this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. 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. labour is to call for the energy price cap in england, scotland and wales to be frozen in october, to help with the cost of living. the energy minister says their plan won't work. seemingly magical solutions tho just wish it all away. that will have consequences. in ukraine, president zelensky warns that russians shooting at the zaporyzhzhia nuclear plant

will immediately be targeted by ukrainian forces. prosecutions for breaching covid restrictions have been dropped against six people who attended a vigil in london for sarah everard in march 2021. firefighters in france say a huge forest fire in the gironde region is now being contained after overnight rain. and warnings in the uk over the use of disposable barbecues hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. more on all those stories in a minute, but let's start with some breaking news from egypt, where at least 41

people are feared dead and dozens injured after a fire inside a church. sources told the reuters news agency that the electrical fire broke out as 5,000 worshippers gathered for mass at the abu sifin church in the imbaba region in giza, causing a stampede. 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. 0ur 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. 0nlookers 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 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. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, will use a speech on monday to call for a freeze to the energy price cap in england, scotland and wales in the autumn. analysts believe the cap will rise to around £3,500

in october. sir keir wants to keep the current price cap atjust under £2,000 for the average household. earlier energy minister greg hands gave me his reaction to labour's plan. i think the government has to look at all the options that are available. that is what we are doing at the moment. rishi sunak has been clear that if he becomes prime minister after the 5th of september, he will be wanting to take direct, immediate action to help people this coming winter pay those bills. particularly the most vulnerable, particularly pensioners and so on. in terms of their specifics, a little too early to say. i think the idea from labour of abolishing price rises in energy. energy price rises are set globally, driven by the invasion by vladimir putin of ukraine.

we would have to find a way to compensate people by effectively trying to abolish that price rise and that would inevitably lead to higher taxes. so i think we have to be a little bit careful with some of these seemingly magical solutions by labour to wish it all away. that will have consequences. 70 charities and community organisations have written to the contenders to become the next uk prime minister, liz truss and rishi sunak — calling on them to reassure low income families there will be further support to help with soaring bills. earlier i spoke with rachelle earwaker senior economist at one of those charities, thejoseph rowntree foundation. the government had already pledged around £1200 to each of the most vulnerable households back im may in the cost of living statement by rishi sunak and

are increasing disproportionately in the next few months and inflation looking at around 30% by the end of the year means that support packages no longer sufficient at all. we know that energy bills for the households on the lowest incomes are around £1800 higher than last year and other costs like food and transport have risen by around £1000 at the same time so low income households are looking at around £2800 of increased payments being required by them over the coming year and it means that £1200 payment to everyone is less than half of that rise and absolutely shows the need for more support to those households on at least the same sort of magnitude.

you may not have worked this out but these costs are not factored into the official inflation rate which as you mentioned is predicted by the bank of england to hit 30% later this year. do you know what the real inflation rate is for the sort of families you are talking about? this discussion came up quite a lot earlier in the year that the inflation rate for low income households is much higher because they are spending much higher proportions of already low incomes on essentials, so we haven't got the exact calculations what that can be coming towards the end of the year 0ctober price rise kicking in, seven million households on low incomes were already going without essentials, equivalent to the whole of the north of england. we knew that four million households were already behind on their bills and for

households behind on their energy bills they are also an average behind and three other kinds of bills, and that was back in may so the absolutely enormous impact this is having on households who could not pay their bills in nay no looking at the £2800 increase in the amount they are having to find this year is eye—wateringly terrifying. the energy minister greg hands making the point the cost of energy and the dramatic increases as a hard reality that can't be wished away, there is no magic solution to this. what would you say to him if you are talking directly to him? we are in a time of absolute crisis right now and throughout history it is the role of the government to provide support to households

who need it and we know at a time of crisis we saw it during the pandemic using the furlough scheme and the uplift of £20 to universal credit and we need support from the government we will face a winter of truly terrifying crisis. 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 either 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.

now, 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 the russian troops are there to protect this facility, and calls are growing for international monitors to be allowed to visit the site. 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.

in the south, in the occupied region of kherson, there were attempts to attack a bridge by 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 to reinfoprce their positions, 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. dropped against six people who attended a vigil in london

for sarah everard in march 2021. they had been due to stand trial in november this year and if convicted faced being fined hundreds of pounds. i'm joined now by angus crawford. 0n the 3rd of march 2021 sarah everard had been walking home close to clapham common, was kidnapped by a serving met police officer and was murdered and her body found ten days later. there was then a vigil to be held to recognise what happened to her and police brutality led to this but they were barred from doing so and told they could face a £10,000 fine for organising such a vigil. hundreds of people spontaneously went to clapham, common and we have all seen the pictures of the police then arresting some of people at the vigil and trampling on flower tributes and the met was accused of gross insensitivity at the time. six of those people were due to face

trial in november of this year for breaching covid restrictions. london was in tier 4 covid restrictions. but now we have a major development. why have the prosecutions been dropped and what is the reaction? we were told this was a very controversial move and more than a year later to prosecute for covid restrictions which could lead to several hundred pounds in fines and the cps has said they are dropping the cps has said they are dropping the charges and prosecutions because the charges and prosecutions because the legal test for prosecution has not been met. the metropolitan police says it had a really difficultjob to do to safeguard the public and balance this with the rights of the individuals during the pandemic but it claims the decision to discontinue was entirely a matter and decision by the cps. has it been

and decision by the cps. has it been a reaction from many of the women facing prosecution? 0ne a reaction from many of the women facing prosecution? one of the women we believe has described this as a victory and a victory for common sense but is also expected to take this further and launch legal action of her own against the met. the headlines on bbc news: 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 zaporyzhzhia nuclear plant will immediately be targeted by ukrainian forces. labour is to call for the energy price cap in england, scotland and wales to be frozen in october, to help with the cost of living. the tories say their plan won't work. 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. 0ur correspondent bethany bell is in the gironde region. the big fire near here we understand has been contained. everybody here is still on high alert, and this place tells you why. we were here yesterday and 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 burn sometimes underground, orjust on the surface

of the ground, and it is still very easy for new fires to set off. here in the uk, 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's going to potentially start a fire, try to avoid it

this field fire near chelmsford was one of 75 tackled by crews in essex in 2a hours. it covered 91 acres, and containing it required the help of local farmers. if you were 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's frightening. in north london, this grassfire billowed smoke across the busy m25 motorway. in surrey, a different problem. in cranleigh, 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's notjust humans who need hydration. 0ne farmer in suffolk has been

filling 70 water troughs a 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. a teenage boy has died after going into the sea in skegness. emergency services were alerted to reports of a child in the water at around 6pm yesterday. after police and coastguard searches, the boy's body was found at 11.30pm. the alleged attacker in a shooting injerusalem in which seven people were injured has handed himself in. the attack happened at two locations in the city — at a bus and a car park near the western wall. israeli police believe he acted alone and no known links with militant groups. 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. despite the growing numbers, the uk arrivals in small boats are a fraction of the number of people going to europe. 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". just a day after the latest industrial dispute to hit the railways, another major disruption is hitting customers who travel on avanti west coast services. a reduced timetable will see a big drop in services.

avanti west coast normally runs seven trains per hour on the west coast main line. now it will run as few as four an hour. london euston, and manchester services are the worst affected, with trains reduced from three per hour to just one. avanti west coast blame the timetable reduction on the current industrial relations climate. prior to these cancellations, many of these trains were running as a result of drivers volunteering for overtime, but the number of volunteers has fallen sharply. this has led to an accusation from the transport secretary, grant shapps, that this is an unofficial strike. aslef deny that accusation. it says avanti west coast simply haven't hired enough drivers, and says that train companies in general have lost the goodwill of their employees. the labour mayors of both manchester and london put the blame of the dispute firmly at the door of the train company. all parties are a bit to blame, but for avanti to say that it's all down to the drivers who don't want to work on their rest days

is actually pretty outrageous, because the drivers have every right not to work on their rest days, and indeed they get reasonable salaries, so if they don't want to work on their rest day, yes, it is difficult for avanti but they should have sorted this out when they took over the franchise a couple of years ago. grant shapps has written to the mayors of these cities and he remains adamant that the fault of this lies with the union. he is calling for major reforms of the railways, but that's little comfort to the thousands who will face much tougherjourneys to their destinations. anisa kadri is at euston for us this morning. i have been here in reaction. a lot

of people are here to see coldplay and a lot feel they will be affected particularly in services between london and manchester because they will be running a set of three times per hourjust one time per hour. let's have a listen to what they had to say. i have two come down here everyday for work i have to rearrange my travel so i'm really angry about it. about these big companies, i think the blame lies with them and they have been awarded big contracts. send the timetable for today so we got it a little bit early and fortunately our train is not been delayed or cancelled so not affected too much but it can cause some people some problems. bath

too much but it can cause some people some problems. both those --eole people some problems. both those people travelling _ people some problems. both those people travelling to _ people some problems. both those people travelling to manchester, i people travelling to manchester, chichester and manchester and liverpool respectively. there have been several rail strikes this summer with unions calling for pay rises in line with the rising cost of living and the rail company say to find those pay rises they want to introduce changes and reforms like changing contracts and terms and conditions. the unions are not too happy. avanti west coast conditions. the unions are not too happy. ava nti west coast says because of what it calls the current industrial climate it is cut services because drivers are making themselves unavailable for overtime at short notice and they say they are unable to provide a reliable service. drivers dispute any suggestion of unofficial strike action leading to timetable changes. they see the company needs to employ

more drivers so clearly no agreement but it is fair to say the disruption is not going away anytime soon because there are more strikes planned for next week involving the rmt union. 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 breaking news for you now from merseyside. a 31—year—old woman has been arrested after a four—year—old boy suffered serious injuries after being attacked by a dog last night. it is believed that the boy had gone to visit a friend's house when he was attacked by the bull mastiff—type dog in wellesboune place, norris green. a neighbour who saw what was happening managed to fight the dog off the child and get him to safety.he has suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital

where he is being treated. his condition is described as serious but stable. the dog has been seized and a woman from norris green has been arrested on suspicion of being in possession of a dangerously out of control dog and taken to a police station where she will be interviewed by detectives. enquiries into the incident are ongoing. 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, annitteela. 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. all good? yeah. here. we're here, it's ok. come on. listen. i'm 0k. i'm taras topolya, i'm the frontman of antytila, a popular band in ukraine.

now me, with my friends, serve in the 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 the 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. and uk viewers can watch the documentary frontline frontmen on iplayer now. a walrus that became a popular attraction in the oslo fjord has been euthanised. authorities had said earlier this week that they were considering the measure after issuing warnings that the marine mammal was being endangered. experts were concerned by the amount of attention she was receiving, with crowds getting too close, putting her and themselves at risk. the walrus, nicknamed freya,

rose to fame after clambering onto boats to sunbathe, sometimes sinking them.