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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

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The Fifth Floor: Syria's Trailblazing Kurdish women

Documentaries

Syrian Kurdish women waving flags

04/03/2016 GMT

Syria's Trailblazing Kurdish women

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Syria's Trailblazing Kurdish women

How Syria's Kurdish women are taking the lead in public life

How Syria's Kurdish women are taking the lead in public life; the new music taking Cairo by storm and the military operation to cull Mauritius' bats

There's an extraordinary social change happening in Syria's Rojava region.  Since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, the predominantly Kurdish area has revolutionised society, with the primary beneficiaries being women. There's an all female militia, female judges alongside male, and co-leadership at all levels of public administration. How did this come about? BBC Monitoring's Roj Ranjbar, an Iraqi Kurd, has visited the area and shares his insights.

African names
From Ethiopia to Zimbabwe, Kenya to Burkina Faso, the Fifth Floor goes in search of the story behind the meaning of the names of our BBC Africa colleagues. 

Mauritius bat cull
There's been a huge bat cull in Mauritius.  Normally bats are protected, but the government was forced to take action after fruit farmers complained about crop damage, and city dwellers about the noise they make at night. So what exactly does a bat munching on a mango sound like?  Yasine Mohabuth from BBC Afrique has spent many hours listening and does a rather good impression.  

Mahragan: Egypt's new music craze
There's a popular new music style on the streets of Cairo and Egypt's big cities that seems to be dividing opinion. It's called mahragan and it started in the slums, but it's been gaining a mainstream following, as well as some critics. Ali Gamal El deen and Ranyah Sabry from BBC Arabic tell David more. 

Hunting ghosts in India
Kuldhara is a deserted village in northern India, said to have been haunted since it was abandoned by its inhabitants 200 years ago. The ruins have been partially renovated and declared a heritage site by the Indian government. BBC Urdu's Shakeel Akhtar, who recently visited Kuldhara, tells us about the mysterious disappearance of the entire population, and the legends they left behind.

And Fifi Haroon's pick of weird and wonderful stories from the worldwide web.

Photo: Syrian Kurdish women waving flags.
Credit: Yann Renoult.

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