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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: Risking death for a fragment of jade

Documentaries

Scavengers pick through precarious cliffs of discarded rubble for jade fragments

17/07/2020 GMT

Risking death for a fragment of jade

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Risking death for a fragment of jade

Scavenging through hazardous cliffs of discarded rubble: Myanmar’s informal jade miners

Scavenging through hazardous cliffs of discarded rubble: Myanmar’s informal jade miners.

The world’s largest jade mines are in Myanmar.  It’s an industry worth an estimated $30 billion a year for the mine owners. But it's a hazardous living for the hundreds of thousands who scavenge through mountains of rubble in search of fragments of jade. Earlier this month 172 died when one of those piles collapsed. A BBC Burmese team visited the area last weekend - their editor in London, Soe Win Than, shares their findings.  

Ertugrul: the Turkish conquest of Pakistan 
It’s a story of strength, courage, and the foundation of a great empire. The Turkish TV series Ertugrul is set eight centuries ago, its hero is a tribal leader whose son Osman founded the Ottoman Empire. It’s gripped audiences in Turkey and beyond, and a version dubbed into Urdu is a hit in Pakistan. Aliya Nazki of BBC Urdu is a fan.

My home town: Khartoum, Sudan
Mohanad Hashim remembers the streets and bridges of his childhood in Khartoum, and the military coup of 1985.  

Sudan’s social reforms
After more than 30 years of Islamist rule, Sudan has outlined wide-reaching reforms. Non-Muslims will be allowed to drink alcohol; the apostasy law, public flogging and FGM will be banned. As Mohanad Hashim leaves the BBC to return to Sudan to work as a journalist, he shares his impressions on the announcements.  

“I am not sick, I am gay” 
In many countries around the world, homosexuality is seen as a disorder to be cured. For BBC Arabic, Jordanian journalist Areej spoke to two anonymous survivors of ‘gay conversion therapy’ about their experiences for her documentary.



Image: Scavengers pick through precarious cliffs of discarded rubble for jade fragments
Credit: BBC

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