Cable briefs

Press, 23 June 1981, Page 8

Cable briefs

Late meeting A long-delayed session of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee at which Hua Guofeng, Mao Tse-tung's hand-picked successor, is expected to be removed from the chairmanship, has started, diplomatic sources have said. Both Chinese and diplomatic sources have said the crucial sixth plenary session of the Central Committee, originally due to be held late last year, would accept Mr Hua’s resignation and appoint the Communist Party general secretary, Hu Yaobang, a close ally of the top Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping, in his place.—Peking. Agca enigma Investigators say they are increasingly convinced the man ' accused of shooting Pope John Paul II acted on behalf of a terrorist group, but they still do not know for which group or why. After five weeks of interrogations Mehmet Ali Agca, the 23-year-old Turk charged with attempted murder of the Pope and two American women wounded in the attack on May 13 in St Peter’s Square, remains an enigma to the police, despite the fact that they have traced him to Right-wing groups in West Germany and Turkey.— Rome. Israel relieved Israeli officials have said their country has no intention of accepting a United Nations Security Council call to allow international inspection of its nuclear installations. Although the council condemned Israel’s air raid on an Iraqi reactor, the Israeli officials said they were somewhat relieved that no punitive measures had been adopted. “It could have been much worse,” one official said.—Jerusalem.