this is bbc news. i'm luxmy gopal and these are the latest headlines... a man has been arrested for the attempted murder and assault of acclaimed author, sir salman rushdie, who's now on a ventilator, after being stabbed on stage in 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. the heatwave continues hitting europe — with some areas facing devastating wildfires and others suffering the economic impact of the droughts. travel disruption after thousands of train drivers from nine 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 who reaches new heights. nick gardner scales the final peak to complete his mission to climb all of scotland's 282 munro mountains. the man suspected of stabbing sir salman rushdie has been arrested for attempted murder and assault, according to new york state police. he is expected to appear in court later.

the author's agent says sir salman remains on a ventilator and may lose an eye, after he was stabbed repeatedly on stage at an event in new york state yesterday. the 75—year—old has been the subject of death threats from islamists since the release of his book, "the satanic verses", in 1988. 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. l someone who's been out there, i 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. our north america correspondent nomia iqbal has been outside the hospital where salman rushdie is being treated in erie, pennyslvania — she's been giving us the latest. we're still waiting to get an update. we are expecting to hear from the hospital at some point today, or certainly over the weekend. the last we heard on his condition was that statement that was given by sir salman rushdie�*s agent, andrew wylie, in which he says, and i quote, "it's not good news." he said that mr rushdie is likely to lose an eye. the nerves in one arm have been severed. he is currently on a ventilator and cannot speak. this hospital here in erie, obviously neighbouring new york state where mr rushdie was airlifted from last night. it has some of the most advanced facilities when it comes

to treating people with trauma. he underwent surgery last night, we know he's still inside the hospital, on that ventilator. but of course as soon as we get any sort of update on his condition, we will bring that to you. and, nomia, we have seen that there has been shock at this news from around the world. what about more locally in that area, given that that is where the attack happened. what is the reaction like there? well, this event that happened in new york state, it's a summer event, a very relaxing event. that's where you get writers and artists come together, the security is very relaxed as we have been hearing as well. and it's the last place where anyone would worry about their safety. and so 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, many years. but it's worth mentioning that, in recent years, he himself became quite relaxed about security. so about three years ago, i interviewed him at a literature festival in the uk and he turned up with his son and he had his agent, and i asked him where his security was. and he almost brushed it off, and he said, "well, you know, those risks were of the past." you know, throughout the 90s he was obviously one of the most endangered authors. he said he wanted to live his life more freely. and so i think the fact that this is someone who has for years protected himself from these threats, to now find himself here in this hospital is quite something. but, yeah, no, it is a great sense of shock that has been expressed by those writers and artists that were at that festival. and also, just by the tweets that we are seeing that are coming out from world leaders as well. our security correspondent frank

gardner, has been telling us about the security arrangements that were planned at the event is new york state. they did not want to create a barrier between the audience and the venue and that has turned out to be pretty disastrous, because whatever weapon the suspect used wasn't found on him, there is 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? yes, he came 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 a year later, in 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 iran linked to the religious establishment, including the media, which have raised the bounty by hundreds of thousands of dollars. the threat was extant. it had not gone away. rather like the french and danish cartoonists, clearly there is still 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. 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. (ani)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. fire crews tackling a huge fire on scorched heathland in dorset caused by a disposable barbecue say they have uncovered a piece of unexploded world war ii ammunition. a bomb disposal unit has been sent to the studland nature reserve to make the area safe. the fire began on friday and led to the evacuation of a nearby beach. fire services across the country have called on people not to use disposable barbecues during the drought due the risk of wildfires. rail passengers have been warned to expect severe disruption today. around 6,500 train drivers at nine 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 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. our correspondent phillip norton has been assessing the situation at leeds railway station. we have been here most of the day now, you can probably see

there are still some services operating from the station because this is in the north of england a major hub. northern trains and transpennine express are among the operators who are not affected by the strike action today so there services are running relatively normally. there are people passing through the station, but it is quieter than it might normally be because the long—distance services that run from here which are operated by lner and cross—country which are affected by the strike action today are not running. cross—country have no services at all running through today. lner which has regular services to london from here only has two today, one went this morning down to london and another one is probably leaving london about now due to arrive later teatime today. i have also been speaking to some passengers here in the past couple of hours. they were on the whole telling me that they support the strike action by the drivers, but i did find one person who told me it is causing major problems. he needs to get to ashford in kent in the south.

he told me he is stranded here, he is trying to find other ways of getting there for work. he told me he understood why the train drivers were striking, but it was causing major problems for people and said they should take their stand and hope for a more positive future. others have told me they understand why the drivers are taking this action but did not feel the strike action so far was achieving anything. they said it was just being a major inconvenience for the travelling public. we have also spoken to some aslef members who have been on the picket line, they say they don't want to be striking, drivers don't want to strike, they want to find a more fair deal, especially with the rising cost of living. that everyone is facing at the mint. the aslef union and the train operators are due to meet for discussions and talks next week. further separate industrial action from members of other transport

unions, the rmt and tssa, they are striking weekend on the 18th and 20th of august, this has been a summer of disruption on the railways. the advice to travellers, anyone wanting to take a train is to check before travelling and make alternative plans if needs be. the headlines on bbc news... a man has been arrested for the attempted murder and assault of 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 nine 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 0lly foster. good evening.

we've had six results in the premier league so far today, the champions manchester city eased to a 4—0 win over bournemouth in their first home game of the season. they were three up at half—time through ilkay gundogan, kevin de bruyne and phil foden. jefferson leerma then scored an own goal to make it 4 on a sweltering afternoon at the etihad. city go top on goal difference and are yet to concede. arsenal have also made a strong start to the season. gabrieljesus scored twice in their 4—2 win over leicester at the emirates. he also provided the assists for granit zhaka and gabriel martinelli. leicester threatened to come back into it a couple of times but the gunners were good forthe win, maintaining their 100% record. steven gerrard's aston villa beat frank lampard's everton 2—i in their first meeting as managers. danny ings and emiliano buendia scored the villa goals, a late own goalfrom lucas digne gave everton hope and emiliano martinez made a smart save to keep

villa in front and take their first points of the season. i am really pleased with the level of performance. i believed if we found that level we would improve from last week. last week was not good enough and the outcome we deserved, 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 well deserved our win. couple of other results brighton against newcastle was goaless. rodrigo scored twice to put leeds 2—0 up at southampton but it finished 2—2. fulham's alexander mitrovic had a penalty saved as it finished 0—0 at wolves brentford kick off against manchester united in the next ten minutes. ronaldo starts for united. hull are top of the championship

ahead of watford on goals scored after beating norwich 2—1 at home. cardiff city are just a point behind after their second win of the season. they beat birmingham city 1—0. 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. rangers have made it three wins out of three in the scottish premiership and are top of the table after beating stjohnstone 4—0. motherwell are up to third, they won 3—2 at aberdeen. livingston beat hibernian 2—1 and are fourth. st mirren i ross county 0. celtic play tomorrow there were four golds for british rowers at the european championships in munich. they came in the women's and men's four, the men's eight

and lucy glover, jess leyden, lola anderson and georgie brayshaw added another with a comfortable win in the women's quadruple sculls. this is my first gold at a senior event and i am absolutely buzzing and going to cry. it makes me so hungry for the world championships in september, ijust can't wait. i am so waiting for it.— am so waiting for it. don't cry at the old am so waiting for it. don't cry at the gold medal. _ am so waiting for it. don't cry at the gold medal. really - am so waiting for it. don't cry at the gold medal. really happy i am so waiting for it. don't cry at - the gold medal. really happy tears. emotional. great britain's women took team silver in the gymnastics. alice kinsella, 0ndine achampong, jennifer &jessica gad—irova, and georgia mae—fenton were beaten into second by a strong italian team, with germany taking the bronze. it equals their best performance at a europeans. the european aquatic championships are taking place in italy. world silver medallist luke greenbank was hoping to go one better in the 200 metres backstroke in rome. he'd qualified third quickest for the final and could only

manage bronze this time. french man yohann brouard taking gold ahead of hungary's benedek kovacs. you can follow the action live on bbc two and the bbc sport website. there are two double headers in the hundred today, welsh fire are playing birmingham phoenix in cardiff. the trent rockets women easily beat the manchester 0riginals at old trafford 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 0riginals out for 76, the rockets winning by 43 runs. and in the men's game rockets have just beaten 0riginals by eight wickets, ian cockbain hit the winning runs. dawid malan was 98 not out. they've now won three from three. 0riginals have lost three from three.

salford red devils beat huddersfield to keep themselves in the hunt for the superleague play—offs. they ran out winners by 33 points to 16 at the aj bell stadium, withjoe burgess capitalising on a mistake to run almost the full length of the field to go over for one of their six tries. salford stay seventh butjust a point behind leeds whilst huddersfield remain in third. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. 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 was followed here. 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 by law — 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. 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 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. 0ur 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 by "subjecting me to 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. climbing all of scotland's munros, or mountains, is a rite of passage for some hill walkers. but can you imagine scaling all 282 summits at the age of 82? nick gardner from the highlands set himself the challenge after his wife was taken into care. this afternoon, he completed his final climb of the munros challenge. being with my wife is very challenging. because she does know me, but onlyjust. when your partner has alzheimer's, the problems are very severe. it has helped me deal with those problems.

when i could no longer look after her, that was the game changer. that one really knocked me over. and i thought, "i have got to get a focus on life that was going to last a while." just doing, say, a marathon wouldn't be sufficient. once i had done it, the challenge is over. i had to have a challenge that lasted. earlier today mr gardner spoke to the bbc as he prepared to scale the final peak, cairn gorm. i can't believe it's happening. yeah, i'm just an old man who loves wandering in the mountains. and i'm getting all this publicity, it's wonderful. i will be thinking of her,

but the mountains themselves are very powerful and they give me sustenance. so, yes, i'll be thinking about her, but then being in the mountains enables me to cope with those problems. it perhaps seems strange coming from an 80—year—old, but i feel fitter than i ever have done in my life. i can't believe it. i've been a climber all my life but i've not climbed to the intensity to which i've climbed just recently. i thought £10,000 would be the maximum that i could possibly get. but with the help of social media and all my friends, then we've managed to raise the awareness and the money is coming in, rolling in. in fact, the hour before we set out to come here, there were five donations in that hour. so it's still rolling in. and we must be up to about 55,000 now.