Fifth Floor

Salman Ravi was interviewing migrant workers in a Facebook live for BBC Hindi last week. India's rapid lockdown left hundreds of thousands without jobs or income, many left with no choice but to walk the hundreds of kilometres home. While interviewing one family Salman saw the man had no shoes. So he handed over his own. The video’s been viewed more than 22 million times, but the story didn’t stop...

Rami Makhlouf, one of Syria’s richest men, recently took to Facebook to air his grievances against his cousin. As his cousin is President Bashar Al-Assad, the whole country took note. BBC Arabic’s Mahmoud Ali Hamad takes up the story. Covid-19 from Belarus to Kenya BBC Russian’s Tatsiana Yanutsevich reports from Belarus, where there’s no lockdown, and where President Alexander Lukashenko describes...

Inside Dhaka's garment factories, and a Ukrainian journey to Antarctica.

David Amanor invites his 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. 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 tells the story of Paraquay’s 'recycled orchestra'. Exile...

On 25 April 2015, Aamir Peerzada was on the brink of realising a dream. After months of pitching and persuading, and as an ambitious new journalist for India’s NDTV network, he was finally at basecamp on Mount Everest, with the Indian Army’s mountaineering team, to make a film about why people climb Everest, despite the many dangers. Aamir was not supposed to go beyond basecamp, but on the day the...

Making good use of time in lockdown, we set our guests the task of telling the story of their lives through music. Ali Hamedani of BBC Persian, Vandana Dhand of BBC Delhi and Famil Ismailov of BBC Russian choose two tracks each, one from the past and one to pass on to future generations. Photo: Multi-ethnic kids listening to vinyl on portable record player Credit: Bert Hardy/Getty Images

In many countries celebrating Easter this weekend, huge quantities of chocolate eggs will be consumed. It seems a good moment to look more closely at eggs, a symbol of new life and rebirth in cultures all around the world. Joining the Fifth Floor egg hunt for sayings, traditions and recipes are Ali Hamedani of BBC Persian, Sabir Mustafa of BBC Bengali and Sergei Goryashko of BBC Russian. They also...

As more and more of the world has entered lockdown this week, we hear from Miami, Chennai and Kampala about what that’s been like for our language service journalists. Luis Fajardo of BBC Monitoring in Miami says there's been an exodus of New Yorkers to Florida, Catherine Byaruhanga of BBC Africa in Uganda talks us through the country’s rapid shutdown, and South Asia reporter Gaggan Sabherwal find...

With the Covid-19 pandemic dominating world news, David Amanor invites a panel of guests to share unusual angles from their regions, as well as other stories they have reported - or would like to. Roncliffe Odit of BBC Swahili joins us from Nairobi to tell us how the public health emergency has dampened political rivalries. Irena Taranyuk of BBC Ukrainian takes us into a religious tussle within th...

Afghanistan's last election delivered not one but two presidents. Two swearing-ins followed, and both presidents continue to claim to the be rightful leader. But the Afghans are not alone: Guinea Bissau also found itself with two presidents recently. BBC Afghan's Dawood Azami and BBC Africa's Peter Okwoche discuss this strange phenomenon. Image: Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, both claim to be...

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

BBC Uzbek puts the royal women of India's Mughal dynasty centre stage for a series of programmes about three powerful women in the life of the first emperor, Babur. Editor Diloram Ibrahimova takes us back to the 16th century and the city of Andijan in today’s Uzbekistan. Image: Davlat Esan Begum, Emperor Babur's grandmother. Artist Isomiddin Eshonqulov. Copyright: BBC

The Manas is a Kyrgyz epic poem. It’s over a thousand years old, and is a performed poem, part recitation, part improvisation. Saparbek Kasmambet was a well-respected manaschi, or Manas performer, and also father of BBC Kyrgyz's Gulnara Kasmambet. Following his death earlier this year Gulnara has been overwhelmed by the tributes pouring in. She shares her memories. Image: State funeral for Saparbe...

40 years after the first Afghan refugees arrived in Iran and Pakistan, the UN has been discussing continuing support for those who remain. Many BBC Afghan journalists were once refugees. Asif Maroof, Karima Nahimi and Inayatulhaq Yasini tell us their stories of flight to Pakistan. Picture: Kacha Garhi refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan Credit: Joanne Rathe/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Broken heart, tough dilemma? We hear about the agony aunts and uncles answering the world’s personal questions with BBC Thai’s Issariya Praithongyaem, Zuhura Yunus of BBC Swahili, and Ibrat Safo of BBC Uzbek. Image: heart-shaped sweets Credit: Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images

Last December, four Muslim women began a street protest against India's Citizenship Amendment Act in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh neighbourhood. Since then, hundreds more women have joined them, and BBC India's Chinki Sinha has been a regular visitor. Picture: Protest at Shaheen Bagh. Credit: Amal KS/Hindustan Times/Getty

The Georgian spa resort, the refugees, and the billionaire. Image: Dilapidated Tskaltubo hotel Credit: BBC

The BBC’s Valeria Perasso tells us about two Argentinian women she met for her documentary about the children of men who committed crimes during the military dictatorship. Between 1976 and 1983, the regime hunted down and killed around 30,000 people. Image: Women marching in Argentina under 'Disobedient Stories' banner. Credit: Historias Desobedientes

In 1971, a brief war between India and Pakistan over the territory of Kashmir shifted the border 6 kilometres into Pakistan's space. Four villages became part of the Indian territory, and the villagers away from home on that day were permanently split from their families. Farhat Javed of BBC Urdu and Aamir Peerzada of BBC Hindi talked to one divided family. Image: Ghulam Qadir on the bank of the r...

Australia’s decision to cull wild camels has shocked many Somali-speakers, for whom camels have a huge cultural significance. We bring together BBC Somali reporter and camel owner Issa Abdul and BBC Afghan’s Dawood Azami, who’s investigated the 19th century Afghans who came with the original camels to Australia. Image: Feral camel on red earth track, Australia Credit: Auscape Universal Images Grou...

India's new Citizenship Amendment Act has sparked protests across the country. Its stated aim is to offer sanctuary and Indian citizenship to people fleeing religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. But critics say it undermines India's secular constitution and may also affect India's own Muslim population. Clashes between protestors and police have led to violence and even de...

Namak Khoshnaw is a journalist and award winning film maker with BBC Arabic. His documentary ‘Iraq: A State of Mind’ charts the impact of decades of conflict on mental health, ‘Life on the Rubbish Dump’ is about the children who pick rubbish in the city of Erbil, and his fascinating 3D journey below the Nabi Yunus shrine near Mosul reveals an ancient Assyrian palace in underground tunnels. These f...

The 1986 nuclear reactor explosion was dramatised this year in the HBO/Sky series Chernobyl. It includes the story of Lyudmila Ignatenko, whose husband was one of the firefighters who tackled the blaze at the nuclear plant. The series has brought her back into public view, with many people critical of her behaviour at the time. Lyudmila tells her side of the story to Olga Malchevska for BBC Russia...

The My Indian Life podcast looks at India through young people’s eyes. It recently told the story of Ahmer Javed, a rapper from Indian-administered Kashmir. Ishleen Kaur met him and other artists during August’s lockdown, and found a generation who feel very separate from the rest of India. Image and credit: Ahmer Javed, Kashmiri rapper

Afghanistan’s pine nuts are in demand, with China signing a 5-year deal worth US$2.2 billion. BBC Afghan editor Shoaib Sharifi tells us about the importance of this tiny but valuable nut. Picture: Pine nut harvest in Afghanistan. Credit: EPA/Ghulamullah Habibi