Gulf News Archives Published: April 21, 2008, 23:40
A daily pick of news events that happened on this day in history from the pages of Gulf News dated April 22, 1979.
Terrorists set fire to Fiat plant Terrorists touched off a fire in a plant of the Lancia division of Fiat and caused more than two billion lire ($2.2 million) in damage.
A leftist terrorist group, "Communisti Territoriali" ("Territorial Communists") claimed responsibility for the fire, which burned for two hours in car section of the factory in Chivasso outside Turin before being brought under control. Investigators said it was set with incendiary devices. No injuries were reported.
Liberia shuts down varsity Charging the University of Liberia with creating subversion, President William Tolbert ordered the institution closed immediately in the wake of rioting over rice prices a week ago, which left 29 persons dead, more than 400 injured and millions of dollars damage to property.
Officials said the President told the University trustees in a letter that certain professors and instructors made their classrooms a breeding ground of revolutionary ideas alien to our democratic form of government.
Smith pleads to west for recognition Rhodesian voters were expected to bring national participation to more than 60 per cent in the final day of voting for the first black Prime Minister of the new state of Zimbabwe. Prime Minister Ian Smith pleaded with the Western powers for recognition of his war-torn country as officials reported a 59.9 per cent voters turnout in the first four days of elections.
"It looks as though we're going to go over the 60 per cent mark in the elections to elect a black government," Smith said, insisting that the elections had satisfied British and American requirements for recognition.
Egypt's first in 25 years Egyptian President Anwar Sadat dissolved Parliament and set June 7 as the date for Egypt's first multi-party elections since the 1952 revolution. The new Parliament will meet on June 23.
The decree is expected to clear the way for the formation of political parties and drop a previous legal requirement that a new party gain the support of at least 20 members of Parliament. Sadat won a mandate to call new elections in a referendum on April 19.
