welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: a year on from the taliban taking over afghanistan again — a special report on its women and girls who have been denied education, employment, and their childhoods. if i finish this school, i start university, but i can't go to university because i'm not graduated from the school. salman rushdie�*s family say he's on the road to recovery but has life—changing injuries, as more details emerge about the man charged over the attack. more than a0 worshippers die at a church in egypt, after a fire rips through the building during mass.

and, queen of the mountains — the norwegian climber who is on the verge of setting a very special record. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news — it's newsday. it's 8:00 in the morning in singapore, and 4:30 in the morning in afghanistan, where dawn is breaking on the one year anniversary of the taliban's return to power. august 15th, 2021, saw thousands flee the country out of fear of what lied ahead, but many more where left behind, their daily lives changed beyond recognition. no more so than for country's women and girls, who are now subject to harsh, more conservative rules that restrict their education and employment. our chief international

correspondent lyse doucet was in the capital a year ago as the taliban retook the country — she's returned to kabul for this special report. it's a man's world. afghanistan is a conservative country, but the rules are now set by the ultraconservative taliban. spaces which had opened up for women have now been slammed shut. we met three generations of women whose lives speak loudly about their world. many are afraid. they don't want to be identified. this woman used to be a senior official in the finance ministry. last year the taliban told her, stay at home. a man would take herjob. i worked for more than 17 years in the finance ministry.

it was difficult with juglging family and work, it was difficult with juggling family and work, but i went to university and got my masters degree. we spent so much time to get here. now we are back to zero. everything is finished. more than 60 female civil servants have banded together. they shared some of the exchanges on their messaging group: women haven't completely disappeared. women haven't completely disappeared from the streets or ministries, like health, education, security. there are spaces only for women. this market has just reopened in the western city of herat.

this was the first day. women, a bit nervous. shops, still empty. this is it? yes. this is your shop? today it's closed. oh, look at your sewing machines. 18—year—old suhaila is excited. she's reopening this dress shop with big sister. but she should be in her last year of school. suhaila was the top student in her class. but the taliban shut most high schools. really, i am very sad. if i finished this school, i start university but i can't go to university because i'm not graduated from school. was it hard for you? no school, no shop. how hard was it? i think it's not for me, and for all of the girls of afghanistan, it's a sad memory... i did miss school.

sorry. it's ok. sorry. it's hard here, too, far away in the central highlands. this is one of afghanistan's poorest provinces. since the taliban took over, even poorer. and there's still no aid to their government. for the destitute and desperate, agonising choices. this woman gave her daughter in marriage for about £1000. she's only 6 years old. so is her husband to be. translation: she's too young. but i give her away because we have no food. so my other children don't die of hunger. it's still very hard but now she can eat with her in—laws. i had no other option but to give her away.

child marriage is prohibited, but pervasive in afghanistan. but not this young. we've hidden the identity of mother, daughter and son. translation: her in—laws told me they will take care of her like their own child because she's so young. they told me, don't worry. child weeps what mother wouldn't worry? what child wouldn't weep? a new generation takes shape in a new afghanistan. the taliban say the rights of boys and girls within islam will be respected. but one year on, there is growing fear that girls who were learning to lead, will be left far behind. lyse doucet, bbc news, kabul.

the taliban's heartland was in southern afghanistan, around the city of kandahar. 0ur correspondent secunder kermani is there. he's reported extensively from across the country before and since the takeover, and he sent us this update about how things have changed. two things stand out, the way that the taliban stance has grown increasingly hardline over the course of the year, and how different the experience of living under the taliban has been for different afghans. a lot of it depends on how they define freedom. for many teenage girls, they no longer have the freedom to go to school. anyone wanting to publicly criticise the taliban runs the risk of arrest, torture or even death. and many are deeply despondent here. but there are others for whom freedom has a very different meaning. villagers who are already living by deeply conservative values. for them, freedom means being able to plough their fields without being afraid of being caught in the crossfire of a gun battle. and for them, many of them, at least,

life under the taliban is preferable to life at war. what unites afghans is deep concern at the dire state of the economy. this is a country that was propped up by foreign spending. a lot of money is still coming in, but nowhere near as much as before the taliban. and it's ordinary people who are seeing the consequences of that. we have special coverage throughout the day on bbc news and online where you can see more from our correspondence across afghanistan. to another top story for you now, and the son of sir salman rushdie says his father suffered life—changing injuries in a knife attack on friday, but that his feisty and defiant sense of humour remains intact. the author has been taken off a ventilator,

after being stabbed at an event in new york state. the govenor of new york says they will always stand up for freedom of thought. 0ur correspondent nomia iqbal has the latest. inside the hospital, salman rushdie remains in a critical condition. but a glimmer of hope for his family as he is taken off a ventilator and is breathing unaided. in a statement, his son, zafar rushdie, said: zafar also praised the audience members at the literary event on friday where his father was stabbed. he said they bravely leapt to his defence to help him.

salman rushdie�*s agent told us he is on the long road to recovery. the writer suffered very serious injuries. he faces losing an eye and his liver is badly damaged. 24—year—old american suspect hadi matar has already appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to the charges of attempted murder and attempted assault. prosecutors allege he travelled by bus from newjersey to the event here in western new york. they say he bought a ticket, like everybody else, allowing him to attend the talk mr rushdie was due to give. for decades, salman rushdie went into hiding after his book, the satanic verses, led to iran issuing a fatwa in 1989. many muslims considered his writing blasphemous. it is reported that police think hadi matar may have had sympathies for the iranian regime, but an official motive has not been established. earlier, new york's state governor spoke outside the institution where the stabbing happened. new york state will always stand up to protect freedom

of expression, freedom of speech, and we condemn the cowardly attack on salman rushdie. and we condemn any individual or any group that dares violate the sanctity of a place like this. questions are being asked about why there were not tougher checks at the literary event, given the huge amount of threats salman rushdie had faced for decades. i want to tell you about another story now. the government in egypt says at least a0 people have died — many of them children — in a fire at a church where thousands of worshippers had gathered for sunday worship. dozens of other people have been injured. it's reported an electrical fire broke out at the coptic church in giza, outside cairo. 0ur correspondent sally nabil sent this report from the scene. a sunday church service that ended in tragedy. behind these windows,

egyptian christian worshippers died. the abu sifin church was in a packed busy neighbourhood in giza. the fire killed dozens including many children. people rushed into the building trying to save as many lives as possible. this woman lost her sister—in—law. translation: she had five children, _ three daughters, who are three, five and seven years old, and two boys. my heart is on fire for all these victims. the people i've spoken to here are clearly very angry. they want to know exactly how and why their loved ones died. there will be questions too for the church itself and for the emergency services. initial reports suggest the fire was caused by an electrical fault. people here told us there was a power cut and the church was on a generator. when the electricity was turned on again there was an overload.

translation: fire was coming out. of the air—conditioning and then spread to the rest of the church. it was on the third and fourth floors. many worshippers fainted and could hardly breathe. a major investigation is now under way. inspectors from the public prosecutors�*s office already checked the scene. there was nothing to suggest there are any criminal motives behind this incident so far. but the christian community here say they've had enough. many of their churches have been targeted by militant attacks in recent years. sally nabil, bbc news, cairo. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the voting continues in kenya, six days after the presidential election — we'll bring you an update from nairobi.

washington is assessing the political health of the world's most powerful man. i political health of the world's most powerful man.- most powerful man. i had a relationship _ most powerful man. i had a relationship which - most powerful man. i had a relationship which was - most powerful man. i had a relationship which was not l relationship which was not appropriate, it was wrong. 9? appropriate, it was wrong. people appropriate, it was wrong, g people have appropriate, it was wrong, g people have been appropriate, it was wrong.

to desert rome? this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. 0ur headlines: a year on from the taliban taking over afghanistan again, its women and girls are still being denied education and employment. the son of author sir salman rushdie says his injuries are life changing, but that his defiant sense of humour remains intact after he was stabbed. let's turn to taiwan now, where a delegation from the us congress has arrived. they're visiting for two days and will meet president tsai ing—wen on monday. their visit comes 12 days after one by the house speaker nancy pelosi, which led to an angry reaction from the self—governed island's neighbour china. here's more from mark cozad, from the rand corporation. and actually we heard from him a little earlier but for now i

am joint by someone in our newsroom in singapore. apologies for that. we are grateful to you on the show. why are they visiting, and why now? the fact is visits by us lawmakers to taiwan are not unprecedented, they do happen from time to time. this particular visit comes at a very tense time in the taiwan strait, as you mentioned just under two weeks after the visit by the us house speaker nancy pelosi. that sparked an angry reaction from beijing and china staging some of the largest military exercises around the island. this visit this time around is not as high profile, it is being led by a senator who chairs the senate's east

asian subcommittee. he is accompanied by four other us lawmakers. they are expected to meet with the taiwanese president today as well as members of the business community. the discussions are expected to focus notjust on the security situation, but also on economic cooperation particularly in strategic sectors such as semiconductor chip production. the sectors such as semiconductor chip production.— chip production. the last time we had a _ chip production. the last time we had a visit _ chip production. the last time we had a visit from _ chip production. the last time we had a visit from a - chip production. the last time i we had a visit from a prominent us official, we saw a very sizeable reaction from china. any indication of how they might react this time around? the only reaction we have seen so far is from the chinese embassy in washington. they accused the us of trying to stir up confrontation in the taiwan strait. the white house has responded to that accusation, they said that us lawmakers have been visiting taiwan for decades and will continue to do so. a reminder

that even though those military exercises have largely abated, military activity around the taiwan strait continues, chinese military aircraft entered taiwan's self defence sewn over the weekend. the situation remains highly volatile. , ., , situation remains highly volatile-— situation remains highly volatile. ., , ,, ., ~ ., volatile. joao de silva i know ou'll volatile. joao de silva i know you'll be _ volatile. joao de silva i know you'll be keeping _ volatile. joao de silva i know you'll be keeping a _ volatile. joao de silva i know you'll be keeping a close - volatile. joao de silva i know you'll be keeping a close eye on the story today. they cute for being on the programme. to kenya now, where it has been six days since its presidential election, and frustrations are growing over the delay in announcing the results. almost half the votes have been confirmed with vice—president, william ruto taking a slight lead of 51%, just ahead of his rival raila 0dinga. the electoral commission has a legal obligation to announce the outcome of the poll within a week. but as time runs on, so does tension, as we heard from people in the western city of kisumu. right now we're very tired

because people are not going to work. students are in their house. and right now, when we cannot go to work we have no money. cannot go to work we have no mone . ~ ., ., cannot go to work we have no mone .~ ., ., , , money. we are not happy because number one _ money. we are not happy because number one all— money. we are not happy because number one all the _ money. we are not happy because number one all the businesses - number one all the businesses are stuck _ number one all the businesses are stuck. the way we have been getting _ are stuck. the way we have been getting money in the normal days— getting money in the normal days has— getting money in the normal days has really gone out. so we are suffering. 0ur correspondent richard kagoe is in nairobi and sent us this update. first of all, in terms of the voter turnout, it was quite very dismal because as at wednesday this week, when we had the preliminary announcement from the electoral commission, they indicated that was about 65%. that's down from 80% in 2017. so a lot of people that we spoke to and we've been hearing from them, they indicate the fact that they really do want to take part in the process because they felt that probably the way of elections and possibly politics might not be the best route to address the problems or issues that do face them because they've been through this process before and they haven't seen any outcome from this.

it's a very tight race, as i would say, because as at yesterday we saw veteran politician raila 0dinga was leading, you know, with a very narrow margin. that's according to the preliminary results. and today we are seeing outgoing deputy president william ruto is still, you know, leading something very marginal. yeah, so it's a very tight race. we've never witnessed anything like this before, a very closely contested, you know, presidential race than we have seen in recent history. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. syrian state media say israel has carried out an air attack on targets in the coastal province of tartus. they said three soldiers had been killed. the syrian 0bservatory for human rights said several missiles hit the vicinity of a village where iranian militias allied with the assad regime are located. the saudi state—owned

oil giant aramco has announced record profits of more than $48 billion for the second quarter of this year. the world's biggest oil producer's net income has almost doubled year—on—year. oil prices are up because of russia's attack on ukraine and increasing demand after the pandemic. and a tropical storm is heading northeast in the pacific ocean off japan's tohoku region, after making landfall and causing damage in central japan on saturday. weather officials say the atmospheric conditions are expected to remain unstable for much ofjapan, and warn of more heavy rain, flooding and mudslides. to europe now, where several countries have been engulfed in a wave of deadly wildfires recently, triggered by record temperatures and drought across the continent. in france, officials in the south—western gironde region have said a majorfire that had been dubbed a �*monster fire' has been brought under control. 0ur correspondent

bethany bell is there. firefighters have brought the big blaze that was burning near here under control but they've warned that the fire isn't entirely extinguished yet and, if you look behind me, back there in the woods, you can see what they mean — there's wisps of smoke, which is a sign that they're still burning embers on the ground or sometimes below the ground but could in the wrong circumstances be whipped up into another fire. but there is very good news for the 10,000 people that were evacuated from near here. they've been told that they can now go home after days of staying in emergency temporary housing. i want to tell you now about the world's1li highest mountains, also known as the super peaks, all of them in asia. each one has a summit of more than 8,000 metres.

climbing all 1a is a badge of honour for any mountaineer, and doing so in record time is the biggest honour of them all. now a norwegian climber is on the verge of doing just that, as the bbc�*s tim allman reports. kristin carries a heavy burden. she has just finished scaling the 11th highest mountain in the 11th highest mountain in the well but she can barely pause for a moment. these things don't climb themselves. i had liked, a couple of rock falls, that was very dangerous. the rest have been logistical problems and waiting times. but climbing a mountain has not been so, not so much problems. she only took up mountain climbing seven years ago, but she has clearly been a quick study. she is now on course to complete one of the sport's most impressive achievements. as everyone knows, mount everest is the world's tallest

peak at 8849 metres. there are 13 other mountains that come in at a height above 8000 metres. and kristin has climbed 11 of them. now she only has three more to complete the set and she wants to do it as quickly as possible. at the moment, nepal's man owns the record. if she beats his time she hopes it will send a message. i she beats his time she hopes it will send a message.— will send a message. i think it is 'ust, will send a message. i think it is just. peeple _ will send a message. i think it isjust, people believe - will send a message. i think it isjust, people believe men i will send a message. i think it| isjust, people believe men are more strong stop but women are just as strong as men are in the mountain and there is no difference between us. she has until november _ difference between us. she has until november to _ difference between us. she has until november to set - difference between us. she has until november to set a - difference between us. she has until november to set a new. until november to set a new record after a quick trip home to norway, she will head to nepal and tibet for the final phase. the last super peaks in her super sites. phase. the last super peaks in hersupersites. best phase. the last super peaks in her super sites. best of luck to her indeed.

and before we go, a light—hearted story for you. china — as many would know — is well—known for its ancient practice of acupuncture as a way to promote the healing process and general well—being. now increasingly, pet owners are turning to the method to help soothe the aches and pains of their beloved cats and dogs. in this beijing clinic, pets of all shapes and sizes are being signed up for treatments, care that their owners say is less invasive and comes with fewer side effects than conventional treatments. recordings of gentle bamboo flute music and birds chirping are played to help the animals relax. translation: she is enjoying it translation: she is en'oying it u . translation: she is en'oying it u- before translation: she is en'oying it up before she * translation: she is en'oying it up before she used _ translation: she is en'oying it up before she used to h translation: she is enjoying it up before she used to refuse - translation: she is enjoying it up before she used to refuse to| up before she used to refuse to go. now every time a teller we are going to visit the doctor for treatment, she is really happy and ready to get into the car. she will come to light steel for 40 minutes or an hour. i steel for 40 minutes or an hour. ., , ., hour. i hope indeed that the et hour. i hope indeed that the pet there — hour. i hope indeed that the pet there feels _ hour. i hope indeed that the pet there feels a _ hour. i hope indeed that the pet there feels a little - pet there feels a little

better, everybody deserves some well being and good health. that's it for us, thank you for watching. do state with bbc news for the latest global headlines. hello. after a week where, somewhere in the uk, we've recorded a daytime high of 30 celsius or above every single day, we're finally seeing the heat come to an end. moving into the new week. could see 30 celsius somewhere in eastern england today, but it will be cooler than it has been through the weekend. thunderstorms becoming more of a talking point for us, as we look into the days ahead. we could see some just about anywhere across england and wales today — but by no means everywhere, so some areas will remain stubbornly dry, while others get some quite intense downpours. eastern scotland perhaps getting some thundery showers. further north, it's the more persistent rain for central and eastern scotland and for northern ireland. it's cooler here, but still, as you saw, 30 possible

somewhere in eastern england. 0vernight monday into tuesday, showers pushing up from the south — could be heavy and thundery, particularly for southern counties of england, persistent rain sits across eastern scotland. it's certainly fresher for scotland and northern ireland, but still very warm and humid across much of england and wales as we start off on tuesday. through the day on tuesday, though, low pressure really does come to take hold across the uk. it's a messy weather picture. what does that mean? well, it means it's quite hard for us to pin down the exact details of where the rain will sit through the day. but basically, it's a chance of showers just about anywhere across england and wales, and they're likely to be thundery. for scotland and northern ireland, more cloud around and some outbreaks of rain and quite a cool northerly breeze — quite a difference to recent days, and we've lost that 30 celsius in eastern england. by wednesday, well, low pressure still close by, but it's focused very much to the south of the uk — high pressure, in fact, tries to sneak back in across scotland and northern ireland. wednesday looks dry for scotland and northern ireland, if cloudy at times, and it looks like any early showers will clear from northern

england and wales. but a real focus perhaps on southern england for some more intense downpours on wednesday — so that could be the day when we see the return of some well—needed rainfall here. just 23 celsius — down ten degrees on the figures through the weekend. and then, for the end of the week, we very much pick up an atlantic influence — westerly winds, some weather fronts passing through, but actually, not bringing, i think, that much in the way of rainfall. we will see more in the way of sunshine again towards the end of the week, but not a return to the highs of recent days.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. applause hello and welcome to the science museum. i am kevin fong and this is the engineers: the future of cars. i am in the information age gallery, sat in front of an object called the rugby tuning coil and 100 years ago this big wheel of copper wrapped in wood was the most powerful transmitter in the world. so it is an appropriate place for us to have this broadcast which brings in an audience

from five different continents through the magic of our video link, as well as a large