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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

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The Fifth Floor: The cost of keeping Putin Covid free

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Russian President Vladimir Putin wearing protective gear March 2020

22/07/2022 GMT

The cost of keeping Putin Covid free

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, The cost of keeping Putin Covid free

Adding up the $54 million bill for keeping Russia’s president Covid free

Adding up the $54 million bill for keeping Russia’s president Covid free.

Around $54.6m was spent on measures to protect President Vladimir Putin from Covid in 2020 and 2021, according to openly available data from Russian state sources. Sergei Goryashko of BBC Russian explains how this money was spent and why the measures seem to be continuing. 

Afghan women
BBC Afghan's Pashto and Dari services have launched a new radio programme. It's called 'Women' and aims to provide information, inspiration and entertainment to Afghan women and girls now mostly confined at home.  Presenters Shazia Haya and Aalia Farzan share their motivations, laughter, and memories of mothers back home.  

Heatwave in Pakistan's Cholistan desert
Livestock herders and their flocks in Pakistan's Cholistan desert are used to extreme heat. But this year temperatures of 50 degrees were recorded months earlier than usual, and hundreds of animals have died. BBC Urdu's Umer Draz Nangiana visited farmers in remote villages to hear their stories.  

Vietnam's hot weather surcharge
Consumers are used to companies adding on surcharges for this and that - but the ride hailing and delivery app Grab went just a bit too far for users in Vietnam with its recent hot weather fee. BBC Vietnamese journalist Thuong Le followed the story.

A trip to the Belgrade lido 
Over the summer months, people in the Serbian capital Belgrade can cool off at a beach minutes from the city centre. The much-loved lido is on an island in the River Danube, and Slobodan Maricic recently joined regulars there for BBC Serbian.  

(Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin wearing protective gear March 2020. Credit: Alexey Druzhinin/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)

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