Page 4-Thursday, July 8, 1982-The Michigan Daily
Britain condnues
to hold prsoers
In Falkiands
LONDON (AP) - More than three
weeks after Argentine forces surren-
dered on the Falkland Islands, Britain
is holding 600 pisoners of war aboard
ships in the South Atlantic and says it in-
tends to keep them until Argentina
gives "positive indications" it won't
resume hostilities.
One of the pisoners is Brig. Gen.
Mario Benjamin Menendez, the Argen-
tine commander who surrendered his
forces on the Falklands June 14.
The prisoner issue is holding up
Britain's plans for the future of the
Falklands after the costly war to wrest
them back from the Argentine oc-
cupation force that invaded the colony
April 2.
IT IS ALSO raising questions about
interpretation of the Geneva Conven-
tion that says prisoners of war should
be sent home promptly.
The prisoners are among 11,800
Argentine troops captured by British
forces in the campaign climaxed by the
Argentine surrender of Stanley, the
Falklands capital. The 11,200 others
have been sent home.
Britain at first said it will keep of-
ficers and military specialists until it
received an "authoritative" Argentine
statement that hostilities are over in
the Falklands, their dependencies, and
the air and sea corridor between the
islands and the Argentine mainlain;
BRITAIN, HOWEVER, has watered
down that demand and now says it will
accept "positive indications" that
Argentina considers the fighting over.
One official close to Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher said, "We need
something stronger than a cease-fire.
We realize that Argentina may not
renounce its claim to the Falklands, but
we need to know that Argentina will not
Exocet our ships again."
Argentines
... under British guard
This was a reference to the sinking of
two British ships by Exocet missiles
during thewar.
ARTICLE 118 of the 1949 Geneva
Convention says war prisoners "shall
be released and repatriated without
delay after the cessation of active
hostilities."
Technically, Britain feels it is not in
default of the convention, officials say,
since it does not know if Argentina con-
siders "active" hostility at an end.
Since the Argentine surrender,
however, there has been no fighting.
There also is a new government in
Argentina, . replacing the fallen
President Leopoldo Galtieri, an army
general who resigned in disgrace after
the loss of the Falklands.
In Brief
Compiled from Associated Press and
United Press international reports
Soviets to construct pipeline
despite U.S. embargo
MOSCOW- The Soviet leadership said yesterday that unspecified
measures have been approved to ensure that the gas pipeline from Siberia to
Western Europe will be built on schedule, despite a U.S. embargo on com-
ponents.
The official news agency Tass said the Communist Party's Central Com-
mittee and the Council of Ministers passed "measures to ensure the con-
struction of the Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhgorod trunk gas pipeline as planned
earlier."
It did not specify what the measures were, but presumably they would in-
volve reallocation of manpower and resources to replace equipment lost or
delayed by the U.S. embargo on parts.
Fetus given right to sue
HARTFORD, Conn.- A 5%-month-old fetus has been given the right to sue
in an unprecedented federal ruling that one legal expert said yesterday
could be a victory for anti-abortion forces if it sets a trend.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Clarie, Connecticut's chief federal judge,
ruled in a police brutality case that Paul Douglas, now 9 months old, has an
equal and independent right with his mother, Rosalee Douglas, to sue the
Hartford Police Department and two city police officers.
Lawyers involved in the case and activists in the struggle over legalized
abortion said Clarie's ruling, issued Tuesday, is the first timea federal judge
has recognized a fetus as a person with the right to sue for damages under
the 1871 federal civil rights law.
Mrs. Douglas was 5/z months pregnant in July 1981 when she allegedly
was beaten in the backyard of her Hartford home by'one of the police officers
while the other stood by. The police were in the area investigating a car
theft.
Venezuela seeks enforcement
of OPEC cartel agreement
VIENNA, Austria- Venezuela's oil minister, seeking to force greater
discipline among OPEC members, said yesterday his country would break
the cartel's production-sharing agreement if others continue to violate it.
Humberto Calderon Berti, in remarks to reporters following a special
OPEC committee meeting, said at least three members are exceeding the
individual production quotas agreed to at OPEC's landmark meeting last
March.
"We made a very big sacrifice last March to bring the total output down,"
Calderon said. "Why do we have to continue to respect this when others
don't. I cannot accept this. If just one country doesn't accept production
levels or prices, then we feel free to raise our production."
All 13 ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are
scheduled to meet tomorrow in a special session. They will consider the
committee's recommendation that they maintain the current output ceiling,
which was established to dry up the oil glut and support prices.
Torrential rains hit Midwest
Summer storms assaulting the Midwest with 100 mph winds, tornadoes
and drenching rains built floods yesterday that washed 2 feet deep into
Oklahoma homes and closed roads and bridges in Illinois.
Scores of people have been injured and dozens of homes and buildings
have been wrecked since Tuesday in a line of thunderstorms stretching from
the southern Plains to the Great Lakes.
Oklahoma civil defense workers evacuated 35 residents of Duncan after 4
inches of rain fell during the night and water poured into some homes 2 feet
deep. Maj. Alvie Chasteen, assistant Duncan police chief, said firefighters
awakened one family as the flood lapped at the sides of their beds.
In Illinois, the storms dumped 5 inches of rain in Monmouth and Galesburg
in about 90 minutes, officials said. Two Galesburg police officers were
hospitalized in serious condition after rescuing three boys who were swept
in to a storm sewer
Policeman fired for ignoring fire
MILLBRQOK, Ala.- A police officer and a dispatcher were fired after
complaints that they were watching the lunar eclipse and didn't answer
emergency calls as a house burned down.
Neighbors of the vacationing owners of the house said that after getting no
response on the telephone, they drove to the fire station, where the two were
"standing there watching the eclipse."
The dispatcher, Nancy Dunn, and police officer, James Owens, have
denied the allegations. Owens said he was changing patrol cars at the time,
and would contest his dismissal.
Donna Hournbuckle said she and her husband were watching the eclipse at
about 1 a.m. Tuesday when she noticed flames coming from a neighbor's
house. The owners were on vacation in Texas, so she tried to notify
authorities, she said.
At about 1:15 a.m., Mrs. Hournbuckle twice called the emergency number
for the Millbrook Police and Volunteer Fire Department, letting it ring 15
times each time, she said. Meanwhile, neighbors tried to fight the fire with
garden hoses.
Poor grain harvest
expected in U.S.S.R.
MOSCOW (AP) - Alternating ex-
tremes of cold rains and hot dry winds
are pushing the Soviet Union toward its
fourth consecutive poor grain harvest,
according to Western and Eastern
European sources.
"It's pretty clear they won't have a
good year," said one Western
agronomist. An Eastern European sour-
ce said Soviet experts were warning
that "if the weather doesn't improvein
the next 10 days or so, the crops will be -
badly hit."
The U.S. Agriculture Department
forecasts a Soviet grain cop of 185
million tons, well short of the 238
million tons called for by Soviet plan-
ners.
WESTERNERS and Soviets alike are
still trying to guess the results of the
1981 grain harvest. Kremlin officials
have admitted a poor showing, but have
not released figures. Some Soviets have
placed the figure below 160 million tons
- the lowest yield ina decade.
U.S. officials in Washington predicted
the Soviet Union would help make up
for last year's bad harvest by importing
a record 46 million tons of wheat and
corn for the year ending June 3, half of
it from the United States.
Last year, agricultural production
fell by 2 percent, according to Soviet
government figures. Meat and dairy
products were rationed in much of the
nation last winter, causing widespread
grumbling among long-suffering Soviet
consumers.
THE BAD HARVEST cut feed sup-
plies and hurt Soviet livestock produc-
tion, according to government figures.
Western experts predict Soviet farmers
will have trouble rebuilding their herds.
Soviet shoppers are griping again this
summer about cool rainy weather that
has delayed for weeks the appearance
of fresh fruit and vegetables in northern
Russia.
The trouble began last fall, when in-
sufficient rainfall resulted in poor ger-
mination of winter wheat in the Soviet
breadbasket in the southern Ukraine,
northern Caucasus and parts of
Kazakhstan.