MADRID: Author Salman Rushdie lost vision in one eye and was left “incapacitated” in a hand after he was stabbed in the United States in August, his agent said in an interview published this weekend.
The 75-year-old writer, who had received several death threats after the publication of his “The Satanic Verses,” was stabbed several times in the neck and abdomen before he was due to give a talk in the state of New York.
Rushdie was then air-lifted to a nearby hospital for emergency surgery but his condition had improved in the weeks after.
“He’s lost the sight of one eye ... He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso,” Andrew Wylie told Spanish daily El Pais, providing an update on Rushdie’s health.
The injuries “were profound ... it was a brutal attack,” Wylie added.
He would not give any information about the writer’s whereabouts, or whether he was still in hospital, but said: “He’s going to live.”
The British author had lived in hiding for years after Iran’s first supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered his killing for what he deemed the blasphemous nature of “The Satanic Verses.”
The main suspect, Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old from New Jersey with roots in Lebanon, was arrested immediately after the attack on Rushdie and he then pleaded not guilty during a hearing in New York state in mid-August.
The attack sparked outrage in the West but was praised by extremists in Muslim countries like Iran and Pakistan.
Rushdie’s literary agent says author lost sight in eye, use of hand in attack
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Rushdie’s literary agent says author lost sight in eye, use of hand in attack
- Rushdie was stabbed in August before he was due to give a talk in the state of New York
- His agent did not say if the writer was still in hospital, though he said Rushdie was going to live
Migrants cast a shadow on Starmer-Macron summit
- Record number of refugees crossing the English Channel remains a major point of friction
LONDON: Britain and France are friends again following the rancour of Brexit, but the record number of irregular migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats remains a major point of friction.
The issue will feature during a state visit to Britain by French President Emmanuel Macron starting Tuesday and new measures to curb the dangerous journeys are expected to be announced on Thursday following talks with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
More than 21,000 migrants have crossed from northern France to southeast England in rudimentary vessels this year, providing a massive headache for Starmer as the far-right soars in popularity.
Images of overloaded vessels leaving French beaches with law enforcement officers appearing to just watch on exasperate UK politicians and the unforgiving tabloid press.
HIGHLIGHTS
• More than 21,000 migrants have crossed from northern France to southeast England in rudimentary vessels this year, providing a massive headache for the UK prime minister.
• Starmer, who led his Labour party to a sweeping victory in an election last year following 14 years of Conservative rule, has vowed to ‘take back control’ of Britain’s borders.
• But in the first six months of 2025, there was a 48 percent increase in the number of people arriving on small boats compared to last year.
“We pay for French cops’ buggy, 4x4s and drones, but migrants still sailing,” complained The Sun newspaper on Wednesday, in a reference to the so-called Sandhurst Treaty.
The 2018 agreement, that runs until 2027, sees Britain finance actions taken in France to stop the migrants.
Starmer, who led his Labour Party to a sweeping victory in an election last year following 14 years of Conservative rule, has vowed to “take back control” of Britain’s borders.
But in the first six months of 2025, there was a 48 percent increase in the number of people arriving on small boats compared to last year, with the government blaming extended dry weather.
The annual record of 45,774 reached in 2022 could be broken this year, which would deal a massive blow to Starmer as Euroskeptic Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party leads national polls.
A new border control law going through Britain’s Parliament would give law enforcement counter-terror style powers to combat people-smuggling gangs.
The UK has also signed agreements with countries on migrant transit routes, including Iraq, Serbia, and Germany.
But Starmer needs strengthened cooperation with France, and key announcements were expected following their talks.
Under pressure from London, Paris is considering tweaking its laws to allow police to intercept migrant boats up to 300 meters from France’s shoreline. Currently, French law enforcement only intervene at sea to rescue passengers at risk of drowning.
The two governments are also working on a migrant exchange program.
A pilot project would see Britain capable of returning to France someone who has crossed the Channel by boat, according to several media sources.
France in exchange could deport an equivalent number of people to Britian, provided they have the right to live there, such as through family reunification.
Paris wants to expand the agreement to the EU so that readmissions can be shared among several countries.
According to Britain’s Interior Ministry, migrants who crossed the Channel between March 2024 and March 2025 were mainly Afghans, Syrians, Eritreans, Iranians, and Sudanese.
French officials have claimed that Britain attracts migrants because the lack of a national identity card makes it easier to work illegally.
Starmer’s government has cracked down on illegal work — arrests increased by 51 percent from July 2024 to the end of May, compared to the previous year, it says.
But Peter Walsh, a researcher at Oxford University’s Migration Observatory, doubts that it is easier to work illegally in Britain than in France.
“You have to demonstrate that you have the right to work. If an employer doesn’t carry out those checks, then they can face serious sanctions, fines and imprisonment. That’s the same in France and the UK,” he said.
Walsh believes the English language and presence of family members in Britain are key attractions, as well as Britain’s departure from the EU.
“If you’ve claimed asylum in the EU and been refused, you can actually come to the UK and have another shot because we will not know that you’ve actually been refused in the EU,” he said.
Last year, she became a British citizen and now works as a nurse.
Tsegay says there is a “hostile environment” toward irregular migrants in Britain, saying they were often presented as “criminals” rather than people “contributing to society.”
She wants Starmer and Macron to focus on improving safe routes for migrants fleeing war-torn countries as a way to stop them risking the Channel crossings. “These people come here to seek safety,” Tsegay said.
Death toll rises to 27 in Pakistan building collapse as rescue ends
- Rescuers pulled 11 more bodies from the rubble of the building that collapsed on Friday, according to a Karachi police surgeon
KARACHI: The death toll from a collapsed multistory residential building in Pakistan’s Karachi city rose to 27 on Sunday as a three-day rescue operation ended, officials said.
Rescuers pulled 11 more bodies from the rubble of the building that collapsed on Friday, according to Dr. Summayya Tariq, the Karachi police surgeon. Ten people were injured and one of them died at a hospital, she said.
Authorities said they were investigating the cause of the collapse.
Building collapses are common in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced. Many structures are built with substandard materials, and safety regulations are often overlooked to reduce costs.
In June 2020, an apartment building collapsed in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province, killing 22 people.
Iraq War a factor in 2005 London bombings: Ex-counterterror chief
- Neil Basu warns of ‘soul-destroying’ legacy of hate ahead of 20th anniversary of attacks
- ‘Foreign policy and Iraq ... radicalized and made extremists of people,’ he tells The Guardian
LONDON: British foreign policy, including the Iraq War, contributed to motivations for the attacks in London on July 7, 2005, a former counterterrorism chief has said, warning that the atrocity left a “soul-destroying” legacy of hate.
Neil Basu’s remarks were made to The Guardian ahead of the 20th anniversary of the attacks, which were carried out by Islamist extremists and left 52 people dead and more than 750 injured.
British foreign policy has a direct effect on domestic security, said Basu, adding that one driver of the attacks was “foreign policy and Iraq,” referring to Britain’s central role in the conflict alongside the US.
“That does not excuse in any way what they did. That foreign policy decision has radicalized and made extremists of people who might not have been radicalized or extreme,” he said.
In the wake of the attacks, the shock in Britain was compounded by the revelation that the group of suicide bombers had been supported by Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda terror group.
“All terrorists will have a freedom fighter story,” Basu said: “Bin Laden would have had a freedom fighter story. We might think it’s crap. We might think it’s self-justification, but he will have had a story about liberating his lands from the great invaders.”
The ringleader of the attacks was Mohammed Sidique Khan. The husband and father said in a self-recorded video before his death by suicide: “We are at war and I am a soldier. Now you, too, will taste the reality of this situation.”
Basu warned that the new threat level to the UK from terrorism is far higher than in 2005. “There is no one path for any single individual to go down a terrorist route. There’s a multiplicity of paths, and one of them is: ‘I’m right, you’re wrong.’ Now that looks obscene to us … they are on God’s side. We are on Satan’s side,” he said.
“When terrorists hide behind a religion to commit an atrocity, people blame every follower of the religion and the religion itself. We ought to stop doing that.”
As a result of that behavior on a national scale, people in Britain are suspicious of those who “don’t look like you, think like you, eat like you, worship like you,” Basu said.
“That has got worse, not better, and that has been caused exactly as terrorists want, by dividing a society by committing the shocking act.”
The attacks also led to a reversal of decades of progress in race and religious relations, Basu said, highlighting a surging suspicion of Muslims in Britain in the decades since.
The “trajectory of tolerance” seen in the UK since the 1980s has been wiped out, he added, citing the July 7 bombings and 9/11 attacks in the US as crucial factors.
“That’s what I think has been most soul-destroying … It has interrupted a trajectory of tolerance that I was becoming very familiar and happy with,” Basu said.
“It started with 9/11 … 7/7 accelerated that in this country. The relationship between races is worse today, or as bad today as it was in the 70s and 80s. That period of tolerance is over, and feels very much over.”
For Muslims in Britain, the events of that decade led to wider damage within the community as members risked being tarred with suspicion by the public, Basu said.
A cycle of hatred and intolerance had been set in motion as a result, he added, warning of surging right-wing extremism and racism.
“I look at the rise of extreme right-wing terrorism in this country … of right-wing, racist attitudes toward black and brown people, and I look at the rise in hate crime reporting … and can’t help but think we’ve got a vicious cycle that started when certain vicious groups started killing people on western soil. I think they were intending to do that, and they have succeeded,” he said.
Korean man opens musalla at home to serve Muslim migrant workers
- Often called the ‘Hawaii of South Korea,’ Jeju Island increasingly relies on migrant workers
- Many employed in fisheries come from Muslim-majority Indonesia and Pakistan
SEOGWIPO, Jeju: On the southern coast of Jeju Island, far from the honeymoon resorts and tourist beaches, a modest home near a fishing village has quietly become a spiritual refuge for a largely invisible community: Muslim migrant workers.
Step past the shoe rack and the quiet hum of a record player, and you will find a small musalla. Clean, carpeted and softly lit, the space offers something rare for Muslims living on South Korea’s remote holiday island: a place to pray, rest, and feel recognized.
The prayer space was created by Nasir Hong-suk Seong, 35, a Korean fish farm operator who converted part of his home into a musalla after moving to Jeju earlier this year.
The island’s only masjid is in Jeju City, more than an hour by car from the southern coast where most migrants work in fisheries.
“Fish farm workers are on call 24 hours, so they can never make the time to go to the masjid for Jummah prayers,” Seong told Arab News.
“When I first arrived, I asked where they prayed. I was very sad when I heard it was almost impossible for them to attend Friday prayers and that they mostly prayed in the corner of their small dorm rooms.”
Often called the “Hawaii of South Korea,” Jeju is better known for its volcanic peak and tourist beaches than for labor migration. Yet, the island’s economy has been increasingly reliant on migrant workers, many of whom are Muslim men coming mainly from Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Jeju Province officially recorded 3,567 migrant workers in 2024. Seong estimates that in his region alone, 300 fish farms employ about 1,500 of them, with half identifying as Muslim.
Seong moved to Jeju from the port city of Incheon, where he used to run a guesthouse and often hosted Muslim guests. Getting to know them helped him see through the negative stereotypes of Islam in the West, and in 2023 he converted to the Muslim faith.
“About 30 percent of my guests were from Muslim-majority countries. As I got to know them through hosting, they turned out to be incredibly kind and respectful,” he said.
“There are so many people who misunderstand the religion. I think when people talk about Islam in Korea, they think of something foreign, something unknown. But it can be as simple as taking care of your neighbors.”
Such, too, was the purpose of Seong’s musalla. He spent a month preparing it at the home belonging to his grandfather. Starting in March, he spent all his after-work hours furnishing the space.
“When I moved in, I had nothing. Not even furniture or a pillow. This musalla was the first thing I made,” he said.
“I always keep it open. People can come for group prayer anytime ... and seeing them pray here makes me happy.”
Modest but maintained with care, the musalla is fitted with prayer rugs lined on the floor. A low shelf holds editions of the Qur’an in English, Arabic and Korean. Arabic calligraphy decorates the walls. A handmade qibla sign marks the direction of prayer.
Khalid Hussein, a 38-year-old from Pakistan, has been working in Jeju for the past 15 years. Employed at Seong’s fish farm, he has been visiting the musalla regularly, also to be in touch more with his identity.
“It became easier for us,” Hussein said.
“Jeju is 100 percent different. The culture, religion — everything is different. So, we need to compromise.”
He was at the musalla with his colleague, Zahaid Hussain, who also came from Pakistan on a contract that brought him to Jeju.
“I felt good when I was finally able to offer Friday prayers,” Zahaid said. “I was happy.”
Thousands of Buddhists gather in north India for Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday
- Dalai Lama announced that the institution of Tibet’s spiritual leader would continue after his death
- Followers and friends, including actor Richard Gere, took part in week-long celebrations
NEW DELHI: Thousands of Buddhists gathered in Dharamshala in northern India on Sunday to mark the 90th birthday of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
A Nobel peace laureate and one of the world’s most influential figures, the 14th Dalai Lama has been living in India since 1959, after he fled Tibet with thousands of others following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
Dharamshala, a town in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, has been his place of residence over the past six decades and also hosts the Tibetan government-in-exile.
Followers, monks, Indian officials and friends — including American actor Richard Gere — surrounded the Dalai Lama at the Tsuklakhang Tibetan Buddhist complex, where, despite monsoon rain, they greeted him with prayer and traditional Tibetan music and dance.
They celebrated his birthday and recent announcement that the 600-year-old institution of the Dalai Lama would continue after his death.
“This institution of the Dalai Lama is our identity, and I am glad it will be there. I came here for the Dalai Lama’s birthday from Delhi; you can understand how important he is for us,” said Loden, a Tibetan garment merchant living in New Delhi.
“This Dalai Lama is very popular and the whole world knows him, respects him, follows him. So yes, there is a bit of concern about the future Dalai Lama, about his acceptability in the world. I am sure this Dalai Lama would have thought about it. He has done great work for us Tibetans.”
When a Dalai Lama dies, Tibetan Buddhists believe he is reincarnated. Senior monks and members of the Tibetan government-in-exile will then search for the child who is the reincarnation, relying on dreams and visions, rituals at sacred lakes, signs at the Dalai Lama’s death, and other omens.
The 14th Dalai Lama was 2 years old when a search party decided he was the 14th reincarnation of Tibet’s spiritual leader.
Over the years, he has indicated that the continuation of the institution was ultimately up to the Tibetan people, and, if they no longer found it relevant, it could cease to exist, and there would be no 15th Dalai Lama.
He confirmed plans for a successor on Thursday.
“I am very happy that the Dalai Lama chose reincarnation. There should not have been any debate around it. It is our faith, and we trust every decision that the Dalai Lama makes. We can sacrifice our lives for him,” said Gatsog, a Tibetan refugee and monk in Dharamsala who attended the birthday celebrations.
The Dalai Lama has long led the Tibetan diaspora — most of whom live in India — in their struggle for autonomy and resistance against Chinese domination in Tibet.
His succession has drawn concerns among Tibetans living abroad that China might try to appoint the next Dalai Lama to tighten its control over Tibet, a region it invaded in 1950 and has governed ever since.
“China has no role in our religion. It is a matter of our faith. It is only about the decision of the Dalai Lama. We support his decision,” said Sonam Dolma, a Tibetan translator who has been living in India since 2007.
“I don’t have any concerns about the future Dalai Lama as he would be chosen by this Dalai Lama. So, it would be good for us. We just hope the world accepts him.”
