Fifth Floor

Russia is accused of deliberately cutting water supplies to the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, which has been without fresh drinking water since April. A BBC Ukrainian investigation reveals that the supply pipes, which travel through Russian occupied areas, were most likely deliberately sabotaged by Russian forces. Viktoriia Zhuhan explains the evidence behind this claim, and reveals how civilians in...

The protests in Iran are now the longest and most widespread in the 43 years of the Islamic Republic. What began as a reaction to the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22 year old Kurdish woman, arrested for allegedly violating strict hijab rules, quickly changed into a wider protest against the regime. What's happening in Iran has had a ripple effect for women across the region. To find out more...

A BBC investigation has discovered that up to 70% of donations being sent to displaced families in Syria via TikTok was being taken by the social media platform. Families in camps in northern Syria said they only receive a fraction of the donations, as BBC Arabic's Mamdouh Akbiek reports. Bangladesh’s matriarchal Garo people The Garo people are one of the largest of Bangladesh’s indigenous communi...

BBC Russian journalist Olga Ivshina shares the findings of her investigation into the reality of life for soldiers serving in Russia's armies, from crowd-sourcing to buy their own equipment, to why it’s so hard to leave. Iran protest: 'For...’ The lyrics to 'Baraye', which translates as ‘for’ or ‘because’, by Shervin Hajipour were taken from ordinary Iranians posting on social media to explain why...

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, died a week ago after being detained by Iran’s so called ‘morality police’, who claimed she was violating the country's strict dress code laws. Witnesses claim she was beaten, while the official explanations claim she had pre-existing health issues. We hear from BBC Persian's Jiyar Gol about his interview with her father Amjad Amini, who has spoken out at...

Today we take a global perspective on the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. We hear about some of the affectionate names by which the Queen was known by around the world, from 'Dear Granny' to 'Boss Lady', with BBC Burmese's Soe Win Than, BBC Africa Southern Africa Correspondent Pumza Filhani and BBC Chinese's Vivien Wong. Presenter Irena Taranyuk speaks to language service colleagues about...

Two years ago, Belarusians took to the streets in mass protests after elections in which President Alexander Lukashenko declared a landslide victory. His main opponent was driven into exile, and thousands of protesters were jailed. Some, who have now been released, have told BBC Russian's Tatsiana Yanutsevich about their shock at discovering that Belarusians are no longer hailed as heroes, but see...

BBC Urdu’s team of reporters has travelled across Pakistan to report on the impact of the recent floods, which have killed more than 1,200 people and displaced many more. Umer Draz Nangiana went to Rajanpur in southern Punjab to meet the farmers who’ve lost their homes and crops. Egypt gets serious about dominoes In Egypt dominoes is mostly an old-fashioned game played by men in local cafes. But n...

The Russian Foreign Minister recently wrote that Russia had ‘never stained itself with the bloody crimes of colonialism’. It’s not a new theme for Sergei Lavrov but it did surprise many Russian historians. BBC Russian’s Grigor Atanesian wrote an article testing Mr Lavrov’s claims. Rural schools in Azerbaijan A plea by a 13-year-old Azerbaijani schoolgirl has put the spotlight on rural education in...

In parts of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces, sunflower farmers report having their crops seized. Maria Korenyuk from BBC Ukrainian and Andrei Zakharov from BBC Russian have been investigating who is taking the sunflowers and where they end up. Cool tips for hot work! BBC Persian's Middle East correspondent Nafiseh Kohnavard shares creative solutions to reporting with a mobile phone in Baghdad,...

Indonesia's famous 'Eternity Glacier' in Papua province is shrinking fast, and experts say it could disappear by 2024. Meanwhile many of the glaciers of the Andes in South America are also on the retreat. Valdya Baraputri of BBC Indonesian and BBC Mundo's Alejandra Martins share this story of climate change in their regions. Black and Arab How are black people across the Arab region affected by ra...

What are the victories - and challenges - for women's football around the world? After a video of the England women's victory dance went viral, we hear from Laura Garcia from BBC Mundo and Alma Hassoun from BBC Arabic about how football has empowered women players in their regions. Kashmir, three years on It has been three years since the Indian government revoked the special status of Jammu and K...

Women in Iran have been sharing videos of themselves taking off their hijabs in public in protest at the growing pressure regarding the mandatory headscarf. Meanwhile the Iranian parliament may soon approve a bill which will severely restrict pet ownership. Taraneh Stone of BBC Persian and Ali Hamedani discuss why the government seems to be enforcing stricter rules. Reporting Sri Lanka Sri Lanka h...

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 provid...

Artworks taken from collections, museums destroyed: Anastasia Soroka and Grigor Atenasian explore what's been happening to Ukraine's cultural heritage since the war began, in a special BBC Russian report. From Venezuela to Peru Guillermo Olmo is the first BBC Mundo correspondent to be based in Peru. Originally from Spain, he spent a couple of years reporting from Venezuela during a time of protest...

It's more than two weeks since a deadly earthquake struck south east Afghanistan, killing more than a thousand people and leaving tens of thousands homeless. Auliya Atrafi from BBC Media Action in Kabul and Aamir Peerzada from BBC Delhi both travelled to the epicentre in Paktika province, and Ali Hamedani tracked down survivors from his base in London. Bolsonaro and Brazil's black women voters Eva...

Since February, thousands of international volunteers have travelled to Ukraine to help in the fight against Russia. We hear about some foreign combatants whose stories have been reported by our language services, with Sunyoung Jeong of BBC Korean, Benny Lu of BBC Chinese and Beverly Ochieng of BBC Monitoring in Nairobi. Lend me a saying Our BBC Indian language service colleagues in Delhi share th...

In more than 200 years as a republic, Colombia has never elected a left-wing leader - until now. Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 rebel group, narrowly won in a very polarised election. He said Colombia “voted for change.” BBC Mundo’s Daniel Pardo, who's from Bogota, witnessed the celebrations. North Korean trash Seoul politics professor Kang Dong-wan is fascinated by life inside North K...

BBC reporter Runako Celina tells us about her long search for the origins of a shocking video circulating on Chinese social media in 2020. It showed a group of African children being instructed to chant racist phrases in Chinese. The answers Runako found are in her BBC Africa Eye documentary Racism for Sale. For the love of mangoes! We unleash the Fifth Floor mic in the BBC Delhi bureau where coll...

The numbers of people living in the most populated country in the world is expected to start falling this year, for the first time since the great famine more than six decades ago. There's concern about what that means for the global economy, but what do people in China think? BBC Chinese editor Howard Zhang explains why the 3-child policy hasn’t worked. Afrocentrism Njoroge Muigai of BBC Nairobi...

Natalya is a Russian journalist working for BBC Monitoring, and her husband and colleague, Yuriy, is Ukrainian. They have been evacuated from their home in Kyiv to Lviv. Natalya tells us about the challenges of family life during war, and how she’s given up trying to convince some friends in Russia about what’s really happening. Changing attitudes in India A recent survey of social attitudes in In...

How have the lives of the thousands of Russians living in Ukraine changed since the invasion? BBC Arabic's Heba Bitar met three Russian nationals who told her about their conflicted sense of identity and the practical challenges they are facing. The latest from Bollywood Bollywood watchers Vidit Mehra and Vandana from BBC Delhi discuss the latest headlines. An Indian actor is a jury member at this...

How do you arrange a wedding in a warzone? According to Ukrainian authorities nearly 4,000 couples tied the knot in the first 10 days after the invasion. BBC Ukrainian's Zhanna Bezpiatchuk has recently come back from Ukraine – where she met a couple who exchanged their vows as twin rockets hit the city of Lviv, in western Ukraine.   Videogames in the Arabic world Millions of people around the worl...

The Ukrainian port city of Mariupol has been under attack by the Russians since the first day of the invasion on 24 February. It now lies in ruins, but still Ukrainian fighters are resisting in the Azovstal steelworks. Vitaliy Shevchenko, Russia editor of BBC Monitoring, tells us about the complex history and identity of Mariupol. Reporting Sri Lanka It’s been a week of violent unrest in Sri Lanka...

Tattoo parlours have switched from hearts and roses to Cossacks and flags as Ukrainians ink their bodies with patriotic tattoos to permanently record what their country is going through. BBC Ukrainian's Anastasiya Gribanova visited a Lviv tattoo parlour to find out the most popular images, and what they mean to citizens and soldiers. Miami's F1 vices Organisers had hoped that Miami's Formula 1 rac...