this is bbc news, broadcasting in the uk and around the globe. our top stories... the author sir salman rushdie has reportedly been taken off a ventilator and is able to talk after being stabbed at an event in new york state. in ukraine — president zelensky warns that russians shooting at the zaporizhzhia nuclear plant will immediately be targeted by ukrainian forces. firefighters in france say a huge forest fire in the gironde region is now being contained after overnight rain. meanwhile, warnings in the uk over the use of disposable barbecues after a weekend of wildfires in parts of england. and labour is to call for the energy price cap in england, scotland and wales to be frozen this autumn, to help with the cost of living.

hello and welcome to bbc news. the author sir salman rushdie has reportedly been taken off a ventilator and is able to speak again after he was stabbed in new york state. there's been no official confirmation from the hospital in pennsylvania where he's being treated although us media outlets say the news was confirmed by his agent. our north america correspondent nomia iqbal reports. a day after sir salman rushdie was stabbed, he is now said to be awake and off a ventilator. the author's condition has not yet been fully updated, but fellow writers have been tweeting their relief at finding out he's able to talk. michael hill, the president of the chautaqua institution where mr

rushdie was attacked, tweeted his happiness at the news. this comes as the man accused of attempting to murder him appeared in court. 24—year—old hadi matar was arrested at the literary event. he had bought a ticket to attend. onlookers had held the suspect down as the author lay on the stage injured. i've been coming here for 31 years and this is one of the most peaceful, quiet places i've ever been in my life. and, you know, the guy has a price on his head from 1989. and, of all the places he might be attacked or hurt or, god forbid, die, chautauqua would be the last place i would think of. inside court, wearing handcuffs and prison clothing. hadi matar pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault. reports say that a law enforcement review of his social media accounts found he was sympathetic to the causes of the iranian 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, but in recent years shunned the high levels of security, saying he wanted to be able to live freely. ever since the attack on friday, world leaders have been issuing words of solidarity for sir salman rushdie. president biden released a statement praising the author for his refusal to be intimidated or silenced. nomia iqbal, bbc news, pennsylvania. president zelensky says that every russian soldier who shoots at the zaporyzhzhia nuclear plant or uses it as a base to shoot from will himself become a target for ukrainian soldiers. he said russians involved in what he called "nuclear blackmail" must be tried by an international court. translation: every russian soldier

who strikes the znpp must - or shoots from its territory must realise that he will become a special target for our intelligence, special services and our army. the bbc�*s hugo bachega is in the ukrainian capital kyiv and has more now on the background of the significance of the nuclear plant. tensions remain high around the zaporizhzhia nuclear power complex. for days russia and ukraine have traded accusations of who's to blame for shelling the complex, yesterday there was another round of accusations, with claims that the city where this complex is located was shelled. the background to this is that russia has been occupying this complex since the beginning of march, although ukrainian technicians are still operating this facility. the ukrainians accuse russian forces of essentially turning this nuclear facility into a military base.

using it to launch attacks against ukrainian targets, knowing that ukrainian forces are unlikely to retaliate. now, the russians reject these accusations. they say that russian troops out there to protect this facility, they say that russian troops are there to protect this facility, and calls are growing for international monitors to be allowed to visit this complex. we heard the un secretary general, antonio guterres, called for the introduction of a demilitarised zone around this complex. we are hearing similar calls in kyiv, but so far it is very unlikely that any kind of deal is going to be reached, at least for now. more broadly, what is the latest on the situation on the ground? the situation, by and large, has been static. both ukraine and russia have claimed some

gains in the east, even though we have not seen any major kind of military change in terms of position there. yesterday, president zelensky in his nightly address said that the situation in the donbas region was brutal, and that is where russia has been trying to capture the regions of donetsk and luhansk. in the south, in the occupied region of kherson, there is attempts to attack a bridge from ukraine. and that would mean that all four bridges used to supply russian troops on the western bank of the river are damaged or destroyed. the ukrainians, for weeks now,

have been targeting supply lines and infrastructure used by the russians there. kherson has been under russian occupation since the beginning of march, and the ukrainians have said they are going to launch an offensive to recapture this region of southern ukraine, even though it seems that, so far, the ukrainians do not have the capacity or the weapons needed to go ahead with this major offensive. 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. authorities in france say the �*monster�* fire south of bordeaux is being contained although firefighters remain vigilant. our correspondent bethany bell is in the gironde region. the big five here has been contained. everybody is on high alert, and this place tells you why. we saw a fire crew hosing this area

down, putting out small fires. there has been rain today, but as you can see, it is still smoking here. this area has a lot of peat — rich soil, and the embers burning underground, orjust on the surface of the ground, and it is very easy for new fires to set off. 10,000 people have been evacuated from their homes around here, some of them are hoping that they can go home very soon. in fact, some people may already be backin fact, some people may already be back in their houses. we spoke earlier to andrew harvey, a helicopter pilot trained to do airdrops on wildfires from a point of view of even getting to the fire, and then actually trying to sort it out, invariably we almost get calls too late when things have got too far out of hand, unfortunately. it's very depressing, you get there, and find that actually,

most of this wass people being stupid with barbecues, so it is very challenging, quite dangerous and especially if it gets into the trees, that becomes a real problem for us. just the sheer quantity of water we have to drop on trees to try to put them out. can you explain a bit more about what the dangers are, what it feels like, and what goes through your mind whilst you are doing that work? the first thing is actually trying to pick up the water. you're never quite sure how deep the water source is, whether there will be any snags, in most cases we use a bucket system which is in some cases 50 or 100 feet below the helicopter. we have put it down below the trees to a water source. quite recently we had to put it into the sea, which is very entertaining in a big swell.

then to lift it out, the helicopter is at full power to lift it out. then you've actually got to try and place it exactly where the fire guys wanted, subject to the wind, the heat, where the fire is, and you've got to try and run in and hit the fire with 1000 litres of water, depending on the size of the helicopter. we just saw the pictures of the water going down at the ground, it is not a small amount, but in terms of the size of a wildfire, it can feel like a tiny fraction of what is required every time? when we were doing fires three orfour years ago, we were putting 900 litres of water on a fire every two and a half to three minutes. multiply that by ten or 11 hours of flying per day, it is absolutely exhausting. the mental concentration, because as i say, that helicopter is doing the maximum it can possibly do, and you're trying to avoid dropping water on some of the firefighters who are very close to the fire, because you're trying to support them as well.

there are very few pilots in the country trained to do the work you do, you are one of ten or so, what made you want to do it? i have never been asked that question before! principally, it was because we had a massive fire which got within 400 metres of my house, and i was a helicopter pilot then, thinking, it was published 15 years ago now, it was probably 15 years ago now, and there was almost no resource in the united kingdom to deal with helicopter fires. friends of mine have been doing it in the states for years, so that's what kicked it off. we need to think about this more in the united kingdom, because it is a very ad hoc system of calling out a helicopter. it can be really effective if the rest of the fire brigades and everything else are communicating with us for the resources and water

and anything else. that's how i got into it, because my house nearly went up. firefighters say a huge fire which tore through a popular nature reserve at studland heath in dorset and forced the evacuation of a beach was most likely caused by a disposable barbecue. the hot weather and drought conditions have led the met office to issue its highest alert forfire severity over the weekend, warning there is an "exceptional" risk of blazes spreading. will batchelor reports. the true cost of a disposable barbecue. firefighters say this huge blaze which tore across studland heath in dorset was almost certainly caused by picnickers trying to cook food on the tinder dry beauty spot. after battling the flames all night, they found a disposable barbecue among the ashes. we really are appealing to members of the public to consider what you're doing. if it is going to potentially start a fire, try to avoid if you possibly can.

this field fire was one of 75 in essex. it covered 91 acres, and containing it required the help of local farmers. if you are downwind you wouldn't have kept up with it running. luckily, the wind direction was away from the houses, and so it wasjust a question of stopping it spreading back towards the houses again, but when the wind changed direction, suddenly it would move towards you and, yes, it is frightening. in north london, this grassfire billowed smoke across the busy m25 motorway. in surrey, a different problem. near guildford, residents queued up for bottled water after their taps ran dry. thames water said there were technical issues at one of its treatment works, and that fixing it was taking longer than they'd hoped. and it isn'tjust humans who need hydration. 0ne farmer in suffolk has been filling 70 water troughs each day to make sure the wildlife have enough to drink. an amber heat alert is still in place today

and the drought in parts of england could potentially last into next year. 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. ukraine's president has warned that any russian soldiers who shoot at the besieged zaporizhzhia nuclear plant will be targeted by security services. at least seven people have been injured by gunmen injerusalem. the shooting, which happened in the early hours of the morning, is being treated by israeli police as a terror attack. the attackers opened fire at two locations in the city, targeting a bus as well as people waiting in a car park near the western wall. two of the seven wounded are in a critical condition, and all have been taken to hospitals injerusalem. the shooting comes a week after israeli raids in gaza, which killed more than a0 palestinians. one person has been arrested following a shooting incident at canberra airport.

there have been no reported injuries and police say they have also recovered a firearm. witnesses reported hearing several gunshots, while others have described chaos and confusion at the airport check—in area. some passengers who have been waiting aboard planes on the tarmac have been allowed to disembark and authorities say they are working to resume flights out of canberra airport as soon as possible. more than 20,000 people have been detected crossing the english channel in small boats so far this year, uk government figures show. that compares to a figure of around 28,000 throughout the whole of 2021. the government described the arrivals as "unacceptable", saying people should always claim asylum in the first safe country they reach, rather than �*risk their lives'. almost six months ago, thousands of ukrainian civilians joined the military to fight

invading russian forces. among those who signed up were members of one of ukraine's top rock bands, antytila. they became army medics in kharkiv — helping to treat wounded soldiers. the bbcjoined them as they headed to the front line. it is russian mortarfire. come on, come on, come on. yeah. here. we're here, it's ok. come on. listen. i'm 0k. i'm taras topolya, the frontman of antytila, a popular band in ukraine. now me, with my friends, serving in territorial defence forces. we are a paramedical team — paramedical squad. singing we've been playing for more than 12 years. we released seven albums. so we had a lot of big ukrainian

tours, and we had three american and canadian tours. here, it is a front line. this is our position. this yard was destroyed by russian mortar fire. it's far away. you know, blood smells disgusting for me. and also, when this smell compares with the smell of the shelling, with smell of the explosion, it's the most disgusting smell of my life. after doing my duties,

i call my wife and my kids. i have no tears any more. i'm tired to cry. ijust can't wake up, like a dream. i'm in a dream. and i want to wake up. wake up in my home. i don't want to lie that sometimes the sadness defeat me. i want to create a new album, new antytila album after the war. we will need new kind of songs. songs of happiness. with a smile on our face.

if we will survive, we will do this. of course. piero angela — one of italy's most popular writers and television presenters — has died at the age of 93. he was famous for his work connected to the education of science. he had worked for the italian state broadcaster, rai, for 70 years. last year he was made a knight of the grand cross of the order of merit of the italian republic. a mass has been held in northern mexico — to honour the ten miners who remain trapped under ground. the ceremony took place both for them and their families. the men became stuck ten days ago — when a tunnel wall collapsed — triggering flooding. rescue efforts at the mine continued by pumping water out to try and create an exit.

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 zoo—keepers admit a lack of medication and food might make them difficult to care for. 0ne visitor to the zoo said the cubs were wonderful. here in the uk, the labour leader, sir keir starmer, will use a speech tomorrow to call for a freeze to the energy price cap in the autumn. analysts believe the cap will rise to around £3500 in october, sir keir wants to keep the current price cap atjust under £2000 for the average household. earlier i spoke to our political correspondent david wallace lockhart about what more we can expect from labour's announcement. it isa it is a big policy announcement that keir starmer is expected to make tomorrow. the price cap, of course, the maximum amount someone can be charged for a unit of energy here.

when you extrapolate those figures for the typical household, that will go for the typical household, that will 9° up for the typical household, that will go up to £3500 in october, currently sitting at around £2000. keir starmer is expected to say he doesn't want that increase to happen, he is due to speak tomorrow to outline his plans for the cost of living, we expect this to be a big part of that. of course, this leaves a big question, there is a funding gap, how is this going to be paid for? i imagine this is detail we will get tomorrow, but he does talk in the sunday mirror this morning, he says he would like to bring down bills by taxing the oil and gas producers making huge profits. i suspect that they play a role in all of this. we also know the treasury are currently considering a plan which would remove an allowance that suppliers are allowed to pass on to consumers, they think that could save, if it was implemented, around £400 on consumers�*s bills, and the

subsequent price cap after that, in january. that may never see the light of day, because although the treasury is coming up with plans to ease the cost of living problems were seeing, borisjohnson has been clear that he is not going to make any major decisions while prime minister, he was only an office for the next few weeks, and he says that is for his successors, rishi sunak 0riente liz truss, to decide when they are the next prime minister. liz truss is said that she prefers the adf tax cuts in order to give people more money in their pockets, rishi sunak has said that he does like the idea of giving the most vulnerable increase payments. he is also talking today about the fact that he would like to legislate to make the uk, what he calls, energy independent by 2045, essentially it would be domestically reducing all the energy used. rishi would be domestically reducing all the energy used.— the energy used. rishi sunak has also been talking _ the energy used. rishi sunak has also been talking about - the energy used. rishi sunak has also been talking about sir - the energy used. rishi sunak has. also been talking about sir salman rushdie, he says what is happening should be a wake—up call for the west, what else has he been saying?

of course he has been talking about of course he has been talking about iran, the order of execution from the 80s that has been issued against salman rushdie, issued by its iran's supreme leader. he says that the standing has to be a wake—up call for the west, he has spoken to the telegraph, wary are spoken about the iran nuclear deal, the comprehensive plan of action, that is about what kind of nuclear activities iran is allowed to do, who inspects the, an element of easing sanctions on the country. he is actually saying now that there needs to be a new, strength deal, and tougher sanctions, saying that a nuclear armed iran would pose an existential threat to israel, and endanger the whole of europe. he is also talking about this attack on salman rushdie, strengthening calls for the iranian revolutionary guard to be recognised as a terrorist institution. this

debate about who is won't be the prime ministers focusing a lot on domestic issues, but rishi sunak are certainly using the salman rushdie issue to start talking more about foreign affairs. there is a warning not to swim in areas without lifeguards, after 13 people died in the uk in just 13 days last month. with that in mind — sessions teaching children how to swim safely if they get into trouble are being rolled in nottingham, as natasha turney reports. a fun activity with a serious message behind it. learning how to stay safe when out for a swim in the wild. the best thing you can do is roll onto your back and get into a float position. the best thing you can do is roll onto your back and get into a float position. get used to the water. just getting them to have an understanding of how it feels to float to survive, of how they practise their strokes and how they can rescue themselves, really. they have long been running in many seaside locations

but it is the first time these classes have come to the east midlands. it is great for the community especially in landlocked areas. it is better the kids realise that when they do go to lakes you have to be very careful. during the hot weather, the number of incidents significantly increases. during the last heatwave 13 people died injust 13 days. and it is not restricted to the coast either. last year, 277 people lost their lives in open water. the majority of those cases happened on land — cases happened in land — in rivers, canals and lakes. statistics that they hope to improve. there are four key messages. always swim in a safe place, always swim with an adult and if you fall in, float, breathe and relax and, finally, if someone else is in trouble call 999. out of the water, far more clued up and still smiling. it was really fun. i learnt a lot of different things like what the flags mean.

we played games and learnt about what to do if - someone else is in trouble. it is hoped that next year because can be expanded into schools, so many more children can enjoy open water swimming safely. you're watching bbc news. there could be more disruption for train travellers from today as avanti west coast introduces a reduced timetable of services, adding to problems created by a summer of rail strikes. the company, which operates trains between london and the north west and scotland, says the new timetable will run until further notice due to "severe staff shortages". anisa kadri is at euston for us this morning... it is services between london euston

and manchester that are particularly affected. previously they ran three of these trains an hour, now there is just one. we of these trains an hour, now there isjust one. we have of these trains an hour, now there is just one. we have already met people here today who have said they have been affected by that change. people who are going back up north are finding they are having to change to get to manchester, so that is just one of the ways it has been affecting people today. for a bit of context, there have been several rail strikes this summer, with the union is calling for a pay rises in line with the cost of living, that rail bosses say they can only fund that by introducing changes like the introduction of changes to contracts. avanti west coast introduction of changes to contracts. ava nti west coast says wire to scale back its timetable, but they've been announcing that over the tannoy is in london euston, that drivers have been unavailable for a voluntary overtime at short notice, and that has led to cancellation. they save this way,

they can provide a reliable service, fewer trains going to manchester and birmingham and glasgow, they say that —— aslef says that this is not an unofficial strike. now it is time for a look at the weather. there is still an amber weather. there is still an amber weather warning. weather. there is still an amber weatherwarning. heavy weather. there is still an amber weather warning. heavy showers and thunderstorms

for northern ireland, temperatures in the north in the mid 20s but further south in the mid—30s once again. it's 34 and 35 degrees. through this evening and overnight downpour start to creep a bit further east, is still hot, especially in southern and eastern areas, temperatures and one or two spots not falling below 20 degrees. heavy showers and thunderstorms could be more widespread, if you do catch one of these, large hail and localised flooding is possible. still hot in the south—east, not quite as hot, 30 or 31 degrees tomorrow.

this is bbc news. the headlines... sir salman rushdie, stabbed at an event in new york state, has reportedly been taken off a ventilator and is able to talk. in ukraine, president zelensky warns that russians shooting at the zaporyzhzhia nuclear plant will immediately be targeted by ukrainian forces.

firefighters in france say a huge forest fire in the gironde