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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: Saudi Religious Police Under Scrutiny

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Saudi women walking past a jewelry shop at Tiba market in Riyadh

04/11/2016 GMT

Saudi Religious Police Under Scrutiny

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Saudi Religious Police Under Scrutiny

The impact of recent changes to the religious police on Saudi Arabian society.

Saudi religious police, Mombasa night weddings, Kyrgyzstan's missing constitution, University of Benghazi graduates, and Hausa writing by and for women. With David Amanor.

It's been six months since Saudi Arabia curbed the powers of the religious police or mutaween. They can no longer arrest people  and they have been instructed to be "gentle and kind". So do people still live in fear of upsetting them?  Kindah Shair from BBC Arabic has experienced the mutaween's strict discipline first hand. 

Mombasa night weddings 
Night weddings are a traditional part of Swahili culture in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa and parties can go on for many days.  But recent attacks on guests have led to a curfew, effectively banning night weddings.  Maryam Abdalla of BBC Swahili says the tradition is now changing.

Kyrgyzstan's missing constitution
When the government of Kyrgyzstan sought to amend the constitution last month, they were surprised to find that they'd lost the original.  Kyrgyz people took to the internet to mock this apparent carelessness. Venera Koichieva of BBC Kyrgyz tells us about the frustrations that underlie the humour. 

Graduation for the students without a university 
Recent graduation photographs for the University of Benghazi in eastern Libya show joyful students throwing their caps in the air at the campus entrance. But most of the university is in ruins after nearly two years of fighting. Muhammad Hussein of BBC Monitoring is from Benghazi and tells us how students have managed. 

Hausa Writing Award
BBC Hausa has announced the winner of its first women's short story writing contest. She's Aisha Muhammad Sabitu, with a story called Refugee Camp - Sansanin Yan Gudun Hijira. To discuss this and the wider reading habits of Hausa women, we hear from two BBC journalists in Abuja: Mohammed Kabir Mohammed and Halima Umar Sale.

And Fifi Haroon's pick of the worldwide web.

Image: Saudi women walking past a jewellery shop at Tiba market in Riyadh
Credit: FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images

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