this is bbc news. our top stories: the acclaimed author sir salman rushdie suffers serious injuries after being stabbed on stage in the state of new york. his agent says he's on a ventilator and can't speak and is likely to lose an eye. in other news, it's been revealed the search warrant for donald trump's florida home was partly based on suspicion of violations of the us espionage act. ukraine and russia have again accused each other of risking catastrophe by shelling europe's largest nuclear power plant. and the eurovision host contest. the shortlist is announced for the cities who may stage the famous celebration of song.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. the acclaimed british author sir salman rushdie has sustained serious injuries to his liver and an eye after being stabbed while taking to the stage at an arts centre in new york. the 75—year—old is currently on a ventilator and unable to speak. police have named his attacker as hadi matar, a 24—year—old from newjersey who is currently in custody. our north america correspondent john sudworth reports. there was confusion and panic. the attack happened in full view of the audience. sir salman was left injured, lying on stage, and eyewitnesses in deep shock. there was nothing audible from the attacker.

we just saw him move on stage very quickly and, repeatedly and with vicious determination, stabbed salman rushdie. people were rising up out of their seats, gasping, crying and screaming and this unheard—of thing was happening on stage. salman rushdie was taken to hospital by helicopter. he had been due to speak at the chautauqua institution, a centre for arts and learning in western new york state which has long celebrated freedom of expression. a value, many observers pointed out, embodied by mr rushdie himself. here is an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power, someone who has been out there, unafraid despite the threats that have followed him his entire adult life, it seems. the motive for the attack is not yet known, but the threat of assassination that sir salman has long lived under will be a key focus of the investigation.

his book, the satanic verses, published in 1988, was condemned as blasphemous by the then supreme ruler of iran, ayatollah khomeini. the fatwa, or religious ruling, was accompanied by a bounty in exchange for his death. now a country that holds free speech in such high regard is contemplating the shocking sight of the author, wounded for his work, being wheeled into hospital. video footage shows a man taken into custody by police shortly after the attack. john sudworth, bbc news, washington. earlier, i asked our news reporter azadeh moshiri for the latest on the attack. we do have an update on his condition, from his literary agent, andrew wylie, who released a statement shortly before 7pm on friday local new york time. it reads:

he also added that salman rushdie, at 75 years old, is currently on a ventilator. the police have also released the name of the suspect. while they did reiterate they do not know the motive of the attack and they don't know his nationality right now, his name is hadi matar, he is 2a years old and he is from fairview, newjersey. azadeh, salman rushdie has received death threats for years. tell us a bit more about the background to this. that's right. it's hard to overstate what a huge figure salman rushdie is in the literary world. it was a second novel, midnight's children, which was a huge commercial success. he said a bestselling novel was not his real goal, he wanted to do serious literature and it is what his fourth novel in 1989 was, the satanic verses, so much so that its impact forced him to go into hiding for nine years. the book was about many things but part of it was about the immigrant experience but it also had portrayals of the prophet mohammed and questions around

the nature of the koran as well as a reference with the title to a controversial issue in islam that some muslims around the world found blasphemous and offensive. it caused protests around the world, even in countries that weren't predominantly muslim and was banned in several countries. and that is because afterwards, a year later, this was the big event that forced him to go into hiding. it was when iran's supreme leader, ayatollah khomeini, the father of the islamic revolution in iran, mainly, issued a fatwa, a legal decree by a religious leader, for the execution of salman rushdie. as well as that of anyone involved with the book and he also added a $3 million bounty on that execution. what effect did that fatwa have on salman rushdie? well, the fatwa itself ended up forcing him to go into hiding. he faced 30 years of death threats as a result of it. and it had serious consequences. even though in the late 1990s, iranian governments tried to distance themselves from it, certainly president khatami did, but the current supreme

leader, ayatollah khamenei, upheld it, and he tweeted about the fatwa and salman rushdie and it led to serious consequences, notjust for salman rushdie, a norwegian publisher was attacked, shot in the late 1990s, he survived. an italian translator was stabbed in his apartment in milan and ajapanese translator was killed as a result of this from stabbing. and so while salman rushdie ended up coming out of hiding, continuing his works, becoming a huge advocate for freedom of speech, it did affect his life, his works in a serious way but in the last few years, he said they felt safer and he didn't view the fatwa the same way. we do not know the motive right now. it's just the fatwa that's affected his life and works in a very serious way. tim bewes is professor

of english at brown university. i spoke to him earlier and asked him to give us a sense of the significance of salman rushdie in the literary world. one of the most important facts about his writing, really one of his great achievements is he places fiction on the same plane as history. what i mean by that is he reveals the degree to which history's main actors, if you think about politicians, celebrities, religious leaders, even terrorists, even, of course, prophets, act out of ideas about themselves that are profound fictions, they are fictional characters. that was a massively important insight of the fiction of the 1980s and rushdie�*s work in particular. now, obviously the fatwa of 1988, with that moment rushdie really entered history in a way that bore out this deep insight of his work and gave it a hideous unwelcome significance. i would just add one thing to that, i think what has been

unarguable is that during the 1980s salman rushdie, along with a small number of other british writers, completely reinvigorated the english novel, not only in the united kingdom but across the english—speaking world, especially in the countries that were formerly part of the british empire. and what rushdie�*s work in many ways created was a global community of anglophone writers and readers who were in conversation with each other, you know, not literally, perhaps, but certainly in terms of literary influence. the very reason we have writers such as, you know, mohsin hamid, zadie smith, monica ali, vikram seth, is a large part because of the influence of rushdie. that is why midnight's children won the booker prize, twice, in fact, three times when it was voted for the best of bookers in 2008. that's what i think is really important. as an indian—born british—american i don't use

this word lightly, he really did bring a unique angle on things, midnight's children, you mentioned, talking about things like partition, in particular. tell us about the richness and the breadth of rushdie�*s work. i think he gives english literature a new voice, and we could call it, use the word, a diasporic voice, an embodied voice. that new voice was notjust a displacement of the authority of the old voice, the urbane british voice of writers like somerset maugham or george orwell or graham greene, rushdie really invents a writing that dispenses with authority itself, notjust a particular authority. and i think that's what makes him so important for the development of the novel. it's not a new voice, really it's more than that, it's a sense of the constructiveness of voices itself. we like to use — literary critics — we like to use this term historicity. rushdie achieves like that comedy historicity of voice, the historicity of personhood itself.

and you know what that really achieves is the dismantling of any sense of the authority of literature, notjust a displacement of authority, but really of, you know, a dismantling of it. and, of course, the work that he became best known for, the satanic verses, talk about that was so important. that is the book that changed everything, the reason we talk about him today, the book that got him in trouble, published in 1988, it is his undisputed masterpiece, it is all the things he was fascinated by in his work up to that point come together. i think it is his most significant novel, not only in historical terms for what it led to. your correspondant earlier talked about those nine years of living and hiding

under police protection, but also in literary terms. i think is worth specifying that. the satanic verse asked a particular question in the voice of its protagonist, how does newness come into the world? of what fusions, translations, conjoining can be made? this is really the line that is the most famous in rushdie�*s work. but what is significant, i think, is notjust the answer that the book offers, it's the very way that it asks the question, because the question is its own answer. newness comes into the world as a matter of fusions, translations, and conjoining. now, that is an answer that says everything about the significance of rushdie�*s work. it is why he has been known as a profane writer. we see a lot of nonsense on social media since the news broke of the attack, that he was motivated by hatred of islam. there is no hatred of islam in rushdie. but he is profane. he is an anti— theological writer.

professor tim bewes from brown university there. let's get some of the day's other news. us lawmakers have adopted president biden�*s sprawling climate, tax and healthcare plan. it's a major win for the president and includes the biggest ever american investment in the battle against global warming. the house of representatives approved the measure by a 220—207 vote along party lines, following its adoption in the senate on sunday. 11 people have been killed in a mass shooting in montenegro. reports suggest a man opened fire during a family dispute in the former capital, cetinje, targeting first his relatives and then people on the street, seemingly at random. a further six people were wounded before police shot the assailant dead. the government has declared three days of mourning. for the first time in years, lionel messi is missing from the shortlist for the prestigious ballon d'or award after an underwhelming first season with paris saint—germain. the argentine superstar had been a constant presence amongst the nominations since 2006. france's karim benzema who plays for real madrid is tipped to win

this year's award. the warrant used to search donald trump's home in florida on monday has revealed that he is being investigated for allegedly breaching us espionage laws. the warrant, which was unsealed by a judge this evening, also shows fbi agents removed 11 sets of classified documents during the raid, including some marked �*top secret�*. the former president says he's the victim of a witch hunt by his democratic opponents. 0ur correspondent in washington, chi chi izundu, has more details. well, we have seven pages of information, not that much detail being released in the warrant between the fbi and the department ofjustice. what we do know is the fbi say they went to mar—a—lago, which is the primary residence of donald trump, and searched 58 bedrooms, 33 bathrooms, across the i7—acre estate.

what they said is they looked everywhere including the former president's private office, known as the 45th office, as well as other storage areas where documents could be kept and they took away a large number of different documents, including ones that had the title of miscellaneous secret documents and miscellaneous top secret documents but more interestingly, ts and sci documents. ts stands for �*top secret�* and sci stands for �*sensitive compartmented information�* and it is that one that is causing concern because that is the type of documentation that is only read in sealed rooms and only very few people can see it and is really highly damaging, potentially if it gets in the wrong hands, to us security. chi chi, has there been any response from donald trump or his representatives? well, donald trump actually

agreed to the unsealing of these documents when the attorney general yesterday, merrick garland, asked a court to unseal the documents, unusually, because this is an ongoing investigation. other than that, there has been no response, officially from donald trump. this is a really unusual step because it is an ongoing investigation. donald trump hasn�*t actually been charged with anything but it�*s interesting that the fbi have gone into his home and searched the home of a former us president which is unprecedented, never happened in us history before, and we�*ve come to this point in history where now, we are finding out exactly what the fbi claim they have taken from donald trump�*s mar—a—lago home. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: who will host next year�*s eurovision song contest? a shortlist of seven uk cities is announced.

the big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a hugejob of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutal former dictator, has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. it began its journey off the coast of canada, ending three hours later, when the sun set over the bay of bengal.

this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: the acclaimed author sir salman rushdie suffers serious injuries after being stabbed on stage in the state of new york. it�*s been revealed the search warrant for donald trump�*s florida home was partly based on suspicion of violations of the us espionage act. europe continues to bake under extreme temperatures. there have been huge wildfires in france and portugal. and severe drought conditions across nearly half of the continent. this has been the scene in central portugal, where 16,000 firefighters are battling a wildfire that�*s been raging for a week. it�*s burned through more than 37,000 acres of land so far.

and in south—western france, firefighters are arriving from hungary and other european countries to help tackle fires around bordeaux. firefighters there have largely managed to contain this one. but more hot temperatures and worsening conditions could trigger more fires. meanwhile, in the uk, a drought has been declared in many parts of england. conditions are so dry, the scorched land can be seen from space. in germany the lack of water is starting to have significant economic impacts asjenny hill reports now from the river rhine. this is the river bed of the mighty rhine. if you walked here in normal times, you�*d be underwater. it�*s a working river, one of europe�*s most important. barges fetch and carry goods and materials through germany�*s industrial heartlands. but the water is now so low that some of the larger vessels can�*t get through. translation: we are approaching

levels where ships _ can�*t enter the upper rhine. many of the bigger ships already can�*t go there. it�*s likely the upper rhine will be closed to traffic completely. captain kimpel is used to troubled waters. the river level does drop most years, but these days, he tells us, it�*s more frequent. the climate changing the river before his eyes. translation: it's no joke, | we have 1.5 metres of water and our boat sits 1.2 metres deep. so we have 30 centimetres of water left beneath us. few here can now sail fully laden. that means less coal for germany�*s power stations but the country is relying on them to get through the winter after russia reduced its gas supply. this couldn�*t happen at a worse time for germany. there�*s a looming energy crisis, high inflation, so it�*s no wonder analysts warned it could do significant economic damage.

there is a novelty here for some — the low water exposed this old footbridge. but for so many here, this new and altered landscape represents nothing less than a warning. jenny hill, bbc news. ukraine and russia have again accused each other of risking catastrophe by shelling europe�*s largest nuclear power plant. conflict near the zaporizhzhia plant has intensified this week leading to western countries to call on moscow to withdraw troops from the facility. there�*s been no sign so far of russia agreeing to that with some analysts predicting the area occupied by russian forces will become one of the next big front lines of the war. john spencer is a retired us army major and now chair of urban warfare studies at the madison policy forum. he gave me his analysis of the situation. so clearly the russians turned the nuclear power plant

into a military base. they have based a lot of their systems and shelling from within the base so it�*s become a precarious position because ukrainians are having gains in kherson and other regions, and this is likely to be a very big front of conflict soon. so i agree with the un and the us, that we have to get ahead of this and turn this power plant into a demilitarised zone and just get away from it. how does one turn this into a demilitarised zone? so first step would be letting the iaea investigators in there as they are asking to get in there, to determine the health of it today. and you get both parties to agree there are no forces and no munitions allowed, you basically draw a circle around it and extend that a little ways. it�*s pretty simple and logical

and common sense, but we know there is one party we know that doesn�*t act like that, and that is russia. elsewhere in the country, it�*s been a while since we�*ve seen russian strikes in the north and the west. does that mean russia�*s content with what they have at the moment or should we avoid being lulled into a false sense of security? no, i think the donbas in the east are still russia�*s main concern and it�*s where they applied most of their combat power. in kharkiv, we can�*t say it is safe. there is still frequent shelling. ukraine is focusing on the south, and having lots of advancements, russia thinks it can gain this big win in donbas but for weeks and weeks, they haven�*t moved barely kilometres, if at all. what do you see as being the next stage in this conflict?

the next stage will be the liberation of kherson as ukraine continues ot isolate it and the possible avenues of reinforcement. we saw the strike into crimea which just put the black sea fleet at great risk because they lost a lot of russian air force cover, and it�*s important to the south so you will see a major battle in the south as there is a holding position in the east, and ukrainians are gaining ground and in military speak we see the initiative — it could turn to the ukrainians even in the next couple of weeks. here in the uk, seven cities have been named to compete to host next year�*s eurovision song contest. the uk came second in this year�*s contest but organisers decided it wouldn�*t be safe for the winning country, ukraine, to host the event. our arts correspondent, david sillito, is in liverpool, one of the cities on the shortlist. fanfare katie boyle, 1960.

good evening, ladies and gentlemen. on behalf of the bbc, i�*d like to welcome you all to the fifth annual eurovision song contest. europe thinks the british are reserved! the uk has a long history of staging the eurovision song contest. london, edinburgh, brighton, harrogate and birmingham have all played host. all right, so we know there are seven cities... and on today�*s shortlist, announced on radio 2, birmingham was — alphabetically — top of the list. glasgow, which recently hosted the cop climate conference, is also there. it�*s very, very exciting for the city. it�*s fantastic news. glasgow from the early days had been down as one of the favourites, but you never know until that shortlist appears. so, too, leeds, manchester, newcastle, sheffield and liverpool — much to the joy of one eurovision star. i am over the moon. my fingers are so crossed that it comes to liverpool. i mean, we tick all the boxes.

we�*ve got the arena, we�*ve got the beautiful city. everything�*s on the doorstep. you know, we�*rejust going to have the biggest party ever. and, of course, liverpool does have a little bit of a musical heritage. there is romance to their bid. but the winner will be determined much more by practicalities. eurovision is, these days, huge. the event is two or three times the size of what it used to be in the �*90s. a cash—strapped bbc will have to bear much of the cost, but there will also be conversations with the government, sponsors and potential host cities — none of whom have much in the way of spare cash, but this year�*s host, turin, is understood to have spent around £10 million, and feels with the payback in tourism and exposure, eurovision was a good investment. david sillito, bbc news. that�*s it from us now.

you can reach me on twitter — i�*m @richpreston. see you next time. bye—bye. hello there. it�*s turning even hotter this weekend with temperatures perhaps reaching 35, maybe 36 degrees. so dry, sunny, hot for most this weekend but in northern and western areas you could start to see a few showers developing, particularly through the day on sunday. now it�*s southern parts of britain that really could do with the rainfall, for example odiham in hampshire hasn�*t seen any measurable rain for 42 days — so the ground is parched here, we really do need some rainfall. of course the met office amber extreme heat warning remains in force for large parts of england and wales up until around sunday. again with those temperatures reaching 35, maybe 36 degrees in the hottest spots on saturday afternoon. widespread sunshine then

throughout saturday, any low cloud and mist in scotland and north—east england will burn back to the coast, maybe a slight chance of a shower across the scottish hills, maybe snowdonia, otherwise most places dry. high 20s in the north, 30—35 or 36 degrees across england and wales. through saturday night it will stay dry for most, a bit of low cloud, mist and murk rolling back across eastern scotland, north—east england. temperature wise, again the low to mid teens in the north, 17—20 degrees further south, really could be quite warm and uncomfortable across the south coast of england. sunday we do it all again. it�*s a sunny start, mist and low cloud burning back to the coast but then a greater chance of showers and thunderstorms developing across northern ireland, scotland into the afternoon, maybe one or two across western england and wales later in the day. the vast majority though will stay dry and sunny and very hot again, 30—35 or 36 england and wales, maybe a touch cooler, scotland and northern ireland around the mid 20s there. we start to see changes into next week, things

turn a bit cooler and we will start to see more in the way of showers and thunderstorms, that�*s because we�*ve got low pressure pushing up from the south as we move out of sunday. that will introduce more humid air, so it could be quite uncomfortable for a while sunday into monday, but then you will see the shower and thunderstorm activity start to increase. initially northern and western areas, and then migrating towards the east. you will see temperatures very warm to start the week across the south—east and then showers, thunderstorms rattle their way through, things will be turning cooler, closer to the seasonal average by the time we reach the end of the new week.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the agent of the british writer sir salman rushdie has given details of his condition after he was stabbed on stage in the state of new york. the author is on a ventilator and can�*t speak. he also suffered injuries to his eye, his arm and his liver. the search warrant executed on donald trump�*s florida home on monday has been unsealed by a judge, after the former us president made no objection to the move. it shows the search by fbi agents was partly based on suspicions of violations of the us espionage act. ukraine and russia have again accused each other of risking catastrophe by shelling europe�*s largest nuclear power plant. conflict near the zaporizhzhia plant has intensified this week, leading western countries to call on moscow to withdraw troops from the facility.

so far russia has not agreed to do so.