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The Fifth Floor

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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: Prayers, Pilgrims and Power

Documentaries

Courtyard of the holy shrine of Massoumeh, Qom, Iran

18/03/2016 GMT

Prayers, Pilgrims and Power

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Prayers, Pilgrims and Power

The place of the Imam Reza shrine in Iranian hearts, and the power and wealth it creates

Iran's Imam Reza shrine; Leicester City's Thai connection; and Turkey's changing mood following attacks in Ankara.

The Imam Reza shrine in the Iranian city of Mashhad is a spectacular complex visited by millions of pilgrims every year. It's also spectacularly wealthy, and part of a huge business empire worth an estimated $20 billion.  So the person who runs it has considerable power.  Earlier this month that person changed.  BBC Persian's Najieh Ghulami, who's from Mashhad, discusses the change of guard and shares memories of the shrine.  

The rise of the Siamese Foxes 
Leicester City football club, the Foxes, are the surprise leaders of the English Premier League, having come close to relegation last year. They're known as the Siamese Foxes in Thailand, where they have a big following because the club owner is Thai businessman, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. So how much of their success is due to the Thai influence?  Issariya Praithongyaem of BBC Thai has been investigating.

How the Ankara bombings are changing Turkey
A Kurdish militant group has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack in the Turkish capital Ankara last Sunday in which 37 people were killed. It's the third bomb attack in the city in just six months. BBC Turkish journalist Mahmut Hamsici told David how the country's mood has changed. 

The first Saudi rom-com
The first romantic comedy made in Saudi Arabia is about to hit screens. Not in Saudi Arabia though where cinemas and public theatres have been banned since the 1980s. The film is called Barakah Meets Barakah. So who is Barakah and who is Barakah? David spoke to Mai Noman from BBC Arabic in London and Ahmed Omar from the BBC Cairo Bureau. 

Georgia's women chess champions
The Georgian women's chess team are current world champions, and they follow in the footsteps of other celebrated Georgian women champions who came before them. Georgian journalist Nina Akhmeteli, of BBC Russian, explains why her countrywomen are so good at the game. 

Happy New Year
BBC Persian journalists left their studios this week to treat their audiences to a different kind of show. On a windswept balcony at the top of Broadcasting House, they performed a traditional song for Nowruz - Persian New Year - for broadcast on 20 March. They tell the Fifth Floor why the spring festival means so much to them.

And Fifi Haroon's pick of stories from the world wide web.

Photo: Picture of the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad.
Credit: Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images

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