ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — An appellate court on Friday denied a request to move the trial of the New Jersey man charged with attacking author Salman Rushdie with a knife in 2022, clearing the way for the trial to move forward in the western New York county where the stabbing occurred.
Hadi Matar's trial was put on hold days before the scheduled Oct. 15 start of jury selection, pending a decision by the Rochester court. A new trial date was not immediately set.
Matar's attorney, Nathaniel Barone, argued that Matar would not receive a fair trial in Chautauqua County because of extensive publicity and the lack of an Arab American community in the county whose population is 93% white. District Attorney Jason Schmidt opposed the move.
Matar, 26, is accused of running onto the stage at the Chautauqua Institution as Rushdie was about to speak and stabbing him more than a dozen times until being subdued by onlookers.
The “Satanic Verses” author was severely injured, including being blinded in one eye. The event’s moderator, Henry Reese, was also wounded.
Matar has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault.
He also has pleaded not guilty to related terrorism charges in U.S. District Court in Buffalo.
FILE - Hadi Matar, charged with attempted murder for stabbing author Salman Rushdie more than a dozen times, is escorted into the courtroom for a hearing in Chautauqua County Court, Oct. 4, 2024, in Mayville, N.Y. (AP Photo/Carolyn Thompson, File)
HAVANA (AP) — A massive outage left millions of Cubans without power and prompted the government Friday to implement emergency measures to slash demand, including suspending classes, shutting down some state-owned workplaces and canceling non-essential services.
Cuban officials said that the blackout, which started late Thursday, saw 1.64 gigawatts go offline during peak hours in the early evening, about half the total demand at the time.
“The situation has worsened in recent days,” Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said in a special address on national television in the early hours of Friday. “We must be fully transparent ... we have been halting economic activities to ensure energy for the population.”
During his address, Marrero was accompanied by Alfredo López, chief of the state-owned utility, UNE, who said the outage stemmed from increased demand from small- and medium-sized companies and residences’ air conditioners, as well as breakdowns in old thermoelectric plants that haven’t been properly maintained and the lack of fuel to operate some facilities.
Changes to electricity rates for small- and medium-sized companies, which have proliferated since they were first authorized by the communist government in 2021, are also being considered, Marrero said.
Marrero sought to placate people’s concerns about the outage, citing an expected influx of fuel supply from Cuba's state-owned oil company.
Even in a country accustomed to frequent outages amid a deepening economic crisis, the size of Thursday night’s blackout left millions of Cubans on edge. Residents shut their doors and windows they typically leave open at night, and candles or lanterns were visible inside their homes.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
A person drives a classic American car past a floating generator that has not been producing electricity for days in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
