Rushdie gets better after attack

Within hours of Friday’s attack at a literary event, the British author had undergone emergency surgery for fatal injuries.

But his condition, still severe, has since shown signs of improvement and he does not need assisted breathing anymore, according to his family and literary agent.

“He’s out of the ventilator, so the healing journey has begun,” said agent Andrew Wylie in a statement. “It will take a long time; the wounds are serious, but his condition is heading in the right direction.”

The alleged assailant, 24-year-old Hadi Matar from New Jersey, was struck down by staff, and other members of the audience, and was arrested by police.

He was then taken to court and pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder. Police and prosecutors provided little information on Matar’s past or the possible motives behind the attack.

Matar’s family is from southern Lebanon, but he was born in the United States, according to a Lebanese official.

Hadi Matar is detained without bail and has been officially charged with attempted second-degree murder and assault with a weapon.

‘Online threat’ to J.K. Rowling

The Scottish police reported on Sunday that they were investigating an alleged “online threat” made to Harry Potter author J.K Rowling. She supported Rusdhie in a tweet following his assault.

The 57-year-old Rowling tweeted on Friday that she “was feeling very ill at the moment” as the news broke about the attack on Salman Rushdie. In reply, one user tweeted “Don’t worry, you’re next”.

Rowling shared a screen capture of the response, asking the Twitter moderators “any chance of some support?” ” That’s your guidance, isn’t it? «Violence: you cannot threaten violence against a person or a group of people», she added.

It appears that the tweet was deleted on Sunday. The author tweeted that the police were aware of this. The same Twitter account, which was thought to be based in Pakistan, also posted messages supporting Rushdie’s assailant.