hello this is bbc news. the headlines... more extreme heat is expected in the southern half of the uk over the next two days. around 7,000 households in surrey are being hit by a loss of water, while experts warn england's drought could last into the next year. the man suspected of attacking

and seriously wounding author salman rushdie has pleaded not guilty after being charged with attempted murder. 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. manchester united are bottom of the premier league after behind —— being thrashed a 4—0 by brentford. now on bbc news... our world, yalda hakim travels to afghanistan to investigate the disappearence of policewoman, alia azizi. she meets activists and protestors, asking the taliban why they are not doing more.

alia azizi a policewoman in herat, has completely disappeared. she's gone missing. what do you know about that case? this is afghanistan, one year into taliban rule. i've come here to investigate

the disappearance of a woman. under the last government, alia azizi was a successful career woman. as a high ranking prison officer, hard won freedoms are being rolled back following the taliban's victory. women have been forced out of the workplace since the taliban since the taliban returned to power, the inmates she had been guarding are now running the prison. alia left work, assuming her career was over, but to her surprise, she was called back to herjob. then a month later, she disappeared. i want to find out what happened to her and what the taliban authorities are doing about it. herfamily hasn't heard from her for eight months.

i visited their home in herat, western afghanistan.

until the return of the taliban, alia had been the family's main breadwinner.

alia's eldest son also worked at the prison, but was not called back by the taliban.

the family reported alia missing in october, the taliban said they would investigate, but no information has come to light in eight months.

seeing a little boy separated from his mother was absolutely gut wrenching to watch and for him to describe how he can't go to bed at night because he wants his mum, it's really, really difficult to see. the fact that alia can be missing

for eight months without a single bit of information as to where she has gone, sends a very worrying message to other women living and working under the taliban in afghanistan. one year ago, i spoke with taliban leader suhail shaheen in doha just before the takeover. he assured me that they would protect the rights of women and that the new regime would be different from what we saw in the 90s. there was in the past some mistakes that we have learned from to stop education of women and girls. that is not our goal. of course, education is their right and it is much needed. and when they receive education, of course it is, they have a right to work. how has that promise turned out? that evening, i met a group of women who used to hold positions of power in the former government. but since losing theirjobs,

they've shifted their attention to investigating various cases of missing women like alia azizi.

it was becoming clear that disappearing women was not uncommon in today's afghanistan.

as the activist said, there are reports of many more cases happening around the country. it's impossible to find a credible statistic on the number of women forcibly disappeared in afghanistan, mainly because the taliban have continued to deny such cases. when the taliban came to power, they assured the women of afghanistan that their rights would be protected under their rule. i travelled to herat central prison, the last place alia was seen, and where she has worked for the past seven years to see if they were willing to offer any information.

the guards made it very clear that i was not going to be allowed into the female section, but i managed to ask some questions of the prison director. the international community is really worried about a woman who used to run that prison and was told by the taliban to come back to work. and she happily went back to work. but for the past eight months, she's been missing. what do you know about that case? when an employee goes missing, do

think it's the responsibility of the authorities to track down? some are pointing the finger of blame at the taliban for her disappearance. the new prison warden said the case had nothing to do with them because alia went missing after leaving the prison grounds. they said it would make sense by leaving the country without saying goodbye to her family. somebody willapproach without saying goodbye to her family. somebody will approach me who wanted to remain anonymous saying that alia have been adopted by a criminal group who wanted to release in exchange for ransom. i

want to speak to her son to see what he made of this theory. he had little choice but to rely on the taliban leaders to investigate and find his mother. to find out more back in kabul, i wait arranged

a meeting at the ministry of interior which is responsible for enforcing the law on fighting crime within afghanistan. for the last nine months, or two alia has completely disappeared, she has gone missing. can you tell me what you know that this case?

we went to herat and we went to the prison where she worked. and the authorities there confirmed that she actually came to work at the prison for well over a month. so you are saying that the taliban authorities in herat, they're wrong,

the taliban prison authorities that we went to see told me that they saw her at work for well over a month. why would they tell us something different to what they've told you?

whether you agree that had a band responsible or not, you are the authorities here. it's not your responsibility to fact find, investigate and try and get to the bottom of her case? it has become clear that there isn't much of an investigation going on,

and they may have sent a few people to herat, but nothing much more was done about it. i felt it was important to take this issue higher up the chain of command in the taliban. during an interview over the phone, i asked the group's designated ambassador to the un, suhail shaheen. i asked him whether he felt that the investigation into alia's disappearance had been properly conducted. i think she was a working person, right? yes, that's right. she was working at the prison and we spoke to the taliban commanders who are now running the prison. they said that she came to work for about a month and they saw her every day coming to work. but then she suddenly disappeared. when i spoke to the spokesperson for the interior ministry in kabul, they said that she herself has made herself disappear only a couple

of days after the taliban took control. who is lying to us? because those in herat are saying one thing and kabul is saying another. yes. so let me check with the interior ministry, because first of all, i should know about this. the story was, they told me was that we have nothing to do with that. there is a general amnesty and she was working and maybe the members of daesh, isis has kidnapped her because at that time, this kidnapping by daesh was prevalent. even if daesh has taken this person or it's a criminal gang. how worrying is it for you, though, that this would happen under your watch? yes. just a moment. it is our obligation to carry out investigation. yes, we will. we have done this and will do this. and i will reach out

with the authorities. what is the result of their investigation? he has come up with yet another theory about what's happened to alia azizi. so we heard from those in the prison in herat that it could be criminal gangs. the spokesperson for the minister of interior says she's chosen to go underground because she has some information about the taliban. and now another theory that it could potentially be isis or daesh, and i'm not sure that he's telling us this with with any kind of real understanding of the case, but just casually giving us another theory. it seems like they would rather people stop asking questions about her than actually investigate and find out what's happened to alia azizi. this is afghanistan one year into taliban rule. a year ago, women's lives were radically transformed overnight.

they've been driven out of work into their homes, afraid to even step onto the street alone. women like alia disappear, and the authorities don't seem to be the least bit concerned. if the taliban want us to believe that this time their rule will be different, they'll need to provide actions to meet their words.

hello, it is hot and it is dry. and for some parts of the uk it feels like it is hot and dry for a very extended period of time. if you are looking forward to something cooler, monday and tuesday will be the days when we finally see fresher air pushing into all parts of the uk. if you're looking for something wetter, many areas are because it had been the best part of the month and a half or some since they have seen meaningful rain and what table it is struggling. its arrival is going to be more sporadic. extreme heat will continue across england and wales, the amber area highlighted behind me until the end of sunday. and then the beginning of the new week we start to introduce relatively cooler air but temperatures don't dive off, they taper off. into the small hours of sunday, time for a few showers in the south—western sum for northern ireland. very warm across england and wales. high and even low 20s

through the small hours at the lower end of double figures for scotland and we will see scotland returned to the east coast with mist and mark in the east coast with mist and mark in the northeast of england. that will burn off through sunday morning and the showers for the west will start to pick up pace with thunderstorms to pick up pace with thunderstorms to the north of northern ireland working at a western scotland and surging their way north. isolated showers for wells in the south—west but nothing too significant in the way of rain and in those cooler, what will get the showers in scotland and northern ireland but looking to the mid 30s across england and wales on sunday and possibly 36 in the south east of england. by monday, low pressure is trying to take hold across the uk. it is trying to pull in cooler and fresher air from the atlantic. however, it's not a cleanjob. we will see showers across eastern england but they are likely to be hit and miss. england but they are likely to be hitand miss. many england but they are likely to be hit and miss. many areas are still staying dry and hot here. further west, a greater chance of showers and it looks like a change in wind direction will also mean we will

start to see temperatures are shifting closer to the average values for the time of year. but it is a tapering off, not really a plunge. by tuesday, pressure to the south of the uk looks like it will mean we will get showers heading across into eastern england and it looks like we will see some of those around on wednesday as well. this take a look at the outlook for the weekend of what you can see is that all areas can produce two closer to the average time of year with a heat gun by tuesday. —— gone by tuesday...