oil to be spilled into the waters, the worst oil spill to date. Some estimate the spill to be 428 million gallons, making it the largest unintentional oil spill until it is surpassed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. 1979 Italian general election: The Italian Communist Party loses a significant number of seats. June 4 Joe Clark becomes Canada's 16th and youngest Prime Minister. Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo is overthrown. Following the "Muldergate" Information Scandal, John Vorster resigns as State President of South Africa. June 7 – 1979 European Parliament election: The first direct elections to the European Parliament begin, allowing citizens from across all nine (at this time) member states of the European Union to elect 410 MEPs. It is also the first international election in history. June 12 – Bryan Allen flies the man-powered Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel. June 15 McDonald's introduces the Happy Meal in the United States in a nationwide advertising campaign after testing the product since February in franchises in the U.S. state of Missouri. The ecological horror-thriller Prophecy is released in the United States by Paramount Pictures. June 18 – Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT II agreement in Vienna. June 19 – Marais Viljoen becomes State President of South Africa. June 20 – A Nicaraguan National Guard soldier kills ABC TV news correspondent Bill Stewart and his interpreter Juan Espinosa. Other members of the news crew capture the killing on tape. June 22 The Muppet Movie is released. Former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe was acquitted of conspiracy to murder Norman Scott, who had accused Thorpe of having a relationship with him. June 23 – New South Wales Premier Neville Wran officially opens the Eastern Suburbs Railway in Sydney. It operates as a shuttle between Central and Bondi Junction until full integration with the Illawarra Line in 1980. June 24 – The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, an international opinion tribunal, is founded in Bologna at the initiative of Senator Lelio Basso. June 25 – NATO Supreme Allied Commander Alexander Haig escapes an assassination attempt in Belgium by the Baader-Meinhof terrorist organization. July July 1 Sweden becomes the first country to outlaw corporal punishment in the home. The Sony Walkman goes on sale for the first time in Japan. July 3 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter