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.