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Agent: Rushdie off ventilator and talking, day after attack
MAYVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — “The Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie was taken off a ventilator and able to talk Saturday, a day after he was stabbed as he prepared to give a lecture in upstate New York.
Rushdie remained hospitalized with serious injuries, but fellow author Aatish Taseer tweeted in the evening that he was “off the ventilator and talking (and joking).” Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, confirmed that information without offering further details.
Earlier in the day, the man accused of attacking him Friday at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges in what a prosecutor called a “preplanned” crime.
An attorney for Hadi Matar entered the plea on his behalf during an arraignment in western New York. The suspect appeared in court wearing a black and white jumpsuit and a white face mask, with his hands cuffed in front of him.
A judge ordered him held without bail after District Attorney Jason Schmidt told her Matar, 24, took steps to purposely put himself in position to harm Rushdie, getting an advance pass to the event where the author was speaking and arriving a day early bearing a fake ID.
Despite public anger, no progress in Iraq political deadlock
BAGHDAD (AP) — Weeks after followers of an influential cleric stormed parliament, Iraq’s political crisis shows no signs of abating, despite rising public anger over a debilitating gridlock that has further weakened the country's caretaker government and its ability to provide basic services.
Iraq's two rival Shiite political camps remain locked in a zero-sum competition, and the lone voice potentially able to end the rift — the revered Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani — has been conspicuously silent.
For now, hundreds of supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, a firebrand Shiite cleric, are still camped outside the legislative building in Baghdad, ready to escalate if their demands are not met.
Al-Sadr has called for early elections, the dissolution of parliament and constitutional amendments. He has given the judiciary an end-of-the-week deadline to dissolve the legislature.
His Shiite rivals in the Iran-backed camp have conditions of their own. They accused him of violating the constitution, prompting counter-protests that have spurred fears of bloodshed.
Physician Green wins Hawaii Democratic primary for governor
HONOLULU (AP) — For their 16th wedding anniversary, Democrats in Hawaii gifted Josh Green and his wife, Jaime, a comfortable margin of victory in the gubernatorial primary Saturday.
Green, the state’s current lieutenant governor, handily defeated former first lady Vicky Cayetano and Kaiali’I Kahele, who decided to seek the governor’s office instead of a second term in the U.S. House.
Green, with lei of yellow and purple flowers and green leaves piled high up to his neck, alternated between throwing fists in the air and giving the shaka sign to a boisterous crowd of supporters at his victory party.
“On to November, we will win the governorship and lead Hawaii forward,” he said to the cheering crowd.
He will face former two-term Republican Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona in the general election, who defeated mixed martial arts championship fighter B.J. Penn in his party’s primary.
In Ukraine, rebuilding starts with neighbors' help
NOVOSELIVKA, Ukraine (AP) — As battles raged around Kyiv, one Russian advance was stopped in front of Maria Metla’s home. Artillery gutted most of the house, while the rest was pulverized by tank fire.
Metla, 66, is now counting on her neighbors to have somewhere to live this winter.
Crews of volunteers turn up on most mornings to prize away anything that can be reused ‒ setting up neat piles of bricks, destroyed kitchen appliances for scrap metal, and chunks of insulation panels.
The salvaged material is reused to help rebuild homes destroyed along the perimeter of Russia’s failed attempt during the initial stages of the war to surround and capture Ukraine's capital.
The village of Novoselivka, 140 kilometers (nearly 90 miles) north of Kyiv, was a scene of intense fighting during the 36-day attack on the capital. Metal doors are buckled by bullet holes from heavy machine-gun fire and houses like Metla’s were smashed by ground and aerial bombardment.
High oil prices help Saudi Aramco earn $88B in first half
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi energy company Aramco said Sunday its profits jumped 90% in the second quarter compared to the same time last year, helping its half-year earnings reach nearly $88 billion. The increase is a boon for the kingdom and the crown prince's spending power as people around the world pay higher oil prices at the pump.
Aramco's net profits for the first half of the year were helped by strong second-quarter earnings that hit $48.4 billion — a figure higher than the first full half year of 2021, when profits reached just $47 billion.
The oil and gas company, which is nearly entirely state-owned by Saudi Arabia, said this sets a new quarterly earnings record for Aramco since it first floated around 5% of the company on the Saudi stock market in late 2019.
Aramco said profits were helped by higher crude oil prices and volumes sold, as well as higher refining margins. The vast oil reserves belonging to Saudi Arabia are among the cheapest to pump and produce in the world.
Aramco’s financial health is crucial to Saudi Arabia’s stability. Despite years of efforts to diversify the economy, the kingdom continues to rely heavily on oil and gas sales for revenue in order to pay public sector wages, subsidies, generous benefits to Saudi citizens, keep up its defense spending and carry out Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 infrastructure goals.
GOP candidates stress urgency at annual Nevada cookout
GARDNERVILLE, Nev. (AP) — Standing in front of 1,500 Republicans at a rural ranch backdropped by the Sierra Nevada mountains, Nevada’s Republican governor candidate Joe Lombardo referenced the “elephant in the room” without naming him.
The second-place finisher in the gubernatorial primary, Reno attorney Joey Gilbert, has baselessly claimed the mathematical counting was off and has continued to attack Lombardo. Lombardo to this point hasn’t addressed Gilbert directly, who requested a statewide recount of the results and later filed a lawsuit that was thrown out last week. He didn’t say Gilbert’s name on Saturday either, but acknowledged “we haven’t come together” since the primary.
“No matter who you voted for, we’ve got to get past that,” he said.
At the 7th annual Basque Fry, Republican heavyweights were eager to unite against incumbent Democrats at what has become a yearly tradition held in rural Douglas County. The event, which includes live music, an inflatable rodeo ride and Basque cuisine, is modeled after Adam Laxalt’s grandfather and former Nevada governor Paul Laxalt’s cookouts. The elder Laxalt was the son of Basque immigrants, and Adam now hosts the event with the Morning in Nevada PAC.
National and state politicians fired up the crowd with a message of urgency 80 days before midterm elections that will decide which party controls both the State House in Carson City and Congress in Washington D.C. Speaking to reporters before he took the state, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called Laxalt’s race “the single best pickup opportunity for Republicans.”
Audit: Va. failed on earlier advice before I-95 gridlock
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia government failed to carry out numerous lessons from a 2018 snowstorm that caused highway gridlock, as exhibited by a similar event along Interstate 95 in January that left hundreds of motorists stranded, a state watchdog office concluded.
The Office of the Inspector General report, released Friday, was critical of how the state transportation, police and emergency management agencies performed during the severe snowstorm that began Jan. 3, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
Logjams along a 40-mile (65-kilometer) stretch of I-95 in both directions not far from the nation’s capital led to outrage among motorists, some of whom were stuck in their vehicles overnight and pleaded on social media for help.
In April, a state-commissioned report created by a nonprofit group didn’t place blame on any single person or agency. But it found state agencies collectively “lost situational awareness” and failed to keep up with growing gridlock through a confluence of heavy snowfall, abnormally high traffic and staffing shortages related to COVID-19. Up to 11 inches (28 cm) of snow fell in the area.
Friday’s performance audit mentioned many of the same issues, but the I-95 mess could have been avoided if state officials had taken preventive measures recommended by Virginia DOT after a snowstorm in late 2018 blocked traffic on Interstate 81, in far southwest Virginia. Those recommendations included making plans for storms more severe than are forecast and communicating those dangers effectively to citizens.
Palestinian gunman wounds 8 in late-night Jerusalem shooting
JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian gunman opened fire at a bus near Jerusalem’s Old City early Sunday, wounding eight Israelis in an attack that came a week after violence flared up between Israel and militants in Gaza, police and medics said.
Two of the victims were in serious condition, including a pregnant woman with abdominal injuries and a man with gunshot wounds to the head and neck, according to Israeli hospitals treating them.
The U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, tweeted that there were American citizens among the wounded. An embassy spokesperson disclosed no other information or details.
The shooting happened as the bus waited in a parking lot near the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray. Israeli media identified the suspected attacker as a 26-year-old Palestinian from east Jerusalem.
Israeli police said forces were dispatched to the scene to investigate. Israeli security forces also pushed into the nearby Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan pursuing the suspected attacker.
Brief scuffles slow tallying in Kenya's close election
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s peaceful presidential election saw a brief disruption late Saturday when riot police responded to scuffles at the national tallying center amid tensions over the close results.
An agent for longtime opposition leader and candidate Raila Odinga announced from the lectern that the tallying center was the “scene of a crime” before calm was restored. The agent, Saitabao Ole Kanchory, offered no evidence in the latest example of the unverified claims that both top campaigns have made as Kenya waits for official results.
The electoral commission has seven days from Tuesday’s election to announce results. Chair Wafula Chebukati on Saturday again said the process was too slow, and the commission told nonessential people watching at the center to leave.
Police remained at the center on Sunday morning.
“We must all avoid raising tensions that could easily trigger violence,” local human rights groups and professional associations said in a joint statement Sunday urging restraint from candidates and their supporters.
AP PHOTOS: Fermented horse milk season on in Kyrgyzstan
SUUSAMYR, Kyrgyzstan (AP) — High up in the Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan, the season for making the fermented drink known as kumis is in full swing.
Connoisseurs of kumis, an important part of nomadic tribes’ diets for untold centuries, say the Suusamyr valley is home to the best version of the drink.
In winter, the valley, which is 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) above sea level, is covered in meters-deep snow. When the thaw comes, the abundance of water feeds dense grass and herbs. By the end of summer, the valley is awash in a thick, emerald carpet of juicy blades of grass that horses eagerly devour.
The grass and herbs lend a particular flavor to the milk that locals draw from the mares in the fields where they graze. The milk then is left to ferment, or sometimes churned to promote fermentation, until it becomes mildly alcoholic.
Cows’ milk can also be used, but it is regarded as inferior. Mares’ milk has a higher sugar content, making it more amenable to fermentation.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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