This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Jackie Leonard and at 13 hours GMT on Friday the 22nd of August, these are our main stories.

A UN-backed body has confirmed a famine in Gaza City after 22 months of conflict and warned it could spread to other parts of the territory by the end of September.

The UN says it's been caused by Israel's systematic obstruction of aid deliveries.

Israel has denied there is a famine.

There's a warning that workers need better protection from extreme heat caused by climate change.

And a court in Thailand has dismissed a case accusing the influential former Prime Minister Taxen Chenowat

of insulting the monarchy.

Also in this podcast,

Maria Theresa de los Angeles is a nun

and almost every day she prays to the architect,

Anthony Galdi.

Best known for his Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona and dubbed God's architect.

But could he become a saint?

A famine has been confirmed in Gaza City.

That's the finding of the internationally recognised body for determining

global food insecurity, the IPC. It says that over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are

facing starvation, destitution and death. It also says the famine in Gaza City is projected to expand

to other areas by the end of September. It's the first time

famine has been officially classified in the Middle East. Israel launched its assault on Gaza after

Hamas militants attacked targets in southern Israel on October the 7th, 23, killing about

1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.

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