World IN BRIEF : IRAN : Rushdie Threat Reportedly Ended

Iran is calling off the hunt for author Salman Rushdie, a British newspaper said. Iran has promised not to send out assassins to kill the author of “The Satanic Verses” and will instruct Muslims to abide by the laws of the countries in which they live, the Sunday Telegraph said. Rushdie received the equivalent of a death sentence under Islamic law in February, 1989, after a fatwa , or death order, that alleged that Rushdie had blasphemed Islam. The Telegraph said the “theoretical aspect” of the fatwa can’t be lifted. But Iran essentially promised not to carry out the sentence.