hello. welcome to bbc news. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: the man suspected of stabbing author salman rushdie pleads not guilty to attempted murder and assault. fires, drought and heatwaves — we report from france, where exhausted firecrews have spent weeks battling wildfires. the ground around me is smoking. there's smouldering embers here which very easily can be whipped up into yet another fire. hello. the man accused of stabbing

the author sir salman rushdie has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault. hadi matar was formally charged in a court in new york state. 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. this report from our correspondent, nomia iqbal. 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 where the attack happened in full view of a large audience. a man in a black mask jumped 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 matar from newjersey, whose parents migrated from lebanon. reports say that 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 political force 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. sir salman rushdie remains very ill in hospital — he's still on a ventilator. this hospital has some of the most advanced facilities in the country when it comes to dealing with trauma. a 24—year—old man is in custody — he's been denied bail and 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. nomia iqbal, bbc news, pennsylvania. in the last few minutes, media in the united states is reporting that salman rushdie has been taken off a ventilator and is able to talk. they say the information was confirmed by his agent, andrew wylie. we'll bring you more when we get it. several european countries have seen a wave of deadly wildfires, triggered by record

temperatures and drought across the continent. here you can see there are currently major fires in much of western europe. officials are concerned that windy conditions could make the situation worse. firefighters in france are continuing to battle what they're calling a monster fire south of bordeaux, which has forced thousands to evacuate their homes. bethany bell reports from the gironde. the woods near bordeaux are still burning. this area was hit by a massive fire injuly and another blaze this week. fire crews from across europe have come here to help their french colleagues, many of whom are exhausted. the pine forests and the peat rich soil are like a tinderbox. even when the big fires are out, the danger still remains. as you can see, the ground around me is smoking. there's smouldering embers here, which very easily can be whipped up into yet another fire.

the blaze breaks out in the bushes. firefighters rush to put it out. but it's a constant struggle. last night, the flames reached the edge of this village, threatening several houses. we met the mayor as he supervised a truck spraying water into the woods. translation: we've never known a summer like this. | it's a catastrophe, an environmental catastrophe, and also a climate catastrophe. the sun and wind need to be replaced by clouds and rain as quickly as possible. 10,000 people have been evacuated from their home region. at a shelter in the town of sal, christian told me it's the second time he's had to flee this summer. they are more out of money to think about now. translation: i'm fed up with it mentally and physically. - it's time to go home, but itjust doesn't stop. it's a very serious fire, the first time there's been such

a big fire in our region. christian hopes he'll be able to go home soon. cooler temperatures are forecast for next week. but he, like everyone here, is worried about the future. bethany bell, bbc news in the gironde. let's get some of the day's other news. there are fears water levels in germany's river rhine could fall below a critical point on monday, bringing a key route through the country's industrial heartlands to a standstill. a long run of dry weather has already caused water levels to drop to a point that some commercial barges can no longer navigate parts of the river, or have to substantially reduce their cargo loads. the two main candidates in kenya's presidential election are said to be running neck and neck with more than a third of the results now confirmed. former prime minister raila odinga hasjust a 1% lead over deputy president william ruto. the head of the electoral commission has admitted that announcing the result of tuesday's election is taking too long as frustration

grows in the country. colombia's first left—wing president, gustavo petro, has replaced the country's top military and police commanders less than a week after taking office. mr petro said their selection criteria were zero corruption and zero violation of fundamental rights. the former rebel fighter said security success should not be measured in the number of dead, but in promoting rights and liberty. protests have taken place near the ancient inca city of machu picchu, after tourists were unable to access the site. the authorities have been reducing the number of tickets on sale due to fears that visitor numbers were leading to unnecessary wear and tear. both foreign and local tourists were stranded unable to reach the iconic historical site. and you can find more on all the stories on our website, bbc.com/news, or download

the bbc news app. the uk environment agency has warned that the drought declared in many parts of england could last into next year. the official declaration 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. we have to load the boats on trailers and find somewhere to go. it is frustrating, yes. in the winter the water comes to the winter the water comes to the top of the rust line. in the top of the rust line. in the normal summers, halfway. but now it's dry and there is 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. we've got forecast extremes of weather, the thing we are now seeing become the new normal with the climate emergency. in west wales, fields of crops threatened by wildfires. in may, the perfect playing surface but look now. the outfield burnt yellow. only have in hampshire has gone more than a0 days without rain, longer than anywhere else in the country. longer than anywhere else in the country-— the country. it's dangerous. they slip — the country. it's dangerous. they slip when _ the country. it's dangerous. they slip when they - the country. it's dangerous. they slip when they are - they slip when they are bowling, they can fall over trying to field a bowl and it's dangerous. we gone from having to water elsewhere, maybe once a week or twice a week to keep in good neck, to now doing it at least a day.— at least a day. rain is on the wa but at least a day. rain is on the way but authorities - at least a day. rain is on the way but authorities warn - at least a day. rain is on the way but authorities warn the | way but authorities warn the drought could be with us for months to come. angus crawford, bbc news.

railway passengers across england, scotland and wales have been experiencing severe disruption today as the 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 2a hours in a row over jobs, pay and conditions. further action is planned for next week. ramzen 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 strike, so i'm going home on tuesday instead. it's annoying that the general public has to get inconvenienced, but i understand where they're coming from. i'm trying to get back to the town of buckingham so i can resume my studies like next monday, but i didn't know that euston's

completely closed right now. nine train companies are impacted by today's strike — avanti west coast, crosscountry, greater anglia, great western railway, hull trains, lner, london overground, south—eastern and west midlands trains. aslef have consistently said this dispute centres on pay and the rising costs their members are facing. we didn't ask for pay. we didn't ask for anything during the pandemic. they worked on the front line, you know, as key workers. and now it's, you know, people are saying the cost of living crisis is engulfing them, too, and they want a fair pay rise. disruptions from today's action are likely to spill over into tomorrow, but the train companies insist that any agreement over pay will have to wait until reforms are fully implemented. we can look at reform when we can see what type of reform we're 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 be able to do that. 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 this summer of strikes is going to come any time soon. ramzen kermali, bbc news. ukraine's president zelensky says that every russian soldier who shoots at the nuclear plant or uses it as a base to shoot from zaporizhzhia will himself become a target for ukrainian soldiers and intelligence officers. in his nightly video address, mr zelensky said all those russians involved in what he called nuclear blackmail must be tried by an international court. he accuses russian troops of cynically using the power plant to shell the nearby cities of nikopol and marganets. translation: every russian soldier who either strikes - the znpp or shoots from its territory must realise that he will become a special target for our intelligence, special services, and for our army. earlier i spoke to

margaret kosal, professor of international affairs at georgia institute of technology. she was a senior advisor at the us department of defense. i asked for her reaction to events. this is something that should not be going on. there has been unilateral condemnation, including calls by states like china to allow international observers and international inspectors into the zaporizhzhia plant. why do you think either side would be shelling this plant? is there a logical explanation you can think of? it doesn't seem like there'd be any winners. you are correct. if there was a catastrophic incident at the plant, there would be no winners, and because of the prevailing winds, it would potentially contaminate russia, just as much as it would

contaminate area in ukraine. now, as to why it might be being used as nuclear blackmail, is likely geopolitically, it likely reflects that russia is not doing well in the rest of the campaign. we are hearing unverified rumours that the russian military operations have pulled out of kherson, to the south—west, so the uptake and activity around the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant likely reflects the lack of co—ordination, the lack of command and control and generalfailure on the side of the russians. it is the largest nuclear plant in europe, should we be worried and further afield 7 well, anytime a military conflict is going on next

to or at a nuclear power plant, that is certainly of concern. now, one does need to recognise that it would take a missile directly hitting the nuclear reactor to cause a major catastrophic event. that is at the far end of possibilities. there certainly is a great deal of concern around the spent fuel which is less well protected, less well insulated, hitting one of the cooling facilities that brings in the water. right now, there continue to be two of the six reactors that are continuing to run and are needed to produce electricity, but the greatest likelihood of risk is due to safety from the exhausted workers who are being forced to continue under a very stressful situation, and some potential

safety concerns. this is bbc news, the headlines: the man accused of stabbing the author sir salman rushdie has appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault. let's get more on our main story. suzanne nossel is the chief executive of the free expression organisation pen america. she is also a friend and former colleague of salman rushdie who partnered with her to help champion persecuted writers worldwide. i asked her reaction to the attack. this absolutely stunned and horrified. salman is actively involved in pen, a frequent and reliable presence at so many of our events.

he is a frequent speaker who has moved around freely in new york city for decades at this point, so for this to happen in broad daylight, a premeditated attack, so brutal, clearly intended to kill, lethal, was just a shock to the conscience for all of us. an attack on sir salman but also an attack on free speech. absolutely. he is not the only endangered writer. we document an annual freedom to write index at pen america. there were 277 writers imprisoned over the last year. salman is a great champion of other writers who are in peril because of the crime of expressing themselves and telling stories, of speaking the truth, as they see it. and so this is emblematic, in our minds, of a threat to free expression worldwide and salman has been a crucible of that. that's how he has lived his life, in defiance of those threats, he has been the most outspoken and forthright opponent of those threats,

and so, to see him attacked in this way is just a wake—up call for everybody of how approximate these dangers are and that if his free speech is in peril, so is that of all of us. he has been warning about this kind of thing for quite a while himself, as have you and your organisation, that writers across the world face threats and dangers like this? yes, they do. if you think of writers as the canaries in the coalmine, they are the forefront of expression, but we all face risks for speaking our mind, expressing our opinions, and it's writers like salman who are courageous, who push at the boundaries, who are edgy, who are fearless, and taking on those in positions of authority, to really create that space for the rest of us to be able to speak in discourse freely. we need writers to challenge us, to push us and we need to have their backs when they do so.

what more can and should be done to protect writers following this attack? there is a lot that can be done. there are authoritarian regimes around the world that target and menace their writers, punished with the crime of dissent, and the international community, western governments, multilateral organisations, all those who believe in democracy need to speak out about free expression as the fundamental foundation of democracy, the cornerstone, without which elections and press freedom do not survive. and so we got to recognise that free expression, in any dialogue, whether it's about climate change, women's rights, environmental rates, lgbt rights, all those causes depend upon the foundation of freedom of expression. everybody who is championing those movements needs to consider themselves a free

expression defender. at the age of 90 31 of the lease most popular writers has passed away. he was famous to his work connected to the education of science. last year he was made a knight of the grand cross of the order of merit of the italian republic. one person has died and dozens more were injured when high winds caused part of a stage to collapse at a dance music festival in spain. the incident happened at the medusa festival in cullera, a beachside town south of valencia. the six—day festival has been suspended. the bbc�*s tim allman reports. wind rushes. dance music in distance. at times it was hard to tell which was noisier, the pulsating sounds coming from the stage or the winds whipping through the festival's site.

thousands attended this dance music event and the combination of hot temperatures and the sudden arrival of fast—moving air caused all sorts of problems. you can see the way streamers and cables were blown away at high speed. a stretch of fencing appears to have been blown over and had to be dragged away as people left the area. look at how these low—flying clouds sped through the night air. eventually, emergency crews turning up after part of the stage collapsed. here it was in the light of day, the damage nature can cause. with the festival suspended, people began heading home. the party ending in the worst possible way. "we were caught at the campsite, suddenly there "was a lot of wind, very hot air, all the sand "sta rted to move. "we saw tents flying." this festival—goer said. "it was chaos."

"the party is least important thing," said this man. "the important thing is someone died". in a statement on social media, organisers said they were devastated and saddened by what happened. what was meant to be a joyous event turning to tragedy. tim allman, bbc news. members of the taliban have beaten female protesters and fired into the air as they violently dispersed a rare rally in the afghan capital. dozens of women protested against the rolling back of women's rights since the taliban returned to power a year ago. girls have been barred from attending secondary schools in most of the country and women have 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 in kabul and told us what she saw.

we already know that the taliban was going to crack down before the protests started, there was a strong presence of taliban fighters. i probably had about five minutes to photograph, and we actually timed it from the moment the girls stepped on the street, started chanting, to the time that the taliban started firing, it was about ten minutes — less than ten minutes, actually. no—one has been hurt. a bunch of foreign journalists and a few localjournalists have been arrested. a few people have been beaten up. when i learned they were going to fire, we knew theyjust wanted to intimidate and stop the women. so they've done this in previous protests as well. they fire in the air, just to disperse the crowd. i wasn't surprised that it actually became violent and they started shooting at... i was very surprised at how quickly it happened. i've attended a few of these protests. these women are extremely brave for putting their face, putting themselves out there. and on top of that, what i found very interesting was, when this happened, when the shooting happened,

the shopkeepers on the main street, they started giving refuge to us. i'm a female journalist, right? otherjournalists, foreigners, and also the female protesters, which i found very surprising for afghan culture. but they took us in. they gave us safety. we waited until things calmed down and then we left the shop. it may only be the second weekend of the premier league season in england, but already the size of the job new manchester united boss erik ten hag has on his plate turning the team around is plain to see. while their big rivals manchester city were strolling to a a—0 victory to go top of the table. united's new boss saw his team humilated by the same scoreline away at brentford. all four of the goals coming in a dreadful first half. it means united are currently bottom of the table with the worst goal difference in the league. ten hag has become the first manchester united manager in more than 100 years to lose his first two games. his next fixture is against liverpool, who they lost 5—0

against when they last played at old trafford. of course i hoped for the better stuff. this time it doesn't make it easier. but still i have to believe to get it because i have seen good things in the last period, and we have had two games. i'm disappointed. swimming, and romania's david popovici has broken the 100—metre freestyle record at the european aquatic championships in rome. the 17—year—old double world champion sliced a twentieth of a second off the 13—year—old record, finishing in a6.86 seconds. he beat hungary's kristof milak into second place, with italy's alessandro miressi finishing third. some exciting new additions have made their debut at a zoo in gaza city — three extremely cute lion cubs. the animals, born on friday evening, are said to be in excellent health.

but zookeepers admit a lack of medication and food might make them difficult to care for. one visitor to the zoo said the cubs were wonderful. now let's have a look at the weather with alina jenkins. in the short term hello. the short term the heat does begin to ease in the week ahead. there will be more showers in the forecast as well but in the short—term we still have the met office amber warning for extreme heat in places, valid until the end of the day on sunday. still likely to see some impacts from the heat on both health and transport as well. a good deal of sunshine around through sunday morning, particularly across england and wales. showers developing though across northern ireland, pushing their way through the day up into parts of scotland, likely to be heavy and thundery. likely to see one to two showers developing across parts of wales in south—west england, most will be dry, though. some mist and low cloud clinging to the north—eastern coasts. temperatures will be the talking point once again. 35 or 36 celsius, the top

temperature, across parts of south—east england. widely in the high 20s or low 30s celsius. the showers start to become more active as we go through sunday evening and overnight. they're starting to develop across north—west england, wales and south—west england. again, still heavy and thundery but falling onto dry ground. there may be problems with flash flooding in some places. and still a very muggy night. parts of southern england could have a tropical night again. temperatures not falling below 20 degrees celsius. as we head through monday, the low pressure starts to become more dominant, and we will start to see more frequent showers developing. now on monday once again, the main focus of the showers will be across scotland and northern ireland. again, they will be heavy and thundery, merging to give a longer spell of rain. but a greater chance we will see a few of those showers pushing their way across england and wales. not everyone will see them but there is a chance we could see some rain from those showers as we head through monday. a cooler feel across scotland and northern ireland on monday. still very muggy and very warm across much of england and wales, but the temperatures will be starting to fall down. as we head into tuesday, you can see we see more frequent showers across the north of england and into scotland, but also some showers, more frequent showers, developing across the southern half

of england as well, so a greater chance that we will see some spells of rain on tuesday. and you will notice the temperatures are starting to come down, still warm but close to where they should be for the time of year. so through tuesday and wednesday, this area of low pressure is still close by — still the chance we will see some showers, some thunderstorms, but given how dry the ground is, it may well be that we'll see problems with flash flooding. but certainly in the days ahead, things will be turning cooler with a chance of some rain. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines: sir salman rushdie has reportedly been taken off a ventilator and is able to talk. the author was stabbed during a literary event in new york state. the man suspected of attacking him, hadi matar, has been charged with attempted murder and assault. he pleaded not guilty. french firefighters have been tackling wildfires raging across the country, including a very large blaze near the south—western city of bordeaux. fire crews are exhausted from the unrelenting heat that has driven the worst wildfires for decades. experts say the extreme conditions are being driven by climate change. droughts have been declared in eight areas of england. the environment agency in the uk says that after the driest summer in nearly 50 years, it would take "weeks' worth of rain" to replenish water sources, while experts warn england's drought could last into the next year.