Original version

BBC World Service East Asia

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

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

The Fifth Floor: Stories from a pandemic

Documentaries

Coronavirus structure (illustration)

13/03/2020 GMT

Stories from a pandemic

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Stories from a pandemic

Bats, shrines and luxury flights: global stories of Covid-19 from the language services

Bats, shrines and luxury flights: global stories of Covid-19 from the language services.

Stories from the Fifth Floor following the evolving Covid-19 pandemic, from bats in China, to global social media fake news.  As told by Howard Zhang of BBC Chinese, Giang Nguyen of BBC Vietnamese, BBC Persian's Siavash Ardalan, Sunyoung Jeong of BBC Korean and BBC Africa's Bara'atu Ibrahim.  

My home town: Ejigbo, Lagos
Sarah Tiamiyu from BBC Pidgin welcomes us to hometown Ejigbo in Lagos, Nigeria.

Matronymics – a new Russian revolution? 
The patronymic is set in stone when it comes to naming Russian children.  First name first, then patronymic, which is your father's name, then surname.  But as Olga Robinson of BBC Monitoring explains, dramatic changes are afoot, with some mothers putting their own name in the middle - a so-called matronymic. 

Interviewing Asia Bibi 
Aliya Nazki of BBC Urdu tells us about meeting Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian who spent years in solitary confinement after being sentenced to death for blasphemy. 

Kabul's female street-food vendors 
Zuhal Azad of BBC Afghan recently reported on the trail-blazing female street-food vendors of Kabul.  

Picture:  Coronavirus structure (illustration)
Credit: Science Photo Library

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Fifth Floor

Stories from a pandemic

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service East Asia

About BBC World Service