immunity. April April 1 New Zealand National Airways Corporation (the domestic airline of New Zealand) is merged with New Zealand's international airline, Air New Zealand. Dick Smith of Dick Smith Foods tows a fake iceberg to Sydney Harbour. The Philippine College of Commerce, through a presidential decree, is converted to the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. April 2 – Dallas debuts on CBS, and gives birth to the modern day primetime soap opera. April 3 – The 50th Academy Awards are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, with Annie Hall winning Best Picture. April 7 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter decides to postpone production of the neutron bomb, a weapon that kills people with radiation, but leaves buildings relatively intact. April 9 – Somali military officers stage an unsuccessful coup against the government of Siad Barre; security forces thwart the attempt within hours, and several conspirators are arrested. April 14 – 1978 Tbilisi Demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against an attempt by Soviet authorities to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language. April 18 – The U.S. Senate votes, 68–32, to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999. April 20 – A Soviet air defense plane shoots down Korean Air Lines Flight 902; the plane makes an emergency landing on a frozen lake. April 22 Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta win the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 for Israel with their song A-Ba-Ni-Bi. The One Love Peace Concert is held at National Heroes Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. Bob Marley unites two opposing political leaders at this concert, bringing peace to the civil war-ridden streets of the city. April 25 – St. Paul, Minnesota becomes the second U.S. city to repeal its gay rights ordinance, after Anita Bryant's successful 1977 anti-gay campaign in Miami-Dade County, Florida. April 27 Afghanistan's president Daoud Khan is killed, and his family murdered, during a Marxist military coup d'état; Nur Muhammad Taraki succeeds him, beginning the Afghan war which has not ended yet. Willow Island disaster – In the deadliest construction accident in United States history, 51 construction workers are killed when a cooling tower under construction collapses at the Pleasants Power Station in Willow Island, West Virginia. April 30 – The Marxist "Democratic Republic of Afghanistan" is proclaimed, under pro-communist leader Nur Muhammad Taraki. May May 4 The Battle of Cassinga occurs in southern Angola. Communist activist