Salman Rushdie off ventilator and talking following stabbing in US

The man accused of stabbing him pleaded not guilty on Saturday to charges of attempted murder and assault, in what a prosecutor called a “pre-planned” crime

Salman Rushdie was stabbed at least once in the neck and once in the abdomen, according to police, before he was taken to hospital. File Picture: Alamy/PA

Salman Rushdie has been taken off his ventilator and is talking as he recovers from being stabbed in the US.

British-American writer Aatish Taseer said, in a since-deleted tweet, that the 75-year-old was “off the ventilator and talking (and joking)”, which was then confirmed by the author’s agent Andrew Wylie.