and eurovision host contest the shortlist is announced for the cities who will stage the famous celebration of song. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. the author salman rushdie has been stabbed on stage at a literary event in new york state while preparing to give a lecture. his agent says he has been going under surgery for the police that he suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck and a man has been taken into custody. the 75 year old novelist has received death threats and it release of his book satanic verses in the late 80s many muslims view that focus blasphemous. our north america correspondent john sudworth has more. there was confusion and panic. the attack happened in full view of the audience. sir salman was left injured, lying on stage, and eyewitnesses in deep shock. there was nothing audible from the attacker. we just saw him move on stage very quickly and, repeatedly and with vicious determination, stabbed salman rushdie. peop
a breach of the minesterial code. tonight with the context, the spectator s deputy political editor katy balls and the republican strategist doug heye. hello, welcome to the programme. we have lived through an era of record low interest rates. for years, it was cheap to borrow, while the money put away in savings accounts earned us very little in return. but things are changing. today, the us federal reserve set out an increasingly aggressive approach to monetary policy as it confronts the highest inflation in the united states forfour decades. in the last hour, it raised interest rates by 0.75% which is the biggest jump in rates since 1994. and that has implications for all of us. here s the chair of the federal reserve, jerome powell. the current picture it s plain to see. the labour market is extremely tight, and inflation is much too high. against this backdrop, today the federal open market committee raised its interest rate by 0.75% in anticipation of ongoing increases
Mr sunak is expected to meet his israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and israeli president isaac herzog for what he said, on arrival here, he hoped would be productive meetings. This, after urging regional leaders to avoid further dangerous escalation. In gaza, meanwhile, egypt has agreed to let humanitarian supplies in via The Rafah Crossing. An initial convoy of 20 trucks of aid are expected to enter gaza after a deal announced by President Biden and the earliest is tomorrow. Announcing the agreement, the us president warned that the aid convoys would be stopped if any supplies were confiscated by hamas, which governs gaza and is regarded as a Terrorist Organisation by the uk and us. We can bring you live pictures of gaza. It isjust after 11 00 in the morning. Israels military says it hit hundreds of sites in gaza over the last 2a hours targeting, it says, hamas infrustrauctre. With the latest, heres our correspondent wyre davies. As trucks carrying aid queue on the egyptian side
Targets overnight and killed a senior commander. Militants have continued to fire rockets into israel, towards tel aviv and other areas in the south. The World Health Organization has condemned israels Evacuation Order. It says forcing Hospital Patients to relocate would be a death sentence. President biden has spoken with the israeli Prime Minister, benjamin netanyahu, and urged him to provide safety for civilians amid the bombardment. Diplomatic efforts to prevent the violence from spreading have been stepped up, with mr biden s secretary of state, Antony Blinken, visiting cairo. Hes expected to press egyptian officials to restart talks on getting aid into gaza through the Border Crossing. The us is sending a second Aircraft Carrier to the Eastern Mediterranean near israel. The Uss Eisenhower will lead a group of ships aimed at deterring further attacks against israel, in particularfrom iran or the lebanese militant group, hezbollah. Lets cross now to our middle east correspondent, y