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Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services.

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The Fifth Floor: Don’t Tell Us What to Wear

Documentaries

Zere Asylbek, Kyrgyz singer

28/09/2018 GMT

Don’t Tell Us What to Wear

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Don’t Tell Us What to Wear

Bras, mini-skirts, hijabs: the heated debate about what women should wear

What should women wear? Nigeria's rainmakers; Yemen bus attack; Quinceañera USA; traditions to keep or ditch; quirky Russian bribes.  With David Amanor.

Kyrgyz singer Zere Asylbek showing her bra in music video, Uzbek teachers in mini-skirts, and controversial portraits of Tajik women.  Diloram Ibrahimova of BBC Uzbek and Gulnara Kasmambet of BBC Kyrgyz discuss stories from Central Asia that have started a debate about how women should behave and what they should wear.   

Holding back the rain
In Nigeria it's common to ask a rainmaker to keep the rain off your party, but does it work?  Nduka Orjinmo of BBC Pidgin put one to the test.  

Investigating the Yemen bus attack 
On August 9th an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition hit a bus in northern Yemen, killing 25 children and 3 teachers.   Sumaya Bakhsh of BBC Monitoring has been piecing together what happened.

Quinceañera USA
A girl's 15th birthday or Quinceañera is a huge celebration in Mexico, with big parties and expensive dresses.  BBC Mundo's Patricia Sulbarán Lovera discovered that it's also become a lucrative business among Mexican Americans in Los Angeles. 

Traditions from home: treasure or chuck?
With the Quinceañera in mind, what traditions to keep, and which to drop, away from home?  Over to Howard Zhang of BBC Chinese, Colombian Hernando Alvarez, BBC Thai’s Issariya Praithongyaem,  BBC Africa’s Peter Okwoche, BBC Turkish’s Özge Özdemir, and Zuhura Yunus from BBC Swahili.

Vodka, teeth and two bream: bribing, Russian-style 
A recent story from Russia about a corrupt official bribed with a sofa set BBC Russian journalist Georgy Neyaskin on the trail of other unusual bribes, from dental treatment to lobster.

Image and credit: Zere Asylbek, Kyrgyz singer

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