A daily pick of news events that happened on this day in history taken from the pages of Gulf News dated August 01, 1979.

Nigeria takes over BP oil

Nigeria's military government is taking over the Nigerian shares and oil-lifting rights of the giant British Petroleum (BP) oil company. A Company statement said: 'BP has been informed by the government of Nigeria that with effect from midnight the government proposes to take over BP's shareholding in the Shell-BP Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd together with associated rights to lift oil from Nigeria.'

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Misunderstanding caused world's worst air crash

A Dutch inquiry said that a misunderstanding between a pilot and an air traffic controller caused the world's worst air disaster in which US and Dutch Jumbo jets collided killing 583 people. The National Civil Aviation Court said the world's airports should adopt clearer take-off procedures.

Impartial rule in Portugal

Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo promised Portugal three months of impartial government as she prepared to take office as caretaker Prime Minister and organise an autumn general election. "I will give all the parties the benefit of the doubt and treat them all the same," the 49-year-old diplomat and chemical engineer told her first press conference.

Britain trying to avoid showdown in Lusaka

Commonwealth leaders gathered in Lusaka for summit talks as Britain sought to avoid a major showdown over Zimbabwe Rhodesia with its partners in the 41-nation group. British officials went out of their way to stress that Premier Margaret Thatcher would not take an inflexible stand on the issue during the week-long talks.

Sithole drops protest boycott of parliament

Zimbabwe Rhodesia's main internal black opposition party announced it was ending its boycott of parliament. The Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole told a news conference his Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) faction was dropping the protest boycott it began immediately after general elections in April brought his rival, Prime Minister Abel Muzorewa, to power.