Cable briefs

Press, 9 February 1982, Page 8

Cable briefs

‘Hong Kong plans-

The popular Hong Kong newspaper “Oriental Daily” has said that Peking has’ initiated ideas for a plan to. settle Hong Kong’s future) after 1997 when the lease on the greater part of the'-’ colony is due to expire. -The Chinese-language . daily; which gave no sources, shid the plan called -for turning the leased New Territories,, adjacent to the Shenzhenspecial economic zone, into a special zone with the Hong Kong Government acting as a hired general manager. Shenzhen- is , one of four special zones now being developed by the Chinese to attract foreign investments. The daily said its information was received after talks in Peking between the British Deputy Foreign Secretary (Mr Humphrey Atkins) and the Chinese Prime Minister (Mr Zhao Ziyang) about a month ago. — Hong Kong. India ‘misunderstood' The Indian Prime Minister (Mrs Indira Gandhi) has accused the United States of failing to understand India's problems and warned the Reagan Administration that relations between the two countries were deteriorating. A plan to sell Fl 6 jets to Pakistan was the latest sign that the United States had “an utter lack of any understanding of India's position,” she said in the magazine, “United States News and World Report.” She said India wanted better relations with the United States but felt continually rebuffed. — Washington.

New President

A Social Democrat, Luis Alberto Monge Alvarez, appears to have been elected President in Costa Rica’s General Elections. Mr Monge, leader of the National Liberation Party, claimed his expected victory when early returns gave him a 2-to-l lead over his closest challenger, the incumbent Christian Democratic Party’s Rafael Angel Calderon. Mr Monge promised that his government would be one of “national consensus” and that Costa Rica would remain neutral in any armed conflict in Central America. — San Jose.

Blow to Schmidt

Three local branches of Chancellor Helmut Schmidt’s Social Democrat Party have turned against his defence policy, ignoring an appeal from Mr Schmidt ■ himself. Delegates to a Social Democrat meeting in. Essen, representing a 70.000-strong party branch, called for a moratorium on American missile deployment in West Germany for the duration of the present United States-Soviet talks in Geneva to reduce European nuclear arsenals. Observers called the party votes a clear blow for Mr Schmidt, who last year threatened to resign on the issue. — Bonn.

13 killings claimed

A cross-country drifter who says he killed 13 people on a 16-day rampage in six states has been arraigned on murder charges while the authorities try to verify his story. Robert Dale Henderson.' aged 36, of Eckmansville, Ohio, has been charged in the Charlotte County District Court with the murder of three of his in-laws on their tobacco farm in Ohio. The authorities in Ohio. South Carolina. Georgia. Mississippi. and Louisiana have said they intend to issue arrest warrants for Henderson. — Miami.