World Notes: Jul. 29, 1985

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DISASTERS

The team in Bombay trying to discover why Air-India Flight 182 plunged into the North Atlantic on June 23, killing 329, was being cautious. Declared Justice B.N. Kirpal, who is heading the Indian government investigation of the two "blackbox" recorders recovered from the seabed two weeks ago: "Explosion is one possibility. It may also be structural failure." But in Seattle, Jack Gamble, a spokesman for Boeing, the manufacturer of the 747 aircraft, declared that an explosion seemed a more likely explanation. His reasoning: if the plane had fallen apart slowly because of structural defects, there would probably be evidence of this on the tapes. But "both recorders go off line within one second," despite four separate power sources.

The analysis of the two recorders, one of cockpit voices during the final 30 minutes of flight, the other of data from 64 flight functions, is being carried out by a five-member team assisted by experts from the U.S. and Canada. The team's final conclusions about what caused the crash are expected in about three months.

BELGIUM

In a country that has had at least 30 governments since World War II, Prime Minister Wilfried Martens had skillfully held together a coalition government for more than 3½ years. The odds finally caught up with the popular Prime Minister last week in an unexpected crisis over the government's handling of the May soccer riot in Brussels that left 38 dead in a clash between English and Italian fans. Six Liberal Party ministers quit after Minister of the Interior Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb, a member of the Christian Social Party, refused to accept direct responsibility for the incident. Martens offered his government's resignation, but in a rare move by the country's constitutional monarch, King Baudouin refused to accept it. The King's reason: elections would have been in August, when most Belgians are away on vacation.

The feuding parties agreed to work together until new elections can be held on Oct. 13. Martens had survived previous challenges to his severe economic austerity program and his willingness to accept the deployment of U.S. cruise missiles. The coalition's soccer squabble could open the way for the opposition Socialists, who would probably reverse those policies.

ZIMBABWE

Prime Minister Robert Mugabe proved last week that he meant to get even with his country's 100,000 whites, especially the 4,400 farmers, for their overwhelming support of former Rhodesian Leader Ian Smith in the general elections four weeks ago. In a move that one disbelieving farmer called "a prime example of cutting off your nose to spite your face," Mugabe dismissed Minister of Agriculture Denis Norman, who is white, from his Cabinet.