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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: Pyramid Challenge: Sudan Versus Egypt

Documentaries

Camel riders in front of the Sudanese pyramids of Meroe

09/06/2017 GMT

Pyramid Challenge: Sudan Versus Egypt

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Pyramid Challenge: Sudan Versus Egypt

Why have pyramids sparked off a row between Sudan and Egypt?

Politicised pyramids in Sudan and Egypt, old alleys of Beijing, male bellydance in India, murder in Uzbekistan, counting Indonesia's islands. With David Amanor.

Rumours of a film project about Sudanese ancient history have been raising hackles in neighbouring Egypt.  The dispute is over which country had the most significant ancient civilisation on the Nile.  BBC Africa's Mohanad Hashim, who's from Khartoum, puts the case for Sudan.

Old alleys of Beijing 
The traditional hutongs or alleyways of Beijing were once the centre of community life for city-dwellers.  Now only a few survive as tourist attractions.  Howard Zhang of BBC Chinese grew up in a hutong, and his knowledge of the labyrinthine alleyways kept him out of trouble in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

India's male bellydancer
The bellydance is an ancient form of entertainment with Arab roots, and has beguiled India for centuries. It's always been the preserve of female dancers, but now some male performers are bucking the trend. Sumiran Preet Kaur has met one for BBC Hindi. 

Uzbek murder 
The killing of a teenager in Tashkent, allegedly by fellow medical students, has sparked a wave of protests in Uzbekistan and dominated the news agenda for BBC Uzbek for many days.  Rustam Qobil explains how one murder has surprisingly changed the country's political landscape.

Counting Indonesia's islands
BBC Indonesian reported this week about the latest attempt by the government to count its islands.  It might take a lot of fingers: the last estimates put the number at over 17,000, with a geographical spread from Aceh in the west to Papua in the east.  BBC Indonesian's Liston Siregar has visited some - but not all!

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

Image: Camel riders in front of the Sudanese pyramids
Credit: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images

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