内容摘要：Mr Williams and his wife Wendy believe about 400 men were discharged in the same 'first wave' as him, with about 2,600 going in the 'second wave' in 1972, receiving a substantially improved pension.

Mr Williams and his wife Wendy believe about 400 men were discharged in the same 'first wave' as him, with about 2,600 going in the 'second wave' in 1972, receiving a substantially improved pension.

"I was pleased that he got the maximum available, and I hope he uses it to reflect upon his deeds," Sir Salman told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.The attack left the award-winning writer blind in one eye, with damage to his liver and a paralysed hand caused by nerve damage to his arm.

Last year, Sir Salman published a book titled Knife reflcting on the attack, which he has described as "my way of fighting back".It includes an imagined conversation with Matar. "I thought if I was to really meet him, to ask him questions, I wouldn't get very much out of him," Sir Salman told Radio 4."I doubt that he would open his heart to me. And so I thought, well, I could open it by myself. I'd probably do it better than a real conversation would."

The fictional conversation was brought to life by BBC film-maker Alan Yentob in an artificial intelligence animation created for a documentary last year.The results were "very startling", Sir Salman said on Monday. "I have to say it certainly made a point."

The author was speaking on Radio 4 to pay tribute to Yentob, the BBC's former creative director, who died on Saturday.

"Apart from everything that everybody's been saying about him - that he was an unbelievable champion of the arts and so on - he also had a real gift for friendship," he said. "He was a very strong ally in bad times."It is thought that more than 400 soldiers have been killed by militants since the beginning of last month in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, Reuters reports.

The vocalist of a thrash metal band said he felt "lucky" that the group has been selected to perform at a festival he first attended more than 15 years ago.Lee Margaillan, from Collapse The Sky, a band from Norwich, said the group entered a competition to play at Download Festival as part of its

, Leicestershire, between 13-15 June with headliners Green Day, Sleep Token, Korn and McFly amongst the line-up.He said: "It's something that we've entered in the past but this year we are lucky enough to be selected and to be performing at one of the most major rock and metal festivals in the country and probably the world."