this is bbc news. i'm luxmy gopal and these are the latest headlines... new york police say the man suspected of attacking the author sir salman rushdie has been charged with attempted murder and assault. 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. 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. new york police say the man suspected of attacking the author sir salman rushdie is to be charged with attempted murder and assault. hadi matar has been remanded in custody without bail. sir salman remains on a ventilator in a pennsylvania hospital with severe stab wounds after yesterday's assault at a literary event. 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.

nomia'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 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? 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. 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. 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 two 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... new york police say the man suspected of attacking the author sir salman rushdie has been charged with attempted murder and assault. 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. the taliban have been trying to stop women in the afghan capital kabul from protesting on the streets. gunshots 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 internationally renowned photographer — kiana haeri has travelled across afghanistan over the past year, documenting stories of women protests and prisons. she was at the protest and joins us live now from kabul. thank you forjoining us. tell us what happened.— thank you forjoining us. tell us what ha ened. . ~ ., ., what happened. thank you for having me. the what happened. thank you for having me- the protest _ what happened. thank you for having me. the protest started _ what happened. thank you for having me. the protest started shortly - me. the protest started shortly after 10pm and barely lasted ten minutes. we timed it from the moment the girl stepped on the street until the girl stepped on the street until the taliban started shooting in the air, about eight and half minutes. it was quickly shut down, no one was hurt, a couple ofjournalists were injured, not injured, sodhi, a couple where... a couple of

journalists have been arrested but no one has been hurt. irate journalists have been arrested but no one has been hurt.— journalists have been arrested but no one has been hurt. we will see if we can sort — no one has been hurt. we will see if we can sort the _ no one has been hurt. we will see if we can sort the audio _ no one has been hurt. we will see if we can sort the audio issue - no one has been hurt. we will see if we can sort the audio issue out. - we can sort the audio issue out. just wanted to ask, what was going through your mind when the protest turned, when the taliban started shooting? i turned, when the taliban started shootin: ? ., , �* turned, when the taliban started shootinu? , , , turned, when the taliban started shootin. ? . , �* , , , . shooting? i wasn't surprised that it actually became — shooting? i wasn't surprised that it actually became violent _ shooting? i wasn't surprised that it actually became violent and - shooting? i wasn't surprised that it actually became violent and they . actually became violent and they started shooting, i was very surprised at how quickly it happened. i attended a few of these protests, these women are extremely brave for putting their face, putting themselves out there, i was very surprised to see how quickly detail a did that. it very surprised to see how quickly detail a did that.— detail a did that. it takes a huge amount of— detail a did that. it takes a huge amount of courage, _ detail a did that. it takes a huge amount of courage, as - detail a did that. it takes a huge amount of courage, as you - detail a did that. it takes a huge amount of courage, as you say, | detail a did that. it takes a huge i amount of courage, as you say, for women to protest in afghanistan. we have seen what the taliban did in response here, but more broadly speaking, what is the potential risk and danger? what ramifications do they face for taking the chance and

protesting? i they face for taking the chance and ”rotestin ? ~ �* , , protesting? i think it's very important _ protesting? i think it's very important to _ protesting? i think it's very important to understand i protesting? i think it's very l important to understand the protesting? i think it's very - important to understand the risk, part of it comes from the taliban, but the bigger risk is from the family and the community, neighbours, people whojust family and the community, neighbours, people who just don't like you, don't want you to get on the streets and protest, so these girls, not only are they risking to be confronting the taliban, ruling the country, but also their communities and families and relatives. , , ,., relatives. does interesting, so the communities— relatives. does interesting, so the communities who _ relatives. does interesting, so the communities who object _ relatives. does interesting, so the communities who object to - relatives. does interesting, so the communities who object to the - relatives. does interesting, so the - communities who object to the woman going out and protesting, is that because of the fear of what it may cause, in terms of the women's' safety? 0r cause, in terms of the women's' safety? or is it more an attitude that women shouldn't be doing this? i think it's a cultural thing, beyond just women. your policing exists within the community on every level, men and women, women or men, there is not such a thing as

personal space and personal choices, i'm talking very generally, of course there are exceptions within families who are very supportive of their daughters. some of these women, we have interviewed a lot over the past few months, and some of them, theirfamilies over the past few months, and some of them, their families are very supportive of them protesting the government. it supportive of them protesting the government-— supportive of them protesting the government. it has been around a ear government. it has been around a year since — government. it has been around a year since the _ government. it has been around a year since the taliban _ government. it has been around a year since the taliban took- government. it has been around a year since the taliban took kabul. | year since the taliban took kabul. have you noticed a difference, a change in that general cultural attitude that you mentioned over the past year? ibig attitude that you mentioned over the ast ear? �* , . past year? big time, very much. i usually try — past year? big time, very much. i usually try to _ past year? big time, very much. i usually try to use _ past year? big time, very much. i usually try to use this _ past year? big time, very much. i usually try to use this example, l usually try to use this example, like in america, white supremacy always existed, but with trump coming into power, he gave the platform to people to come out and express their feelings. the same with afghanistan, for the 20 years that the foreigners had a strong presence in the government was

basically set up by westerners, i think a lot of people kept it quiet, but a lot of people believed in these ideologies and women have to be... so now with the return of taliban to power, they allow themselves to impose those restrictions or thoughts on other women. if that makes sense. that makes perfect _ women. if that makes sense. that makes perfect sense, _ women. if that makes sense. that makes perfect sense, thank you for explaining it so clearly. going back to the short lived protest, what happened exactly when the taliban started shooting? i assume there were no serious injuries? what was the aftermath of that? the aftermath of that, they — the aftermath of that? the aftermath of that, they arrested _ the aftermath of that? the aftermath of that, they arrested a _ the aftermath of that? the aftermath of that, they arrested a couple - the aftermath of that? the aftermath of that, they arrested a couple of - of that, they arrested a couple of foreign journalists, of that, they arrested a couple of foreignjournalists, including a of that, they arrested a couple of foreign journalists, including a few localjournalists. the woman, none of the woman or female protesters have been arrested, but very much like the other protest, they pushed them into shops and kept them inside them into shops and kept them inside the shop to stop them from coming out and chanting. but instead the

women were filming themselves while inside the shops, and putting them on twitter as it was happening, and on twitter as it was happening, and on top of that, what i found interesting was, when this happened, when the shooting happened, the shopkeepers on the main street started giving refuge to as... i'ma as... i'm a female journalists, as... i'm a femalejournalists, the protesters, they gave us safety, wait until things calm down and then we left the shop.— wait until things calm down and then we left the shop. what do you expect the result will— we left the shop. what do you expect the result will be _ we left the shop. what do you expect the result will be of _ we left the shop. what do you expect the result will be of how _ we left the shop. what do you expect the result will be of how this - the result will be of how this protest was shut down? do think it may dampen down any potential future process or do you think it might actually inspire more protests in the future?— the future? this is one specific t-rou the future? this is one specific group that _ the future? this is one specific group that has _ the future? this is one specific group that has been _ the future? this is one specificj group that has been protesting the future? this is one specific - group that has been protesting for at least half a dozen or maybe more time since last year, the same group of people coming out and not giving up. most women are overwhelmed with fear and grief of what happened, so

it is... i don't think this specific incident will impact this group of women, but obviously they are trying to set an example for other women. thank you for taking the time to speak to us. i really appreciate it. thank you, really appreciate it. 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.. 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. 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. 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. and as the royal 0steoporosis society has tweeted its congratulations because, he has now 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. remember, in the scottish mountains, the weather can be very, very fickle, and at this point i would like to quote billy connolly. "if you don't like the weather, wait 20 minutes." ijust want i just want to bring you ijust want to bring you some breaking news now on the attack on

salman rushdie. we have got a statement that has come through from the da, jason schmidt. that was a statement from jason schmidt, and it says that the individual responsible for the attack yesterday has now been formally charged with attempted murder in the second degree and assault in the second degree. the statement goes on to say he was arraigned on these charges and reminded without bail. immediately after the attack, i was on scene to determine what was needed to be further developed and preserved for prosecution. a reminder, this is from the district attorney, this is his statement, and he goes on to say, "i then dispatched a prosecutor to stay with macro and communicate information with me as i worked on a search warrant application that was signed last night." he said," the working closely with state police and have been in touch with our counterparts in the state of new jersey where the attacker is from. "

it goes on to say that they will look at any additional charges stop thatis look at any additional charges stop that is a statement that has from jason schmidt regarding the charging of the suspect in the attack on the author salman rushdie. you are watching bbc news. the time is 6:33pm. for park rangers in turkey — coming across a wild bear cub is not an unusual event. but for one team in the northeast of the country — their latest encounter was a little out of the ordinary. the animal they came across was a tiny bit under the weather — as the bbc�*s tim allman explains. never has the phrase "bear with a sore head" seemed more appropriate. this is one animal that looks like it had quite a rough night. the female bear cub, a little worse for wear,

was rescued from a forest in a province of north—east turkey. wobbling and whining, the animal looked... well, it looked like she was high. but why would she be in such a fragile state? time for a quick science lesson. these flowers are called rhododendron luteum and these are rhododendron ponticum. both of them contain a substance called grayanotoxin, which has hallucinogenic properties. add some bees to the equation and you end up with something called mad honey, a delicacy that really packs a punch. the somewhat disoriented bear was taken to a nearby vet to receive treatment. she's said to be in good condition and will be released back into the wild in the coming days. music: white rabbit byjefferson airplane but this was one bear that sure had a big surprise. she may be a little more

discerning on her next picnic. tim allman, bbc news. the poor bear. that is lesson learned, isn't it? now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell. hello, it is hot and it is dry. we are now getting a fairly clear signal that cooler weather is on the way for all parts of the uk as we go into the early part of next week. still some heat hanging on, though, ithink, in the south—east through monday. the extreme heatwave does persist until the end of sunday for much of england and extending across into central wales. many areas now have had a month and a half with no significant rainfall. the water table is low, drought of course is an issue being talked about a lot at the moment and the heat adds to the risk of things like fires — hence this warning has been issued. we will see even through this evening temperatures lingering in the mid—30s. they'll start to taper off

as the sun begins to set, but it's a very hot and to the day for the majority. it is cooler across northern scotland where there is more cloud and there is likely to be some drizzly rain. cloud will spread back into eastern scotland and the north—east of england over night, and then there's the chance of some showers for the far south—west of england and northern ireland during the early hours. some of the ones across northern ireland could start to turn a little thundery, particularly once the sun comes up. a very warm night, 20 degrees, across southern england. temperatures in the lower end of double figures across scotland. and then through sunday, it does start to get livelier for northern ireland and western and northern scotland. as showers work their way through here during the day, some locally intense downpours to come. and that will start to break down the heat. isolated showers also possible across wales, the south—west, perhaps a few getting into the midlands. but i think very little in the way of significant rain to come out of those. it's through monday, as this area of low pressure tries to edge in from the atlantic, that we will see rain becoming more widespread across the western side of the uk.

there's the possibility of some showers to the east as well, but these are likely to be more hit and miss. whereas we're going to see i think some pretty heavy, quite sustained downpours for some parts of western and northern britain through monday. you can see as well how the temperatures are affected by that rain arriving. still across eastern england, though, we are looking at temperatures in the low 30s through monday. but rain becoming more widespread across the south will take us back down closer to average values as we see showers lingering through tuesday and wednesday.

good evening. prosecutors say the man accused of stabbing the author sir salman rushdie has been formally charged with attempted murder and assault. sir salman remains on a ventilator in hospital, after being attacked at an event in new york state yesterday. he's been the subject of death threats ever since the publication in 1988 of his controversial book, the satanic verses, which some

muslims considered blasphemous. authors and politicians have condemned the attack as horrifying, and also an assault on free speech. 0ur correspondent nomia iqbal is outside the hospital in pennsylvania where sir salman is being treated. nomia. yes, sir salman rushdie is still very ill in hospital. he is on a ventilator and we haven't received any new update yet on his condition. this hospital here has some of the most advanced facilities in the country when it comes to treating victims of trauma. the police say a 24—year—old man has been charged with the attempted murder and assault of an author who has spent a major part of his life living under the threat of extremist attacks. sir salman rushdie remains on a ventilator inside this hospital, after undergoing emergency surgery.

his agent has said the author is in bad shape. he faces losing an eye, the nerves in one of his arms are severed and his liver is damaged. sir salman was flown here from the neighbouring state of new york. it was there at a literary event that the attack happened in full view of a large audience. a man in a black maskjumped onto the stage, stabbing him at least once in the neck and several times in the abdomen. guests held the suspect down as others tried to help the author, who lay injured on the stage. i've been coming here for 31 years. this is one of the most peaceful, quiet places i have ever been in my life. you know, the guy has a price on his head from 1989. of all the places he might be attacked or hurt or god forbid, die, chautauqua would be the last place i would think of. the suspect in custody is 24—year—old hadi matarfrom newjersey, whose parents migrated from lebanon. reports say a law enforcement review of his social media accounts found he was sympathetic to

the causes of the iranians revolutionary guards, a major military and politicalforce in iran. it was in 1989 when iran's spiritual leader at the time placed a death sentence on sir salman. his book, the satanic verses, was considered an insult to islam and led to global riots which killed 45 people. he went into hiding for nearly a decade. questions are now being asked about the level of security precautions at the event where sir salman was attacked. but in recent years he expressed discomfort about high levels of security, saying he wanted to be able to live his life freely. nomia iqbal, bbc news, pennsylvania. railway passengers across england, scotland and wales have been experiencing severe disruption today as a result of the latest in a series of rail strikes. members of the aslef union, which represents around 6,500 train

drivers at nine rail companies, have walked out for 2h hours in a row overjobs, pay and conditions. further action is planned for next week. 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. the drought announcement covers much of the south west, and parts of southern, central and eastern england. angus crawford reports from hampshire. no more summer paddling here for debbie, brian and anne. water levels on this part of the basingstoke canal in surrey are just too low. it's going to be hard work because we've got to load the boats onto trailers and onto cars and take them and find somewhere else to go. it is frustrating, yes. in the winter the water comes up to the top of the rust line. in a normal summer, halfway up. but now it's completely dry

and there's so little water in the main channel that from monday, all boats are going to be banned. this drought, changing lives and landscapes. ladybower reservoir in derbyshire, now half full. i think we've got forecast extremes of weather and that's the thing that we're now seeing the new normal with the climate emergency. and in west wales, fields of crops threatened by wildfires. in may, the perfect playing surface but look now. the outfield, burnt yellow. 0diham in hampshire has gone more than a0 days without a drop of rain, longer than anywhere else in the country. it's dangerous. they slip when they're bowling. they can fall over trying to field a ball and it's dangerous. so we've gone from having to water our square maybe once a week, twice a week to keep it in good nick

to now doing it at least once a day. rain is on the way, but the authorities warn the drought could be with us for months to come. angus crawford, bbc news. 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. chi chi 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 the european championships in munich, it's been a successful day for great britain — who are joint top of medal table, with italy. british rowers have won four gold medals and there was also a silver for britain's women in the team gymnastics. our sports correspondent nesta mcgregor has been watching. if you're lucky a walk in the park usually ends with an ice cream. today, for some, it's ended posing with a european gold medallist. and gb has a few more of those, now. the women's four set the tone. a european title to go with their world cup crown. not long after, the men's fours secured another. they barely had time to get out of the water before gb's women's quad sculls were topping the podium.

gb, a hat—trick of h20 heroes, and they weren't done yet. way ahead with clear water. the most dominant performance of all came in the men's eight. great britain coming through. cue a boat party. well, sort of. but could it provide inspiration for the gymnasts? into the women's team final, alice kinsella, vying for her second medal of the championships, led a strong challenge. but in the end, the team had to settle for silver. as for the dance moves that followed... well, points deductions for not being in sync! yeah, some day for the gb team and it isn't over yet. the bmx freestyle is on the way, the mains, and they have two athletes in that. could the gold rush started by the rowers be continued by the riders at sunset? we'll find out in a few minutes and i'm sure we'll update you. many thanks.

that's it — we're back with the late news at ten. now on bbc one it's time for the news where you are. hello. this is bbc news.

now the story of an nhs paramedic who's in training to cross the english channel on a paddleboard in the hope of sharing an important message. joe cartwright lost several friends to suicide and attended many such tragic deaths as part of his job, and so now he's raising money for a suicide prevention charity. 0ur reporter, james burridge, went to meet him. if i want to achieve something big in life, this is how to do it. luton paramedicjoe cartwright is taking on an enormous challenge in september. he's paddleboarding across the english channel. paddleboarding helped change joe's life. the ambulance service is under immense strain, and has pushed him and many others to the brink. a couple of years ago, i was diagnosed with ptsd after dealing with a horrendous suicide in my place of work in the ambulance service. it left me with some horrendous visuals of this one particular person that i saw everyday wherever i was. it changed my life, i could not

wake up in the morning without seeing him, i could not go to bed, he was everywhere. to the point where... ..i knew the only thing i could do to stop this visual image was to end my own life. it got to the stage where i was only days away from doing it. joe's channel crossing is raising money for suicide prevention. the training, though, is arduous. it was not long before he had fallen in. the first of many. whatjoe is taking on here is fairly daunting. this is one of the busiest stretches of water in northern europe. you have got car ferries, tankers, sailing boats, pleasure boats to contend with, and actually the chop here is a lot tougher than he was expecting. this is exhausting stuff right now. and this is not anywhere close to how tough it is going to be in september when he takes on the english channel. it's always a worry for me trying to get back on the board, because when the waves are that

high, it's a struggle to get back on the board, you probably saw. so when i know i have lost control of it completely, yeah, you have that few seconds of just sheer fear before hitting the water. how tough was today? really tough. hardest crossing so far. joe will continue his training over the next few weeks. his story is gaining traction around the world, raising money and awareness for those who have been that was james burridge reporting. it's the perfect weekend for a day out at the beach, but a lack of public toilets in some seaside towns is catching people short, and potentially affecting tourism. campaigners in cleethorpes are concerned that visitors are leaving the beach and heading home early due to a shortage of facilities. lizzie steel has more. sun, sea, sand. bog—standard ingredients for a great day at the beach, but spending a penny here — no, not that sort of penny — has never been so hard. i saw, personally saw, people urinating on the beach. worse. it's not acceptable. but people weren't given any choice.

danny started a petition for more public toilets after an influx of visitors caused chaos on armed forces day. along four miles of beach, there's three lots of loos. it's keeping people away, absolutely. it's frustrating for visitors. i've spoken to several hundred people personally about this as well on social media and it's keeping people away. businesses say they're suffering, too. it's terrible. as a bar that deals in 90% drinks, they can't keep buying drinks because there's nowhere to go to the toilet and there's no public toilets. so it does affect us, actually quite a lot. we get asked a thousand times a day. every time they come in, no toilets here. i you caught someone yesterday washing their feet in the dog water, _ didn't you? it was... yeah, that's why i the sign's out today. it's horrendous. this building here used to be the toilet block on the north promenade. let me show you where the nearest loos are. but these are closed

for maintenance. the next nearest ones along the front are 15 minutes away. and quite frankly, we've run out of time forfilming. i've got to go home early because i can't find a decent toilet. i can't find a toilet that meets my needs. and that money is being drained from here. so the money that should come into cleethorpes, that they're crying out for, especially cost of living, i think it's a big mistake that they're making. and you specifically need a disabled toilet? yes, i do. i'm with a family, as you can see. having to nearly trek two miles to a toilet isn't the best option. so if we could see an improvement on that, it would make cleethorpes definitely a better place for us to visit. the council says the situation is under review and it's in discussion with the owners of these former loos to reopen. we believe that for day—to—day use, providing all the toilets are open, and i accept the fact that you've probably had a bad experience today — i understand that one of them was closed.

but when they're all open and when they're all operational, i'm confident that for day—to—day use we do have enough in cleethorpes. but with 3,000 signatures on the petition, it seems people aren't quite ready to put a lid on the issuejust yet. that was lizzie steel reporting. now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell. hello, it is hot and it is dry. we are now getting a fairly clear signal that cooler weather is on the way for all parts of the uk as we go into the early part of next week. still some heat hanging on, though, ithink, in the south—east through monday. the extreme heatwave does persist until the end of sunday for much of england and extending across into central wales. many areas now have had a month and a half with no significant rainfall. the water table is low, drought of course is an issue being talked about a lot at the moment and the heat adds to the risk of things like fires — hence this warning has been issued.

we will see even through this evening temperatures lingering in the mid—30s. they'll start to taper off as the sun begins to set, but it's a very hot end to the day for the majority. it is cooler across northern scotland where there is more cloud and there is likely to be some drizzly rain. cloud will spread back into eastern scotland and the north—east of england over night, and then there's the chance of some showers for the far south—west of england and northern ireland during the early hours. some of the ones across northern ireland could start to turn a little thundery, particularly once the sun comes up. a very warm night, 20 degrees across southern england. temperatures in the lower end of double figures across scotland. and then through sunday, it does start to get livelier for northern ireland and western and northern scotland. as showers work their way through here during the day, some locally intense downpours to come. and that will start to break down the heat. isolated showers also possible across wales, the south—west, perhaps a few getting into the midlands. but i think very little in the way of significant rain

to come out of those. it's through monday, as this area of low pressure tries to edge in from the atlantic, that we will see rain becoming more widespread across the western side of the uk. there's the possibility of some showers to the east as well, but these are likely to be more hit and miss. whereas we're going to see i think some pretty heavy, quite sustained downpours for some parts of western and northern britain through monday. you can see as well how the temperatures are affected by that rain arriving. still across eastern england, though, we are looking at temperatures in the low 30s through monday. but rain becoming more widespread across the south will take us back down closer to average values as we see showers lingering through tuesday and wednesday.

this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall and these are the latest headlines... the man suspected of attacking and seriously wounding author salman rushdie has been charged with attempted murder. more extreme heat is expected in the southern half of the uk over the next two days. 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. the 82—year—old who reaches new heights. we'll speak later with nick gardner, who has scaled the final peak and completed his mission to climb all of scotland's 282 munro mountains. and things go from bad to worse for manchester united. they're 4—0 down to brentford —