London - The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, held talks with Salman Rushdie yesterday in the wake of news that the bounty on the author's head had been increased.
A Foreign Office spokesman refused to comment on the private meeting but said the boosting of the reward by $300,000 made no difference to Britain's new, improved relations with Iran. The bounty, put up by an Iranian religious foundation for anyone who kills the author of the Satanic Verses, now stands at $2.8 million.