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The Fifth Floor

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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: Lockdown Ramadan, music and guns

Documentaries

Ramadan lanterns in Egypt 2020

01/05/2020 GMT

Lockdown Ramadan, music and guns

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Lockdown Ramadan, music and guns

Egypt’s Covid-19 Ramadan, Paraguay’s recycled orchestra, and being Chinese in the USA

Stories from inside and outside the Covid-19 pandemic, including a lantern-less Ramadan in Egypt, America’s beleaguered Chinese community, and Paraguay’s recycled refuse orchestra

David Amanor invites a panel of guests to share stories they've been covering, from inside and outside the Covid-19 pandemic.   Sally Nabil of BBC Arabic describes lockdown Ramadan in Cairo, and why she misses her Ramadan lantern so much.  Zhaoyin Feng of BBC Chinese in  Washington DC shares the political and personal impact of the war of words between the US and China.  And Lucia Blasco of BBC Mundo shares the story of Paraquay’s 'recycled orchestra' who play instruments made from rubbish.    

Exiled Fifth Floorers’ hidden talents 
A tour round the virtual Fifth Floor as our language service colleagues share unexpected skills and interests they’re using to keep their spirits up while working from home.   With Irena Taranyuk of BBC Ukrainian, Vietnamese journalist Nga Pham of BBC World TV, Prudent Nsengiyumva of BBC Great Lakes, women's affairs journalist Faranak Amidi, and Brazilian Fernando Duarte of the BBC Digi-hub.  

The Smell of Terror
A building in Moscow, once used by Stalin to sign the death warrants during the purges, may become an upmarket perfume store.  Some activists are fighting this obliteration of history, and one even created a perfume, ‘The smell of terror’. Elizaveta Vereykina of BBC Russian has had a sniff. 

Indian life without food delivery apps
The Covid-19 lockdown has deprived many middle-class Indians of a key pleasure in life - restaurant food delivered to your door.  The BBC's South Asia diaspora reporter Gaggan Sabherwal describes the impact on her own family in Chennai.  

Liberia sings against coronavirus
The BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh talks about music and public health, including "Let Us Stand Together and Fight Coronavirus" sung by President George Weah, and 9-year-old Josalia Kollie, who found fame with a coronavirus awareness song.  

image: Egyptians in facemasks browse Ramadan lanterns, April 2020
credit:  MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP via Getty Images

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