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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: Defiant Voices From Eastern Ghouta

Documentaries

Eastern Ghouta under attack

02/03/2018 GMT

Defiant Voices From Eastern Ghouta

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Defiant Voices From Eastern Ghouta

Rebel women, and a rebellious history: behind the headlines of Eastern Ghouta

Voices from Eastern Ghouta; Afghan chess; Nuba wrestling in Sudan; Chile's "Fantastic Woman"; Ethiopia's plane cafe; Fujimorismo in Peru.  With David Amanor

Eastern Ghouta has suffered intense bombardment as Syrian government forces attempt to oust rebel groups.  But behind the name is a place with its own history and aspirations, and home to a defiant group of women blogging even as the shelling intensified. Lina Shaikhouni has been following their posts for BBC Monitoring.

Afghan Chess 
Chess has always been popular in Afghanistan, and is undergoing a revival, as our Pashto and Uzbek services recently reported. Some of their journalists are also keen chess players, like Pashto TV editor Emal Pasarly.

Nuba wrestling in Sudan
Yousra Elbagir is a British Sudanese journalist and a fan of Nuba wrestling.  It's a big attraction in the capital Khartoum, far from the Nuba mountains in South Kordofan state where the marginalised Nuba people originate.  Yousra explains that wrestling is one of the few ways they can highlight their unique culture.

Chile's Fantastic Woman: Daniela Vega  
Chilean actress Daniela Vega makes history at the Oscars this weekend as the first openly transgender presenter at the awards ceremony. She's also the star of "A Fantastic Woman", nominated for best foreign language film.  BBC Mundo's Beatriz Diez tells us more.

The jet, the wine and the bees...  
A story from BBC Afaan Oromo brought all three together when Yadeta Berhanu boarded an Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet, now decommissioned and converted into a café.  

Fujimorismo 
Despite being found guilty of human rights abuses, former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori remains very popular, as does his family.  He recently left prison after being granted a pardon, but now faces new charges.  BBC Mundo's Martin Riepl tells us why Fujimori is such a divisive figure. 

Image: Syria's Eastern Ghouta under attack
Credit: Hamza Al-Ajweh/AFP/Getty Images

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