New York City

Hadi Matar, 24, said Rushdie, 75, was "someone who attacked Islam" but did not confirm that his actions were driven by a fatwa issued by Iran in the 1980s, reports dpa news agency. Matar pleaded not guilty through his lawyer to charges stemming from the assault and is currently being held at Chautauqua County Jail, in New York state. He is due to appear in court again on Friday.

Writer Nayantara Saghal, a long-time friend of Rushdie says she is horrified by the vicious attack on Salman Rushdie and the world of hatred and violence that we now live in. "I salute his courage as a writer and the way he has defended freedom of expression all his life. In fact, he also defended me," adds this author who returned her Sahitya Akademi award in 2015.

"There is no connection between Iran and the perpetrator," Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday. "Rushdie himself is responsible for the attack," dpa news agency quoted Kanaani as saying, noting that the author's work not only offended Iran, but Muslims worldwide. Rushdie was stabbed onstage as he was about to deliver a lecture in New York State on August 12.

"Though his life-changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty and defiant sense of humour remains intact. We are so grateful to all the audience members who bravely leapt to his defence and administered first aid along with the police and doctors who have cared for him and for the outpouring of love and support from around the world.

Rushdie, 75, who has a multimillion-dollar bounty, was stabbed several times while getting ready to speak at a discussion on the US as "a home for freedom and creative expression" and was helicoptered from the venue in western New York State to a hospital in neighbouring Pennsylvania on Friday. "Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed, and his liver was stabbed and damaged," agent, Andrew Wylie, said in a statement.

Manhattan Judge of New York district Juan Merchan rejected arguments from Weisselberg that insufficient evidence underlined his charges. Weisselberg's lawyers also previously suggested his prosecution was the result of vendetta-fuelled witness testimony from someone who, although apparently unnamed in publicly available arguments. Weisselberg stands accused of evading the required taxes on hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits related to his work for Trump, the Bipartisan Report said.

State Police said Rushdie, who appeared to have been stabbed in his neck, was flown by helicopter to a hospital from the remote education and spiritual centre in Chautauqua about 550 km from New York City, but did not disclose his condition. The alleged assailant, who pushed him to the floor and attacked him, was taken into custody by a state police trooper who was there, police said. The attacker's identity was not immediately known.

Shortly after questioning began on Wednesday morning, Trump's office released a statement saying he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, explaining that he "declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the US Constitution".

Mayor Eric Adams and city Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan made the announcement in a joint statement late Saturday as a total of 1,383 monkeypox cases have been reported in New York State, reports Xinhua news agency. "New York City is currently the epicentre of the outbreak, and we estimate that approximately 150,000 New Yorkers may currently be at risk for monkeypox exposure," the statement read.

Individuals will face criminal penalties if they carry concealed weapons in sensitive locations like airports and other public transit, educational institutions as well as Times Square, Xinhua news agency reported. The law also makes "no carry" the default for private property including bars, restaurants, shops or grocery stores, unless deemed permissible by property owners. The US Supreme Court recently struck down a century-old New York State law requiring gun owners to have probable cause in order to carry a concealed weapon.