--:-- [Upbeat music fades out]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: 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.
--:-- [Music transitions to a gentle news theme]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: 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.
--:-- [Soft music continues in the background]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: 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 Takson Chinoot of insulting the monarchy.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Also in this podcast... Maria Teresa de los Ángeles is a nun, and almost every day she prays to the architect, Anthony Gaudí. Best known for his Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona, and dubbed God's architect. But could he become a saint?
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: 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.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: 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 7, 2023. killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Talking about the IPC report at a news conference, Tom Fletcher, the UN's Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, told journalists the famine was the fault of Israel, but not just Israel. It is a famine that asks, but what did you do? A famine that will and must haunt us all. It is a predictable and a preventable famine. A famine caused by cruelty, justified by revenge, enabled by indifference and sustained by complicity.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Khada Al-Kurd, a journalist in Gaza City, told us about the conditions people there are facing. People are suffering from access to food, water and medical supplies. Some trucks are entering, but they are being, most of it, they are being looted. and the looters, they are selling in the market. And normal people or poor people, they cannot access these products.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: We can see some improvement, but still this improvement doesn't mean there is no famine. The famine and the starvation of the families is still hitting people. They don't have access to the basic supplies. Our World Affairs correspondent Caroline Hawley explained the technical definition of famine.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Caroline Hawley: What the IPC says is conditions for a famine are extreme deprivation of food, starvation, destitution and critical levels of acute malnutrition. These are the conditions that they confirm a famine on the basis of 20% of households facing an extreme lack of food, 30% suffering acute malnutrition and two people or four children per 10,000 people dying every day.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Caroline Hawley: They are saying this is the situation in Gaza City in the north right now, but they are projecting that famine will expand to the southern towns of Khan Yunis and Derebala by the end of September. And how many people are affected by this? What the IPC is saying is that half a million people in the Gaza Strip are now facing what they call catastrophic conditions.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Caroline Hawley: There are various levels of hunger that they use. They say another 1.07 million people are facing emergency conditions. And then you ask, what is the problem? And it is, as the UN has said very, very clearly, that aid is not getting in to the Gaza Strip on the levels that are needed.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Caroline Hawley: But it's not just that. The IPC has some very interesting statistics where they're talking about 98% of cropland in the Gaza Strip being damaged because of the war, either damaged or inaccessible. They're talking about livestock being decimated. They're talking about fishing being banned.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Caroline Hawley: So there are no resources within Gaza on which, or very, very few, on which people can rely. And then they're also saying that 90% of children under the age of two are eating just two food groups a day.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: So what does Israel say? Israel says it has not got a policy of starvation. It denies a man-made famine is taking place. It says it rejects the claim of famine in the Gaza Strip and particularly in Gaza City. It says that the IPC relied on what it called biased and self-interested sources originating from Hamas.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: It talks about partial data. It's critiqued the methodology. But the UN humanitarian coordinator, Tom Fletcher said that it was irrefutable and a moment of collective shame for the world.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: That was Caroline Hawley. Next to Thailand. Supporters of the former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Chinawat celebrating outside a court in Bangkok after he was cleared of breaching the country's strict laws against insulting the monarchy.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: The court said there wasn't enough evidence to prove wrongdoing. Thailand criminalises almost any criticism of the royal family under the Les Majestés law, and the high-profile billionaire was accused of violating it during an interview a decade ago while in self-imposed exile.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Our Southeast Asia correspondent Jonathan Head is in Bangkok, and he explained how Les Majestés cases work and what happened in this one.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jonathan Head: I would like to say we've covered a lot of Les Majestés cases. In practice, we never know any of the details for what goes on in court. It seems like the interpretation of the law is usually anything that's said or any action that could possibly reflect negatively on the monarchy.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jonathan Head: In this case, the judges in the court referred to the very specific wording of the Les Majesty law, which only cites four top members of the monarchy, including the king, who are protected by the law. And they said because of that, and because of this in this interview that Mr Taxing gave to a South Korean newspaper 10 years ago, when he referred to people inside the palace being behind the 2014 coup, that he'd not named names.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jonathan Head: They said that meant there was no case. Now, they haven't interpreted it that narrowly with other cases, but in his case, they essentially said, no case to answer, you're free to go. And he came out looking a very relieved man, although, of course, he does have another criminal case awaiting him and always behind this are the politics.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jonathan Head: He's a very controversial, high-profile figure. And just tell us about the other criminal investigation against him. What is that? This relates to the conviction he had, which meant he had to serve prison time when he came back from 15 years of exile two years ago.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jonathan Head: Now, we all assumed there was a deal, he's always denied it, that would allow him to come back. He's never spent a day in prison despite multiple charges in the past. But instead of going to prison, he managed to get himself shipped off to a police hospital for the next six months while he served out the six months before they released him early.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jonathan Head: But a case has been filed against him saying this shouldn't have happened, that he should have spent those six months in a prison cell. And if that case goes against him, it's early next month, he may well be told you have to go back to prison and you'll have to decide then, well, do I spend my six months in prison or do I do what I've done in the past and go back into exile?
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jonathan Head: He's obviously a big character, a big personality. Politically at this point, though, after all of these cases, how significant is he politically still?
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jonathan Head: It's amazing how big his profile still is. And remember when he came back two years ago he said oh I just want to spend time with my grandchildren I think Taksin Shinawut is capable of keeping a low profile. He still the key figure in his party. His daughter Pétang Tan, is prime minister, although she's suspended at the moment.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jonathan Head: This is over a conversation with the Cambodian strongman Hun Sen, who in the past has been a very close friend and business partner of the Chiniwet family, where she appealed to him back in June to help her solve the border dispute. And he clearly has had a change of heart. He leaked the conversation. It was deeply embarrassing to her.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jonathan Head: She criticised her own military and the court will decide whether that's an ethical violation. But in her one year in office, she's clearly listened very closely to his advice. His suggestions get turned into policy. He's a larger than life, charismatic, extremely wealthy man. That makes him powerful.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jonathan Head: It's very rare for somebody that wealthy in Thailand to be that ambitious and to want to maintain such a high profile. He won't go away. His party still matters. But it only came second in the last election. And if he were forced to hold an election now or in the next few months, given the general unpopularity of the party, they might do very badly.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jonathan Head: So I don't think anybody expects him to get back to the very prominent position he had one or two decades ago.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: That was Jonathan Head in Thailand. It's been three and a half years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But the European Union's foreign policy chief says it's unlikely the conflict will end soon.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: In an interview with the BBC, Kaya Kallas also warned against pushing Ukraine to give up land. The White House billed last week's summit of Presidents Trump and Putin in Alaska as a vital step towards peace.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Leila Nathu asked Ms. Kallas, does she think President Putin should be trusted in terms of wanting peace?
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Kaya Kallas: No, this hasn't changed. This is very clear that any promises that Putin has been given so far, he hasn't kept and we have to treat it as such. But to also have all the efforts in really pressuring him to come to the negotiation table.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Kaya Kallas: And there we have different tools. I mean, the Americans have leveraged with the sanctions or tariffs to pressure Russia into negotiations. We are working on our 19th package of sanctions on the European side to really put the pressure on Russia, the one who is doing the aggression here.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Kaya Kallas: What about this idea that President Trump now seems to be on board with the fact that there doesn't need to be a ceasefire before meaningful peace talks?
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Kaya Kallas: I mean, we've just seen another huge wave of Russian strikes on Ukraine. Is President Trump right? Well, President Trump has been repeatedly saying that the killing has to stop. And Putin is just laughing, not stopping the killing, but increasing the killing, actually increasing the bombings on Ukraine.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Kaya Kallas: You can't possibly negotiate under, you know, bombs. So you need to have a truce to sit down to properly talk about the long term peace. But I also want to emphasise that it can't be just truce or ceasefire. It also has to be a long term solution. Otherwise, Russia will just gather its forces again and attack again.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Kaya Kallas: So we have to make sure that they don't do that in the future. That's why we are discussing about the security guarantees that would be really credible and robust so that Russia wouldn't try again.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: The idea of what President Trump calls land swaps, but it is essentially Ukraine giving up territory, that does seem to be an absolutely dangerous president to set in Europe.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: How could the EU stand by and watch that? Absolutely. And that's why the European leaders were together with President Zelensky in Washington to also convey this message to President Trump that this will just not do.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: But in terms of being realistic in terms of what it takes for Russia to end the war. I mean, for Russia, they can't stop the killing today. They don't need anything to stop this war.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: And what I want to stress is that, you know, if we walk into this trap, then we just will see this again, because aggression will pay off. We have to put the pressure on Russia because they will run out of money. They will run out of the means to really stop this war if we are united.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: And also if we isolate them internationally, we do these steps. We are in the power to push them into peace, into wanting peace so that they would also stop this war. But if we are putting the pressure on Ukraine, then, you know, it gives a signal to Russia that this pays off and they will want more.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaya Kalas.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: As we heard in the earlier podcast, the murder case of the Menendez brothers has gripped the US for more than three decades and was back in the spotlight last year when it was turned into a Netflix true crime series.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Now, Eric Menendez, one of two brothers jailed for the murder of their parents in the family's Beverly Hills home in 1989, has been denied his request for parole.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Along with his older brother Lyle, he's served 35 years of a life sentence. Lyle will learn his fate on Friday as he appears for his own parole hearing.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Our North America correspondent Peter Bowes has the details.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Peter Bowes: After a hearing that lasted almost 10 hours, which is much longer than had been expected, the parole board decided to deny Eric Menendez the parole that he has been seeking.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Peter Bowes: The main reason giving, according to members of the board, that he continues to pose an unreasonable risk to public safety.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Peter Bowes: And despite what many of his supporters have said in terms of him and his behaviour during his time in prison, more than 35 years, the board concluded that he had not been a model inmate during this time.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Peter Bowes: One of the main factors being the fact that he illegally used a mobile phone, a cell phone that had been smuggled into the prison and references made to the hypocrisy of this when that happened during a time that he was working with other inmates in terms of helping them with rehabilitation.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Peter Bowes: So multiple reasons were given why the board came out with this decision, which is a three-year denial, although he has been given to petition to apply again within a shorter period of time.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: So this will be hugely disappointing to Eric Menendez and his many supporters around the world.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Later on today, it is the turn of his brother, Lyle Menendez, to go through exactly the same process, seeking parole after more than three decades in prison, and members of the board will consider his record as an inmate and reach a decision in a few hours' time.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: This case, of course, is being very closely watched, not only in the city of Los Angeles, but around the world. One of the certainly most notorious criminal cases in recent Los Angeles history.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: It was one of the first cases and murder cases to be televised. And at the time, the brothers said that they murdered their parents out of a fear for their own lives, claiming that their father had sexually abused them over a long period of time.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Prosecutors during those original trials said that the motive was greed and that they had murdered their parents to get their hands on their money.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: This is a very wealthy Los Angeles family. The father was in the music business. And so two very different arguments at that initial trial, which I think is why this country, indeed the rest of the world, as people learned more and more about this case, have been deeply divided over their opinions as to whether or not these two brothers deserve parole.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: That was Peter Bowes in Los Angeles. A joint international report says workers need better protection from extreme heat caused by climate change.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: The World Health Organization and the World Meteorological Organization say more frequent heat waves are exposing millions of workers to heat stress.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Imogen Fogues sent this report from Geneva.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Imogen Fogues: Temperatures in some areas of Spain are expected to hit or remain around 43 degrees Celsius. It's become a regular part of our summer. Extreme heat and advice on how to cope with it. Everybody should drink a lot of water.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Imogen Fogues: Just got some vise there, got a bag of ice in here. I've got a bag literally full of ice packs. But now the World Health Organization says the health risks, especially when we are working, are so serious that we need systemic long-term changes.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Imogen Fogues: Rudiger Krech is the WHO's Director of climate and health. If you working in heat and your body temperature increases by over a longer period over 38 degrees Celsius then you are at risk of severe heat stress and stroke kidney failure, dehydration.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Imogen Fogues: So this is a real health crisis. The WHO's new report shows not just individual health risks. During heat waves, productivity falls and accidents can increase. Construction workers or people who work on farms are particularly at risk.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Imogen Fogues: Some European countries are already considering reduced summer hours on building sites, a move welcomed by Swiss Trades Union representative Nico Lutz.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Imogen Fogues: Often on building sites, they are already behind schedule, so they are really under pressure to keep working. That's why we need the building companies to take responsibility and to just say above a certain temperature, it's irresponsible.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Imogen Fogues: The young are also especially vulnerable to extreme heat. When schools went back in Switzerland last week, temperatures were above 30 degrees across the country.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Imogen Fogues: The advice to teachers, take your classes to the swimming pool. But Dagmar Rosen, the head of the Swiss Teachers Association, says that with high temperatures becoming ever more frequent, that is not realistic.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Imogen Fogues: She wants better designed schools with more shade, ventilation and even air conditioning. We can't do all of our classes in the swimming pool. We've got things we need to teach.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Imogen Fogues: I just want people to remember that this is about making sure our children can learn in an environment that is comfortable for them. The WHO agrees. Cancelling school because it's too hot can't be an option.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Imogen Fogues: Rudiger Krech says that's one lesson we should have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. We've seen during COVID that stopping school, our school children are suffering still from it.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Imogen Fogues: The WHO's recommendations include a society-wide consultation with governments, employers, workers and local authorities all included. But there will be a cost. Buildings will have to be adapted. Sometimes work will get done more slowly.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Imogen Fogues: To companies worried about their balance sheets, Mr. Craig has a message. Think about the productivity losses that you have. Above 20 degrees Celsius, every degree decreases productivity by 2%. And so therefore, to just think, I don't have money, so I let it go as it was, is perhaps the most expensive solution.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: That report by Imogen Fogues.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Still to come, astrophysicists have a bold new theory on the death of stars. When they reach the end of their lives as they run out of nuclear fuel that makes them shine, they just collapse under the force of gravity and they turn into a black hole.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: And it could be that from there, dark energy is formed. Apple Vacations, where your story starts. Ready to plan your next getaway?
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: You're invited to score up to 50% off during Apple Vacations Friends and Family Sale. Whether you're dreaming of a family-friendly adventure in Cancun, a romantic retreat in Punta Cana, or some much-needed fun in the sun with friends in Montego Bay, we've got just the deals to make it happen.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Visit applevacations.com or call your local travel advisor to get started today.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: You ever feel that deep pull to the land to know it, to build something that lasts, that itch for your own wild country? Well, it ain't just a daydream. In 2025, it matters more than ever.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Whether you're a lifelong hunter or just starting out, dreaming of land to explore, to leave something real, or there is a trailhead where you can start. It's called land.com. The biggest online network for rural property.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Find the right agent and explore everything from timber tracks to ranches. Get the tools you need to buy that dream generational property. Stop dreaming about it and head to land.com.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: It's your place to find your open space. Go on, get a little out there into the big heart of Nevada, where you can go off-road and off the map on two lakes or on horseback. Dip into hot springs and dive into deserts.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Climb a mountain or make your best effort. See thousands of stars in some of the darkest skies. Stake out haunted hotels. Can you make it to sunrise? There's always something new to see because we've got plenty of space to just be.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Plan your trip at TravelNevada.com.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Hi, I'm Cindy Crawford and I'm the founder of Meaningful Beauty. Well, I don't know about you, but like I never liked being told, oh, wow, you look so good for your age.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Like, why even bother saying that? Why don't you just say you look great at any age, every age? That's what Meaningful Beauty is all about. We create products that make you feel confident in your skin at the age you are now.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Meaningful Beauty. Beautiful skin at every age. Learn more at MeaningfulBeauty.com.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Next to South Korea where a man accused of being behind a multi-million dollar cryptocurrency fraud has been captured after years on the run. The BBC's Stephanie Prentice has been following the story.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Stephanie Prentice: This man and his identity hasn't been released but we have been told as a man in his 60s. He's accused of defrauding more than a thousand people of up to $13 million.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Stephanie Prentice: And that was using a cryptocurrency scam between 2018 and 2019. $30 million is actually pretty modest in terms of crypto fraud. We've seen others recently in the tens of billions of dollars.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Stephanie Prentice: But he did have an arrest warrant for 10 charges. They included fraud and assault. And it seems he's been evading capture for around five years in and around Seoul.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Stephanie Prentice: So we need to know, how did he get caught? Well, so today, police have revealed that after managing to stay under the radar for so long, this individual was arrested for littering.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Stephanie Prentice: So he was spotted after dropping a cigarette butt near a train station in Seoul, and the officers said they only intended to arrest him for throwing it on the ground, but they became suspicious when he begged them to let him go, saying, please let me go just this once.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Stephanie Prentice: He then refused to show any ID. He offered up money as a bribe, and that was before he pulled his final move, pretending to take a phone call and then running away.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Stephanie Prentice: Despite those efforts, he was then apprehended, and he is now being held, but he may have gotten away with it if it wasn't for that cigarette. A lesson for us all.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: That was Stephanie Prentice. Now, a bold new theory on black holes, astronomical objects with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape them.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: It's been put forward by international researchers, including Durham University in England, working on the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Mission.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: They're looking at how our universe is expanding all the time and believe that black holes could be converting matter into dark energy.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Anna Foster spoke to Professor Carlos Frank, Professor of Fundamental Physics at Durham University, and she began by asking, what is dark energy?
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Anna Foster: The question that has fascinated cosmologists since for the last 25 years has to do with the expansion of the universe. We've known for almost 100 years that the universe is expanding, but at the turn of the last century, astronomers discovered that not only is the universe expanding, but it is doing so at an ever-increasing rate.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Anna Foster: The expansion is accelerating, as though there is something pushing galaxies away from each other. And in our ignorance, we call this dark energy.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Anna Foster: It's a little analogous to you see a hot air balloon rising, but the speed of the balloon increases when you wonder what is pushing that balloon up against gravity.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Anna Foster: So the dark energy, we know it exists. It's been discovered, experimentally, if you like, but we have no idea of what it is because when we explore physics and inquire from the physics edifice what is the dark energy, we don't get an answer.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Anna Foster: Current physics has no explanation. And that's where this new idea comes in. Tell me about the idea. Why do these researchers think that black holes are converting matter into dark energy?
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Carlos Frank: One of my colleagues who is involved in the study said to me, it's one of these quirky things of general relativity. So what happens is this. Stars that are 10 times or more massive than the sun, when they reach the end of their lives, as they run out of nuclear fuel that makes them shine.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Carlos Frank: When this happens they just collapse under the force of gravity and they turn into a black hole. Now the idea is that the matter that is coming in falling into the black hole it converted into dark energy due to the very extreme, extremely strong gravity around the black hole.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Carlos Frank: So the idea is to do with general relativity, and it's to do with the strong, immensely strong gravitational field around the black hole that converts ordinary matter into dark energy, and then dark energy acts to push galaxies away from each other, causing the accelerated expansion.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: It's controversial.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Next to Spain, Antony Gaudí is famous for his incredible buildings. His best-known work, the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona, is still under construction after more than 140 years.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Its splendor is one of the reasons he has been dubbed God's architect. But he could go one better and become a saint himself, as Max Horbury reports from Barcelona.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Max Horbury: Maria Teresa de los Ángeles is a nun in Cadiz in the south of Spain, and almost every day she prays to the architect, Anthony Gaudí.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Max Horbury: To some, he's known as God's architect. Pope Francis, in one of his last official acts before he died, put Gaudí on the path to sainthood.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Max Horbury: I knew only that he helped architects, and I wanted to ask on behalf of a friend of mine who's an architect, and when I felt listened to, I became interested in his life. I prayed to him, the example he led by, trying to bring others closer to God and find God in that beauty.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Max Horbury: I'm meeting José Manuel Almuzara in a cafe by the Sagrada Familia. Since 1992, he has been campaigning for Gaudi's sainthood.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Max Horbury: I once took a group to the Sagrada Familia. We entered the church and then suddenly I hear someone shouting, José Manuel, there was an older man. He was saying, but I'm an atheist. What's happening to me? His eyes were teary because he was thinking, if I'm an atheist, how can it be that I'm so moved by this architecture and this church.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Max Horbury: I've come to the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. It's one of the oldest parts of the city. It's also now one of the most touristy. And I'm standing in front of the Cathedral of Barcelona. I've come here to meet with Archbishop of Barcelona, Cardinal Juan José Omeya.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Max Horbury: He now heads the official association that is working towards Gaudi's sainthood and liaises with the Vatican. We have a miracle presented to us by a father on behalf of his son who is ill in the Netherlands, and the doctors say that, surprisingly, he's been cured. And so they have to study that in the Vatican.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Max Horbury: And then there would be another step, which would be sainthood, for which there would need to be one more miracle. Why him specifically? In churches, the teachings and the things they want to show, they usually have on the inside. Gaudi put it all on the outside. He says, I put it on the outside so that anyone who doesn't want to go inside or doesn't have a faith can ask himself, why? This is an evangelist. This is a saint.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Max Horbury: He invites you so that you can discover what he has discovered. He was someone who led a very monastic life. Geis van Hensbergen, Gaudi's biographer and author of a book about the Sagrada Familia.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Max Horbury: Off every evening to confession and then he'd come back. It would be straight back to the drawing board, muddling with little models. What would it mean for Gaudí to be made a saint?
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Max Horbury: Maria Teresa de los Ángeles. I think our idea of holiness can change. We can understand that it's not just relegated to the cloisters or the church. Lay people and professional people, artists, also have that holiness in their way of living. and whatever aspect of human life can be full of holiness.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: It still could be many years for Gaudí to be declared a saint, but for the man who designed the Sagrada Familia, there's no rush.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Max Horbury reporting. And if you'd like to hear more about Gaudí's architecture and spirituality, just search for the full documentary Gaudí, God's Architect, on the BBC website or wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Now, have a listen to this.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Danielle Jawoyetska: Hello, Jackie and listeners. This is Danielle Jawoyetska with some slightly different news to break to you. After more than three decades at the BBC, we are saying goodbye and thank you to Jackie Leonard.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Danielle Jawoyetska: Presenter of The Newsroom, formerly World Briefing, the Global News Podcast and The Happy Pod, Jackie has been at the very heart of our output here on the BBC World Service.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Danielle Jawoyetska: Hello, I'm Jackie Leonard and you're listening to the newsroom from the BBC World Service. For some time there have been...
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jackie Leonard and... We have a great deal to discuss about the events in the Middle East, how we got here, how events...
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: It's a month since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and amid all the talk of military tactics and analysis, some of our younger listeners. You're with the BBC World Service. Welcome to week two of our extra podcast experiment.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Hello, we're in the capital of the happiest country in the world, a fount of world happiness, if you will. Where better to record the happy podcast? Well, you're obviously here to inform, entertain and educate.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: We start with an invention that it's hoped could bring a new sense of freedom and independence to millions of people with visual impairment. Now, how old is too old to travel across the world? 80s? And you start every day with ice cream.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: You might be surprised to learn that there's been a dispute over who owns the song Baby Shark. You know the one. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Sorry. But there has. And the South Korean...
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Jackie Leonard's blend of calm, suave and elegant presentation style and that soothing voice makes her, to my mind, one of the greatest ever. She's magnetic, accessible, conversational. She has authority. She's clear, accurate and forensic.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: The BBC owes her a huge debt of gratitude. A beacon will go out when she walks through that door for the final time. Jackie, thank you for showing myself and others how this thing ought to be done.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: I'm Jackie Leonard. Thank you for listening. Goodbye.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Well, that was unexpected. Before I sail off into the sunset, I want to thank my brilliant colleagues, the producers, reporters, correspondents, Karen Martin, of course, and the studio managers who make us sound good or as good as they can.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: I would also like to thank you, the Global News Pod listeners. I know some of you have been with us since right from the beginning in 2007, and your involvement has been very much part of the pod's evolution.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Over the years you've told us what you like what you don't you've talked to us about big serious important issues in 2020 you might remember you shared your experience and advice on coping with the pandemic when I asked you for your animal photos you obliged hashtag global news pets and for a surprisingly long time and for reasons I can't quite remember you told us a lot about your favorite cheeses with puns so thank you your engagement has been a big part of what makes the Global News podcast so satisfying to work on and I will miss reading your emails.
--:-- [Soft music continues]
--:-- Jackie Leonard: Don't worry, Karen will still be reading them. Once more with feeling, globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. So for this last edition
