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Man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie pleads not guilty
Hadi Matar, 24, appeared at a Thursday afternoon hearing at Chautauqua County Court after being indicted by a grand jury, reports dpa news agency. Pictures showed him in a grey striped jumpsuit and white face mask, with his hands shackled. Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey, was arrested after allegedly rushing on to the stage at the Chautauqua Institution on August 12, stabbing the Indian-born novelist about a dozen times in front of a crowd, including in the neck and eye.
Gutteres celebrates one small win for UN in Ukraine war -- restarting grains exports
While visiting Lviv in Ukraine, Guterres on Thursday declared that the agreement to allow the export of Ukrainian foodgrains "reflects a victory for diplomacy". It will help "vulnerable people in every corner of the world," he told reporters in Lviv, noting that global "wheat prices dropped by as much as eight per cent following the signing of the agreements".
Pakistan military wants to empower Islamists at the cost of secular Pashtuns
The Islamist militant group once controlled large swathes of the mountainous region that borders Afghanistan and is populated by Pashtuns. Tens of thousands of people were killed and millions more displaced in years of TTP attacks and the army's large-scale military operations against it, RFE/RL reported. The group finally fled to Afghanistan in 2014.
Taliban seized over $7 billion of US military equipment
The majority of the outlay, according to a report from the US Defence Department's inspector general went into tactical ground vehicles like MRAPs and Humvees, which cost about $4.12 billion when the Islamic Emirate took control of Kabul on August 15, 2021. "The DoD estimated that US-funded equipment valued at $7.12 billion was in the inventory of the former Afghan government when it collapsed, much of which has since been seized by the Taliban," the report wrote.
Ukraine plans to attack Zaporozhye nuclear power plant on Friday: Russia
The predicted attack will be timed to coincide with the ongoing visit to Ukraine by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the ministry claimed. The Russian ministry said it has detected movements of Ukrainian troops, indicating a looming 'provocation.' Kiev has deployed units trained in responding to the use of weapons of mass destruction, pre-positioning them to report a radiation leak and demonstrate a purported action to mitigate it, Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov said, RT reported.
Rishi Sunak 'could head straight to US' if he loses battle for UK PM
Some MPs are predicting that the former chancellor will opt to leave the Parliament if he loses the battle for Prime Minister, although allies insist he is 'not going anywhere', Daily Mail reported. Senior Conservatives believe Sunak has 'burned his boats' during the contest, due to come to a conclusion on September 5, and is unlikely to be offered a job he could accept, the report said.
Rushdie's attacker says he's surprised author survived stabbing
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.
21 killed in Kabul mosque blast
"The blast took place during the evening prayers inside the mosque in Police District 17, leaving 21 dead and 33 others injured at the spot," Khalid Zadran, the Kabul police spokesman, told reporters. Witnesses heard a powerful explosion which shattered windowpanes of the nearby buildings, reports Xinhua news agency. No one has so far claimed responsibility for the deadly incident.
Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kharkiv kills 6
A skyscraper was hit in the shelling late Wednesday, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram. Local media said that a cruise missile struck the building, which then caught fire, reports dpa news agency. Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said that other locations in the city were also hit, adding that the shelling was "pretty chaotic".
Iran signals it's open to prisoner exchange with US
However, he also said that the US had done little to cooperate on the issue until now, dpa news agency reported. His statement was seen as linked to a possible agreement on reviving the 2015 Vienna deal which prevents Iran from building nuclear weapons. The original agreement and lifting of sanctions at the time was followed by a prisoner swap.
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