September 7, 1995
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Now that U.S. first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton has ended her trip to Beijing, China is breaking its silence over her attack on its human rights record.
A foreign ministry spokesman, asked about Mrs. Clinton's remarks at the U.N. World Women's Conference, noted that "some people from some countries" made comments that were "unwarranted" and he warned Washington against creating further strains in U.S.-Chinese relations. Mrs. Clinton indirectly criticized China's human rights record on Tuesday when she addressed the conference. She alluded to the country's approach to family planning and chastised the Chinese for harassing delegates at a parallel conference in suburban Huariou, calling the harassment "indefensible."
President Clinton says he does not expect his wife's comments to hurt relations between the two countries, and some observers said China's reaction has been relatively mild.
LONDON (CNN) -- Salman Rushdie will make his first pre- announced public appearance since an Iranian death threat was leveled against him in 1989 when he attends a literary debate Thursday evening in London. The debate's topic is an appropriate one: persecuted writers.
Since the publication of his controversial novel, "The Satanic Verses," and his subsequent retreat into the shadows, Rushdie has made occasional, spontaneous appearances at book launches and parties of the literati. Thursday night's event, however, is open to the public, with tickets even being sold in advance. "This is a wonderful moment," Rushdie said in an interview with BBC radio, saying he felt that "the clouds will be blowing away." His appearance is designed to promote his latest novel.
Rushdie, 48, has lived under round-the-clock police protection, moving from location to location, since the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini said that "Verses" represented blasphemy against Islam. Khomeini issued a death edict, or "fatwa", which has never been lifted.
Rushdie's new novel, "The Moor's Last Sigh," has received raves in Great Britain but raised the ire of Hindu nationalists in Bombay. That city, Rushdie's birthplace, is the backdrop for the novel.
PARIS (CNN) -- In what may have been France's fourth bombing in just six weeks, a vehicle exploded in the Lyon suburb of Villeurbanne Thursday, injuring as many as 11 people.
The explosion occurred in front of a Jewish school and seriously hurt one person. Three children were among the injured, and the explosion's cause was not immediately known. Over the past weeks, three bombs have detonated in Paris, killing seven people and hurting more than 100. Two other bombs were defused, one on train tracks near Lyon.
Police officials say they believe that Muslim extremists opposing the Algerian government may be behind the bombings. Earlier this week, four suspected members of an Islamic group were taken into custody on suspicion of planning an attack on a gas facility.
![[Imagemap]](/WORLD/images/world_nav.gif)
Copyright © 1995 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.