has often been destabilised by rebellions and insurgencies. Now there's rivalry between the main militant group, the Caucasus Emirate, and so-called Islamic State, which recently proclaimed a new province in the North Caucasus. Meanwhile tourists from Russia and neighbouring countries continue to enjoy the region's spa waters and healthy mountain air. Leyla Akbar of BBC Monitoring in Baku takes us through the contradictions.

Urdu poetry and the tradition of the Mushaira
For Urdu poets in Pakistan and India, the traditional way to show off their work is to attend a mushaira, or formal recital.  The tradition goes back at least five hundred years to the Muslim rulers of India, and is experiencing a resurgence now far beyond the sub-continent. David is joined from Islamabad by journalist and poet Zafar Syed of BBC Urdu.

And Fifi shares her favourite stories from the world of webbery this week

Main image:  The bombed out bus in Tavistock Square, London 09 July 2005.  Credit:  ODD ANDERSEN / AFP / Getty Images

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