across wales in further south across wales in western england. still hot for many. this is bbc news. i'm luxmy gopal and these are the latest headlines. writers and politicians condemn an attack on acclaimed author, an attack on acclaimed author sir salman rushdie, who's now on a ventilator, after being stabbed on stage in the us state of new york. his agent says the 75—year—old can't speak, is likely to lose an eye, has a damaged liver, and the nerves in one arm have been severed in the attack. more extreme heat is expected in the southern half of the uk over the next two days. that, as experts also warn england's drought could last into the next year. travel disruption after thousands of train drivers from 9 rail companies go on strike across the uk today. it's the latest walk—out in a row over pay and conditions. documents in the us show fbi agents seized papers marked "top secret" when they searched the florida home of the former president

donald trump on monday. the search warrant shows he's being investigated over possible violations of the espionage act. the 82—year—old taking on new heights. nick gardner tells the bbc he's "ready and very excited" to scale the final peak in his mission to climb all of scotland's 282 munros. good afternoon. the agent for sir salman rushdie says he remains on a ventilator and may lose an eye, after he was stabbed repeatedly on stage at an event in new york state yesterday. sir salman, who's 75, has been the subject of death threats from islamists since the release of his book, the satanic verses, in 1988. a man has been arrested. nomia iqbal sent this report.

the attack happened in full view of an audience. there was panic and confusion, as sir salman rushdie lay injured on the stage after being stabbed. the suspectjumped onto the stage and attacked mr rushdie, stabbing him at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen. sir salman was rushed to hospital and taken by helicopter to the neighbouring state of pennsylvania. he was due to speak at the chautauqua institute, a centre for arts and learning in western new york, which celebrates freedom of expression — a value many praise sir salman for having. here is an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power. someone who's been out there, unafraid, despite the threats that have followed him his entire adult life, it seems. prime minister borisjohnson tweeted he was appalled that the author was stabbed while exercising a right that must always be defended.

a 24—year—old man named hadi matar was arrested and taken into custody. police have carried out a raid at his home in newjersey. the motive is not known, but sir salman has long lived under the threat of being killed, and had to go into hiding for nearly ten years. his book the satanic verses, published in 1988, was condemned as blasphemous by many muslim countries. they considered his portrayal of islam insulting. iran's spiritual leader at the time called for sir salman�*s execution, offering a £2.5 million reward. iran has now distanced itself from that, but the bounty remains. sir salman rushdie has spent a major part of his life protecting himself from extremist threats, to only now find himself inside this hospital. in a statement, his agent says the author will likely lose an eye

and is currently being supported by a ventilator. nomia iqbal, bbc news, pennsylvania. let's speak to our security correspondent, frank gardner. given correspondent, frank gardner. that sir salman ru: famously given that sir salman rushdie has famously had death threats against him, where the security preparations anywhere near good enough because? no, they were not. the venue reportedly turned down recommendations to turn down security, they did not want to see create a barrier allegedly between the audience and the venue. that has turned out to be pretty disastrous because whatever weapon the suspect used was knocked found, there was no kind of bodycheck. people's ids were checked but not the content of their bags. i have to say, who would have thought this tiny little place, 70 miles south of buffalo new york, who would have thought that would be the

venue for such an attack like this. it looks like it was probably researched by somebody because this is not a big, high—profile book fair like cheltenham or edinburgh, the really big ones. it's a relatively little—known one. ironically, one that prides itself on trying to safeguard the freedom of speech. sir salman rushdie initially went into hiding for many years after the death threats against him first emerged, but do we know if in recent years he had been attending events like this, with a security perhaps was similar, not as strong as we would have expected?— was similar, not as strong as we would have expected? yes, he came out of hiding — would have expected? yes, he came out of hiding just _ would have expected? yes, he came out of hiding just before _ would have expected? yes, he came out of hiding just before the - would have expected? yes, he came out of hiding just before the end - would have expected? yes, he came out of hiding just before the end of. out of hiding just before the end of the previous century. satanic verses was published in 1988, the fatwa was issued by iran's ayatollah khamenei

year later, 89, he went into hiding forjust over nine years, during that time he had protection from armed police officers in this country and the uk at the behest of the uk government. in 2002, he moved to america and kind of downgraded security. he was very careful about what at attended but where are we now? 3a years on since the publication of the satanic verses and obviously he thought the threat subsided but in fact there have been two separate upgrades of the bounty by organisations in linked to the religious establishment including the media which have raised the bounty by hundreds of thousands of dollars. the threat was extant. rather like the french and danish cartoonists, clearly there is still

the capacity to drive people over the capacity to drive people over the edge where religion has been insulted. although to be fair, we do not yet know the full motive of the suspect in this case.— suspect in this case. thank you for our suspect in this case. thank you for your analysis- _ let's talk to our north america correspondent nomia iqbal who's outside the hospital where salman rushdie is being treated in erie, pennyslvania. we heard a little bit about the nature of his injuries. what is the latest? what more do we know? we are still waitinu latest? what more do we know? we are still waiting to — latest? what more do we know? we are still waiting to get _ latest? what more do we know? we are still waiting to get an _ latest? what more do we know? we are still waiting to get an update. _ latest? what more do we know? we are still waiting to get an update. we - still waiting to get an update. we are expecting to hear from the hospital at some point today, certainly over the weekend. the last we heard was that the statement given by sir salman rushdie's agent in which he quotes it is not good news. he said sir salman is likely

to lose an eye. he is currently on a ventilator and cannot speak. this hospital here, obviously neighbouring new york state where salman was airlifted, has some of the most advanced facilities when it comes to treating people with trauma. he underwent surgery, we know he is on a ventilator. any update we will bring to you. there has been shot _ update we will bring to you. there has been shot around _ update we will bring to you. there has been shot around the - update we will bring to you. there has been shot around the world, | update we will bring to you. there has been shot around the world, what about more locally in that area given that that is where the attack happened. what is the reaction been like there? figs happened. what is the reaction been like there? �* , . ~ , like there? as frank said, this event that _ like there? as frank said, this event that happened - like there? as frank said, this event that happened in - like there? as frank said, this event that happened in new . like there? as frank said, this i event that happened in new york state, it is a summer event that you get writers and artists is very

relaxed and it is the last place anywhere would worry about their safety. there is a huge amount of shock that something like this could have happened and of course to sir salman but we know that he lived under the threat of being attacked for many years. it is worth mentioning that in recent years, he himself became quite relaxed about security. i interviewed him at a literature festival in the uk and he turned up with his son, his agent, i asked him where his security was and he almost brushed off and said those risks were of the past and throughout the 905 he was one of the most endangered authors but he wanted to live his life more freely so the fact this is someone who has protected himself for years from these threats to find himself here in this hospital is quite something. but it is a great sense of shock

that has been expressed by those writers and also the tweets seeing coming out from world leaders as well. . ~ , ., the environment agency has warned that the drought declared in many parts of england could last into next year. the official declaration yesterday, is expected to trigger stricter controls on water use, such as hosepipe bans. yesterday's drought announcement covers much of the south west, parts of southern, central and eastern england. kathryn stanczyszyn reports from hinckley in leicestershire. large swathes of countryside look scorched and yellow at the moment, after the driest summer in decades. eight areas of england have now been officially designated as being in drought. some, like the south—east, already with water restrictions in place. 0thers expecting them to be brought in soon. even where hosepipe bans aren't yet being enforced,

companies are asking users to be more mindful of their water consumption as reservoirs slowly but steadily recede. and for some farmers, it means a much tougher year than expected. it's just like the sahara desert out there. we're having to feed the winter rations, silage, to the cattle now. and by the end of the summer, we'll be halfway through that and we're going to have to source it from somewhere else and i don't know where yet. hopefully it'll rain very soon. the extreme dry weather brings another risk — fire. services across the country are dealing with tinder dry conditions that are more difficult to control if a blaze breaks out. and that means a usual favourite hot weather pursuit poses a threat. we've had some stories of some reckless incidents, some disposable barbecues that fortunately some of the main retailers have stopped selling now, which we're extremely grateful for. because that will hopefully reduce the risk. but things like disposable barbecues and bonfires in back gardens that can spread onto sheds and fences and houses, so please, please don't do things like that.

the national drought group says essential water supplies are safe and moving to drought status means action can now be stepped up to keep it that way. experts say we will need at least average rainfall this autumn to restore levels to where they should be and prevent the same happening next year. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news. europe continues to bake under extreme temperatures, with severe drought conditions evident across nearly half of the continent. in germany, the lack of water is starting to have a significant economic impact, while a huge fire is continuing to devastate forests in the gironde region in france. bethany bell has more. a fire crew has just arrived on this stretch of road, because as you can see, there is smoke coming from the dead trees. a fire swept through here,

but there are a lot of smouldering embers in the ground, the soil here is rich with peat and the embers go on burning for some time. 10,000 people have been evacuated from this area because of the very, very dry conditions. their hopes that the heat may start to improve over the next few days, that things will get a little bit cooler, but there are strong winds forecast for tonight and that can make things very hard for firefighters. a critical incident�*s been declared by the nhs in shropshire. the crisis has been put down to a high number of patients arriving at hospital, difficulties discharging people because of a lack of capacity in the care sector, and staff absence because of covid. it means some non—urgent operations will be postponed. at least one person has died and dozens more are injured when high winds caused part of a stage to collapse at a dance music festival in spain. other infrastructure was also damaged when gusts battered

the medusa festivale in cullera, a beach—side town south of valencia. the electronic music event which is held over six days has now been suspended. the taliban have been trying to stop women in the afghan capital kabul from protesting on the streets. the taliban fired in the air as dozens of women protested against the restriction of women's rights. the demonstration comes a year after the taliban seized power in afghanistan. girls have been barred from attending secondary schools in most of afghanistan. women have so far only been allowed to work in a few sectors including public health and security. the headlines on bbc news... writers and politicians condemn an attack on acclaimed author sir salman rushdie, who's now on a ventilator, after being stabbed on stage in new york. more extreme heat is expected in the southern half of the uk

over the next two days. that, as experts also warn england's drought could last into the next year. travel disruption after thousands of train drivers from 9 rail companies go on strike across the uk today. it's the latest walk—out in a row over pay and conditions. sport and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's olly. busy afternoon the premier league, we've had the first result. former england teamates and midfield rivals steven gerrard and frank lampard were meeting as managers for the first time and it was gerrard's aston villa that came out on top. they beat everton 2—1. villa lost their opening match of the season, but danny ings lifted their fans with this strike after half an hour at villa park. when emiliano buendia doubled their lead with five minutes left of normal time the game looked

done and dusted. but a minute later former everton defender lucas digne scored an own goal and that set up a frantic finale, but villa held on for their first points of the season. everton have lost their first two matches iam i am really pleased with the level of performance. i believed every found that level we would improve from last week. last week was not good enough and the outcome we deserve that but this week, what we have put into the game the quality and goals we scored, maybe we could have scored more, no one can challenge the outcome of the game. we deserved our win. defensively, we were set, they did not give _ defensively, we were set, they did not give us — defensively, we were set, they did not give us problems, transition moments — not give us problems, transition moments are the case with new players — moments are the case with new players or— moments are the case with new players or not, the reality is some players _ players or not, the reality is some players have just arrived in the last week— players have just arrived in the last week or two weeks, so we have

to be _ last week or two weeks, so we have to be patient in the early part of the season on that front. five games kicked off at 3. no goals anywhere. brentford are hosting manchester united later. 5.30 kick off. cardiff city have their second win of the season. they beat birmingham city 1—0 in the early kick off 20—year—old jaden philogene, who's on loan from aston villa, scored the first half winner inside 20 minutes at the cardiff city stadium. that moves them up to third in the table for now. there are four games in the scottish premiership, all of them three o'clock kick—offs. just one goal. livingston beating hibs1—0. british rowers won four golds at the multi—sport european championships this morning.

the women's four were the first to make it on to the top of the podium in munich. they held off ireland with romania finishing third. that was the first gold for great britain at the europeans since it was revived in 2007 and goes some way to making up for their disappointment at last year's olympics where they finished fourth. we came back this year with a claer, "let's get to the front of the pack this year." the training has changed, atmosphere is really, really positive. and i think that has just helped us improve this year and just not waste the first year of the olympiad. get stuck in and get going straightaway. the men's four won next, defending their european title, although it was a brand new team of four different men compared the men's four successfully defended their european title, although it was a completely different crew. they finished ahead of the netherlands. the women's quad sculls and men's

eight also took gold. great britain's women took team silver in the gymnastics alice kinsella, 0ndine achampong, jennifer &jessica gadirova, and georgia mae—fenton were beaten into second by a strong german team. it equals their best performance at a europeans. these are live pictures from munich, after non stanford's success in the women's triathlon yesterday, the men havejust taken to the course. olympic silver medallist alex yee isn't taking part so sam dickenson represents the best british hope. bbc one for this one. there are two double headers in the hundred today, welsh fire are playing birmingham phoenix in cardiff and we've had the result of the first match at old trafford. the trent rockets women easily beat the manchester originals thanks in part to this, australian spinner alana king taking the first hatrick in a women's hundred match. she took four wickets on her debut to help bowl

the originals out for 76, the rockets winning by 43 runs. the men's teams are now playing. british number two dan evans is through to the semi—finals salford red devils survived a second half comeback from huddersfield in super league. they ran out winners by 33 points to 16 at the a] bell stadium, withjoe burgess capitalising on an mistake to run almost the full length of the field to go over. no changes in the table. salford stay seventh whilst huddersfield remain in third. there might have been a goal in the premier league... manchester city, ilkay gundogan,1—0 premier league... manchester city, ilkay gundogan, 1—0 for the very latest go to bbc sport website.

that's all the sport for now. rail passengers are being warned to expect severe disruption today. around 6,500 train drivers at 9 rail companies, who are members of the aslef union, are walking out again, in a dispute about pay. our business correspondent, ramzan karmali, reports. a sight that has become a familiar one this summer. this time, it's the train drivers, members of the aslef union, on the picket line at euston station. it's completely shut and it's caught some travellers out. no, i'm not going home today. i was going to go home on thursday, but i can't because of the strikes, so i'm going home on tuesday instead. it's annoying that the general public has to get inconvenienced, but i understand where they are coming from. i'm trying to get back to the town of buckingham so i can— resume my studies next monday, but i don't know that euston- is completely closed right now. nine train companies are impacted by today's strike. aslef have consistently said this dispute centres

on pay and the rising costs their members are facing. they should come to the table and offer a decent pay rise, that's what we do. we talk to our employers about our terms, conditions, our wages in the context of where the economy is at that point in time. and at this point in time, we know where the cost of living crisis is, and rail workers and all workers deserve a decent pay rise. the train companies say that revenues have fallen sharply and insist that reform is needed first before any pay settlements are agreed to. we can look at reform, when we can see what type of reform we are able to get. that then frees up money. we do want to give our staff a pay increase, it's not that we don't want to do that, but we need to generate money to do that. disruption from today's action is likely to spill over into tomorrow.

however, formal talks between aslef and the train companies will take place for the first time next week. perhaps a glimmer of hope in this dispute. but on thursday, commuters will face more industrial action as the rmt and tssa unions begin strike action too. it doesn't look like the end of the summer of strikes will come any time soon. ramzan karmali, bbc news. earlier i spoke to our reporter phillip norton who's been assessing the situation at leeds railway station. this is a major station in the north of england. lots of people using the station come through here for the shopping or they will be using it on a saturday to go to the football matches. we have also seen plenty of stag and hen dos arriving for the weekend. but the local services are actually running normally, that is northern trains, unaffected by the strike action. two of the major operators that run through here, lner and crosscountry are affected by the strike action and so there has been a reduction in the number of passengers here. crosscountry not running any

services at all from leads to. lner which normally has regular services from here to london is only operating two services. one left for london first thing this morning, another is returning back later this evening. of course there are round about 6,500 aslef members and drivers who are on strike, affecting those companies we have just heard in the report, the nine companies. i have spoken to some aslef members, there is a small picket outside the station. they told me they are getting a lot of support from the public. they told me drivers don't want to strike but want a fair deal. they say especially with the rising cost of living. there will be formal talks between aslef and the rail companies next week. a move that has been welcomed by both sides of this dispute. there is separate industrial action by members of other transport unions. the rmt and tssa are

striking on the 18th and 20th of august. the advice has been to check before travel and make alternative plans if need be. court documents indicate that papers marked "top secret" were taken during an fbi search of donald trump's home in florida on monday. the search warrant shows that the former president is being investigated for allegedly breaking espionage laws and removing government records. he denies doing anything wrong. chichi izundu reports. this has been quite the week for the former president of the united states. monday started off with an unprecedented search of donald trump's primary residency in florida, mar—a—lago, by fbi agents. what they were looking for was only made public through the unusual move, during an ongoing investigation, of unsealing the warrant used to enter the property. receipts attached gave little detail, but did indicate the kinds of things removed, including several miscellaneous top secret papers, information regarding the french president,

and various classified documents labelled "sci", which stands for "sensitive compartmented information," which could be exceptionally grave for us national security. mr trump, can we have a word? even though donald trump didn't oppose the unsealing, he issued a statement accusing the fbi of playing politics, and claiming the documents were all declassified and in secured storage with an additional lock. presidents can declassify information, but they have to follow a procedure. they have to fill out forms, they have to give certain authorisations. they can't simply say, "these documents are declassified," they have to follow a process — it's not clear that the second thing, of course, is that a president can declassify documents, but a former president cannot. the removal of classified documents or materials is prohibited bylaw — a crime for which donald trump

increased the penalties while in office. whilst this kind of investigation would be uncomfortable for some, for donald trump it could potentially politically work in his favour. chi chi izundu, bbc news. the welsh secretary, sir robert buckland, has switched his support from rishi sunak to liz truss, becoming the first cabinet minister to publicly change sides in the conservative leadership race. he told the daily telegraph that, after deep reflection, he'd decided ms truss was the best person to take the country forward. the leader of plaid cymru has called onjonathan edwards to stand down as an mp. mr edwards, who has sat as an independent mp, was cautioned by police in 2020 for assaulting his wife, and suspended from the party. earlier this week, it was announced he would be permitted to represent the party at westminster again, but adam price has since advised edwards to resign. our political correspondent david wallace—lockhartjoined me earlier to explain how the story developed.

earlier this week, the party said he would be permitted to have the whip back, as it is known, to represent the party. the party chairwoman said that came following procedural advice they had received. a decision that split the party. their formal leader leanne wood was quite vocal saying she did not agree with that. we also heard from jonathan edwards's wife who said she was appalled and disappointed by this decision. they are going through divorce at the moment. we heard from the leader of plaid cymru, adam price who tweeted saying it is his firm beliefjonathan edwards cannot continue to represent the party at westminster and called him to resign. he went on to say that the actions did not represent the party's values and it sent the wrong message for him to continue to be an mp representing the party. we have heard from jonathan edwards today, he said he thinks

it is a dangerous environment at the moment when no—one is able to show genuine remorse or build a better life, as he puts it. he goes on to accuse senior members in their positions of power by "subjecting me to vindictive and vengeful vindictive and vengeful coordinated political attacks." where does this leave us? are calls from his own party leader, the party he did represent to resign, but the way our system works is only the mp themselves can decide whether or not they will sit down, but it looks like his future in plaid cymru is definitely in doubt. now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell. hello. it is hot and it is dry. cooler weather is forecast to spread to all parts of the uk through the early part of next week. rain, however, will be slightly harder to pin down. the extreme heat warning the remains in place until the end of sunday

for much of england and stretches across into mid wales. faultless blue skies and sunshine beating down, keeping the temperature rising day on day. some thicker cloud overnight returning to eastern scotland, the north—east of england, some mist and murk along the coasts, some drizzly rain for northern scotland, and then by the end of the night, some showers starting to push into northern ireland and the south—west of england. it is through sunday that we are anticipating these showers becoming increasingly lively. thundery for northern ireland and northern and western scotland and with the rain arriving, we start to see things becoming cooler here. some isolated showers possible further west, but very little in the way of significant rainfall i think for england and wales on sunday. it is monday that we start to see wetter conditions coming in here. hello. this is bbc news. i'm luxmy gopal and these are the headlines... writers and politicians condemn an attack on acclaimed author

sir salman rushdie, who's now on a ventilator, after