The hardline Iranian leader was asked about the British author in the wake of the broadcast of an anti-Islam film, The Innocence of the Prophet that has set off protests around the Muslim world. 
 
 Mr Ahmadinejad appeared to reiterate the Iranian threat to Rushdie by advising that the writer's location be kept secret. 
 
 "Where is he now?" Ahmadinejad asked of Rushdie. "Is he in the United States? If he is, you shouldn't broadcast that for his own safety." 
 
 The founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, issued a fatwa that Mr Rushdie should be killed for blasphemy for his writings about the prophet Mohammad in Satanic Verses. 
 
 An Iranian religious foundation headed by Ayatollah Hassan Saneii raised the bounty for Rushdie from $2.8 million (£1.7 million) to $3.3 million (£2 million) following the protests over the film. 
 
 By failing to distance himself from the recent renewed threats on the author's life emanating from an Iranian semi-official religious foundation, Mr Ahmadinejad has bolstered the credibility of the bounty to any would be Islamic avenger. 
 
 Rushdie said the latest Iranian threat was a product of the "outrage industry". 
 
 "This was essentially one priest in Iran looking for a headline," he said. 
 
 The Indian-born author also said that the novel would not find a publisher today because of a climate of "fear and nervousness". 
 
 Coincidentally, Rushdie has been on a publicity tour to promote his memoirs, Joseph Anton, an account of his time in hiding following the fatwa. 

 A report today in an official outlet of the Iranian regime claims that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, will meet with members of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Ahmadinejad is currently in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, where these reported meetings will take place. 
 
 "Ahmadinejad is also set to meet American university students, artists, intellectuals and elites, including Occupy Wall Street anti-capitalist protestors, despite the ongoing efforts made by the pro-Zionist lobbies to prevent direct link between American people and the Iranian president," the Iranian organ Fars News reports. 
 
 Earlier this year American professors gathered in Tehran to discuss the supposed virtues of the Occupy Wall Street movement. 
 
 In New York, the Iranian president has several interviews lined up. "President Ahmadinejad has also accepted the interview requests made by several news networks, including CNN, CBS and Russia Today (RT)," Fars reports. 
 
 The report also claims that Ahmadinejad is staying the Warwick Hotel. "President Ahmadinejad is scheduled to start his week-long visit to New York early on September 22. Manhattan's Warwick Hotel will host the Iranian President and his accompanying delegation. Over 150 security officers will guarantee President Ahmadinejad's security during his stay in New York." 
 
 A night this week in the Irresistible Suite Dreams in the Warwick can cost, according to the hotel's website, an average of $775.00 per night.
– Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a busy schedule on his current visit to New York for the UN General Assembly, including network interviews, meetings with students—and a sit-down with Occupy Wall Street, the Weekly Standard reports. An official Iranian news outlet reported the story, saying Iran's president will meet with the protesters "despite the ongoing efforts made by the pro-Zionist lobbies to prevent direct link between American people and the Iranian president." Also on his dance card: "artists, intellectuals and elites." At the same time, Ahmadinejad suggested that the fatwa on Salman Rushdie's head is ongoing, the Telegraph reports. Asked about the British-Indian writer, Ahmadinejad said, "Where is he now? Is he in the United States? If he is, you shouldn't broadcast that for his own safety." Rushdie has called the bounty—now at $3.3 million—a result of the "outrage industry," and said it "was essentially one priest in Iran looking for a headline."