Iranians reacted with praise and worry Saturday over the attack on novelist Salman Rushdie, the target of a decades-old fatwa by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his death. It remains unclear why Rushdie's attacker, identified by police as Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey, stabbed the author as he prepared to speak at an event Friday in western New York. Iran's theocratic government and its state-run media have assigned no motive to the assault. But in Tehran, some willing to speak to The Associated Press offered praise for an attack targeting a writer they believe tarnished the Islamic faith with his 1988 book “The Satanic Verses.” In the streets of Iran’s capital, images of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini still peer down at passers-by. “I don’t know Salman Rushdie, but I am happy to hear that he was attacked since he insulted Islam," said Reza Amiri, a 27-year-old deliveryman. “This is the fate for anybody who insults sanctities.” Others, however, worried aloud that Iran could become even more cut off from the world as tensions remain high over its tattered nuclear deal. “I feel those who did it are trying to isolate Iran," said Mahshid Barati, a 39-year-old geography teacher. “This will negatively affect relations with many — even Russia and China.” Khomeini, in poor health in the last year of his life after the grinding, stalemate 1980s Iran-Iraq war decimated the country's economy, issued the fatwa on Rushdie in 1989. The Islamic edict came amid a violent uproar in the Muslim world over the novel, which some viewed as blasphemously making suggestions about the Prophet Muhammad's life. "I would like to inform all the intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book entitled ‘Satanic Verses’ ... as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, are hereby sentenced to death," Khomeini said in February 1989, according to Tehran Radio. He added: "Whoever is killed doing this will be regarded as a martyr and will go directly to heaven." Early on Saturday, Iranian state media made a point to note one man identified as being killed while trying to carry out the fatwa. Lebanese national Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh died when a book bomb he had prematurely exploded in a London hotel on Aug. 3, 1989, just over 33 years ago. Matar, the man who attacked Rushdie on Friday, was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from the southern village of Yaroun, the town’s mayor Ali Tehfe told the AP. Read: Author Salman Rushdie stabbed on lecture stage in New York Yaroun sits only kilometers (miles) away from Israel. In the past, the Israeli military has fired on what it described as positions of the Iran-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah around that area. At newsstands Saturday, front-page headlines offered their own takes on the attack. The hard-line Vatan-e Emrouz's main story covered what it described as: “A knife in the neck of Salman Rushdie.” The reformist newspaper Etemad's headline asked: “Salman Rushdie near death?” The conservative newspaper Khorasan bore a large image of Rushdie on a stretcher, its headline blaring: “Satan on the path to hell.” But the 15th Khordad Foundation — which put the over $3 million bounty on Rushdie — remained quiet at the start of the working week. Staffers there declined to immediately comment to the AP, referring questions to an official not in the office. The foundation, whose name refers to the 1963 protests against Iran's former shah by Khomeini's supporters, typically focuses on providing aid to the disabled and others affected by war. But it, like other foundations known as “bonyads” in Iran funded in part by confiscated assets from the shah's time, often serve the political interests of the country's hard-liners. Reformists in Iran, those who want to slowly liberalize the country's Shiite theocracy from inside and have better relations with the West, have sought to distance the country's government from the edict. Notably, reformist President Mohammad Khatami's foreign minister in 1998 said that the “government disassociates itself from any reward which has been offered in this regard and does not support it." Rushdie slowly began to re-emerge into public life around that time. But some in Iran have never forgotten the fatwa against him. On Saturday, Mohammad Mahdi Movaghar, a 34-year-old Tehran resident, described having a “good feeling” after seeing Rushdie attacked. “This is pleasing and shows those who insult the sacred things of we Muslims, in addition to punishment in the hereafter, will get punished in this world too at the hands of people,” he said. Others, however, worried the attack — regardless of why it was carried out — could hurt Iran as it tries to negotiate over its nuclear deal with world powers. Since then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, Tehran has seen its rial currency plummet and its economy crater. Meanwhile, Tehran enriches uranium now closer than ever to weapons-grade levels amid a series of attacks across the Mideast. “It will make Iran more isolated,” warned former Iranian diplomat Mashallah Sefatzadeh. While fatwas can be revised or revoked, Iran's current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who took over after Khomeini has never done so. “The decision made about Salman Rushdie is still valid,” Khamenei said in 1989. “As I have already said, this is a bullet for which there is a target. It has been shot. It will one day sooner or later hit the target.” As recently as February 2017, Khamenei tersely answered this question posed to him: “Is the fatwa on the apostasy of the cursed liar Salman Rushdie still in effect? What is a Muslim’s duty in this regard?”   Khamenei responded: “The decree is as Imam Khomeini issued.”

A recent article, published by British daily the Financial Times, said the rise of Bangladesh as a "development success story," is "a template for a host of African nations." Bangladesh offers a glimpse of what is genuinely possible and a rebuke to those who see past national performance as a guide to future prospects, reads the article by David Pilling. Citing Charlie Robertson, chief economist at Renaissance Capital, the article put down the country's development success to three factors – literacy, electricity and fertility – all tests that Bangladesh passes. In his book "The Time Travelling Economist," Charlie argues that the prerequisites for industrial take-off are adult literacy above 70 percent, electricity supply above 300 kWh per person and a fertility rate below 3 children. In Africa, most of the nations have a sordid record in providing electricity to their citizens. David wrote: "Bangladesh today is where South Korea was in 1975," and the country "holds lessons for many parts of Africa, though it is rarely mentioned as a template for development." South Korea and Singapore are frequently cited, but no African country has come close to matching their success. Read:Bangladesh a global model for poverty reduction: WB  Pointing to the recent effort by the government to seek loans from the International Monetary Fund, David wrote: "If you take the long view, Bangladesh – once dismissed as a 'bottomless basket' by Henry Kissinger – is a development success." About the remarkable turnaround of the country in three decades, the article said: "GDP per capita has increased eightfold. Women have two children on average, meaning parents have more money to devote to each child's education, health and wellbeing – and banks have more savings to recycle to industry." "The proportion of people living in absolute poverty has more than halved. The position of women has greatly improved. More girls are in secondary school than boys."

The president of the Maldives, prime minister of Bhutan, and president of Sri Lanka have congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the inauguration of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Saturday. Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said successful completion of the bridge is a testament of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's dynamic leadership, dedication and commitment to the development of Bangladesh. Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering said the iconic road-rail structure will go a long way in intensifying economic activities of Bangladesh and beyond. Read: World Bank happy, congratulates Bangladesh on Padma Bridge Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said the bridge will positively contribute to the connectivity and inclusivity of Bangladesh enhancing its economic and industrial progress. The Padma Bridge has connected around one-third of Bangladesh's land area, entangled with rivers, to the capital.