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.

now on bbc news — our world. yalda hakim travels to afghanistan to investigate the disappearance 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 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. inaudible dialogue

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... ..was 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's 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 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 activists 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 you think it's the responsibility of the authorities to help track her 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. it didn't make any sense that she would have fled the country without telling her family or saying goodbye. after leaving the prison, somebody approached me who wanted to remain anonymous, stating that alia had been abducted by a criminal group who were hoping to release her in exchange for a ransom. i wanted to speak to her son rahmatullah to see what he made of this theory.

rahmatullah had little choice but to rely on the taliban leaders to investigate and find his mother. to find out more, back in kabul, i arranged a meeting at the ministry of interior, which is responsible for enforcing the law and fighting crime within afghanistan. for the last nine months, alia azizi, a policewoman in herat, has completely disappeared. she's gone missing. can you tell me what you know about 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 the taliban were responsible or not, you are now in power. you are the authorities here. is it 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 working in a prison, 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 it. the story was. . .they told me was we have nothing to do with that, there is a general amnesty and she was working. and maybe...members of daesh, or 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. it is our obligation to carry out investigation. yes, we will... we have done this and we will do this. and i will reach out with the authorities, what is the result of the 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 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. ayearago, 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 has been hot and dry now for a very extended period of time. in extended period of time. terms of rainfall that will be in terms of rainfall that will be a more sporadic arrival. extreme heat will persist across much of england and parts of wales through the remainder of the weekend and the amber warning stands until we get to the end of sunday

here. we will continue with sunshine beating down across much of the uk on sunday resulting in some areas having a hotter day saturday. this area of low pressure to the south pulls out from the continent across from the east, particularly into england and wales. we are the franchise to get into scotland and northern ireland and introduce cool air and if it does it will result in intense thunderstorms across northern ireland and scotland through the course of sunday and temperatures here will begin to ease back but we're still looking at the mid 30s, across england and wales. sunday into monday the showers are lively across the northern half of the uk for scotland northern ireland and northern england, localised and intense downpours perhaps in some areas causing flash flooding. cooler here, the midteens, still looking at 20 degrees overnight into monday. through monday daytime high we will see this area of low pressure in the

atlantic trying to get closer into the uk. that means we anticipate showers being more widespread across the western side of the uk through monday and heavy and persistent rain for scotland and northern ireland, considerably cooler here by them but temperatures are still close if not touching 30 degrees across some parts of eastern england and the chance of showers here is fairly slim. by of showers here is fairly slim. by tuesday that probability of showers will start to increase as low pressure works its look further east. these are showers we are talking about so it does mean that some areas will see local heavy downpours down the road you may get nothing. across england and wales as we see mcleod arriving and more unsettled weather and the change in wind direction the temperature starts to return to values closer to average for the time of year. wednesday with low pressure to the south of the uk it looks like, if anything, showers and possibly more of a given particularly for southern areas of england and wales like belinda northern ireland which will be dry if

somewhat cloudy. so on wednesday we could finally see some meaningful rain across parts of england and wales and temperatures by then are around average for the time of year, a little on the cool side through the middle of the week. for the end of the week i pressure again close by in the atlantic starting to trying to settle things down. thursday looks like there will be a chance of another drop of rain, scotland and northern ireland and some isolated showers drifting across into eastern england but still, again, some areas and parts of northern england and not seeing anything in the way of meaningful rain through the course of the week is a slip between the cracks in those weather systems. between the cracks in those weathersystems. by between the cracks in those weather systems. by next weekend it looks like high pressure will try and build again from the atlantic. at the same time, the heat looks like it will start to build again across southern europe and if we sat on the easterly wind around that high it means we could see temperatures rise

again.

this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: reports in the us say salman rushdie, who was stabbed at an event in new york state, has been taken off a ventilator and is able to talk. meanwhile, the man suspected of the stabbing pleads not guilty to attempted murder and assault. we report from france, where exhausted fire crews 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. one person is killed and dozens injured when high winds cause part of a stage to collapse at a dance music festival in spain. and more embarrassment for manchester united,

as they lose 4—0 to brentford in the premier league.