Cable Briefs

Press, 15 June 1978, Page 8

Cable Briefs

Talka to reaume China has agreed to > Japanese suggestion that th< two countries resume nego tiations on a peace ant friendship treaty, the Japan ese Foreign Ministry ha; said. Negotiations for th, treaty have been stalle, since 1975 over Chinesi insistence on the inclusiot 0? a clause condemning hegemony — domination of an area by one country — which Moscow sees as being aimed against the Soviet Union. — .Tokyo. Britona flogged Two Britons have beer publicly flogged in Saudi Arabia for breaking the countrv’s strict laws prohibiting the use of alcohol, thi British Foreign Office has said. A spokesman said that the British Foreign Offic, was concerned about tht fate of seven other Britons said to be facing the sam, punishment. The Foreign Office has protested about the floggings, which according to reports were administered because the two men manufactured and distributed alcohol in defiance of strict Muslim law. The two men are thought to have agreed to the floggings rather than serve extra time on top ol the six-month jail sentences they were also given. — London.

Jailed for life Alan Rose, aged 29, has been jailed for life at the Central Criminal Court in London for murdering his wife’s lover, Andreas Costa, aged 18. The court had earlier been told how Rose recruited three teenage boys to help in several murders he planned. The boys told the court they did not think he was serious. Rose alone shot Mr Costa. — London. Reforms unveiled The Canadian Prime Minister (Mr Pierre Trudeau) has unveiled a long-awaited package of Canadian constitutional reforms to help combat Quebec separatism. The proposals included giving Canada’s 10 provinces a voice in appointments to the Senate (Upper House of Parliament) and the Supreme Court, and the adoption of a new Constitution to replace the 111-year-old British Act of Parliament still serving as the nation’s basic law. The proposals, leaked last week by a Montreal newspaper, have been denounced in advance by the Quebec Premier (Mr Rene Levesque) who has said his separatist government would not be satisfied with cosmetic adjustments to the Constitution. Quebec will hold a referendum on indepndence next year. — Ottawa. Zaire call Zaire, needing at least a billion dollars of new investments, has made clear to its creditors it was ready to accept wide-ranging international control over its economic recovery. At an 11-nation meeting called to discuss the “Mobutu plan" to revive the nation’s economy, Zaire asked for a foreigner to be named as chief comptroller at its Finance Ministry, well-informed sources said. — Brussels. Gandhi summons The former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, has been summoned to appear before a New Delhi Magistrate’s Court on July 20 to answer a civil suit filed by the Delhi Transport Corporation for recovery of 14,385 rupees ($1800). The corporation claims the money is for 200 buses provided in February, 1975, “to transport people to express solidarity" with her as Prime Minister. — New Delhi. Murder sentence A man convicted of killing his six children has been sentenced to between 100 and 200 years in prison for each of the murders. The bludgeoned bodies of Nelson’s children were found in the family’s home on January 7. Nelson later said he killed them after his wife told him she was seeking a divorce. — Illinois.