News stories from Sunday May 19, 1974

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation classified Patricia Hearst, daughter of Randolph Hearst, the newspaper executive, as an "armed and dangerous fugitive" and said it was she who raked a Los Angeles storefront with gunfire last Thursday. The incident occurred when store employees stopped two accomplices for shoplifting, the bureau added. It said that criminal charges would be filed against her. [New York Times] The Republican national chairman, George Bush, rejected the suggestion that a "vendetta" by political enemies had caused President Nixon's present troubles, saying that it was the Republicans rather than their opponents who cared most about Watergate. Mr. Bush also asserted that his party's fate was not inextricably interwoven with that of Mr. Nixon, a contention seconded separately by two Republican congressional leaders, Senator William Brock of Tennessee and Representative Robert Michel of Illinois. [New York Times] Arm wrestling, thought of by most as a male diversion practiced in taverns after a few drinks, has its serious practitioners as well. One hundred and fifty of them, men and women, gathered in Las Vegas for their national championships. [New York Times] Biochemists working in California have developed a method of transplanting genes, the chemical units of heredity, from cells as complex as those of animals into the simple, fast-multiplying cells known as bacteria. The discoverers say the technique promises to meet some fundamental needs of both medicine and agriculture by supplying scarce hormones and reducing the need for chemical fertilizers. [New York Times] Two deans at a Bronx junior high school, each over 6 feet tall and weighing more than 200 pounds, are accused by teachers and students of using a heavy paddle, leather straps and their fists to enforce discipline in the largely black and Puerto Rican school. The practice of corporal punishment, banned by New York City school regulations, was alleged to have occurred at Jordan L. Mott Junior High School 22 with the reported backing of the acting principal. [New York Times] Israel declared that both she and Syria could accept the Golan Heights cease-fire line proposed by Secretary of State Kissinger to clear the way for a Syrian-Israeli disengagement of forces. The announcement followed the latest round of discussions between Mr. Kissinger and Israeli leaders on the 21st day of his Middle East peace mission. Mr. Kissinger is expected to continue his Jerusalem-Damascus shuttle diplomacy for the rest of the week -- or until final agreement is reached. [New York Times] Israel continued her reprisal raids on Palestinian targets with the bombardment of the Rashidiyah refugee camp in Lebanon. A Palestinian guerrilla leader there said eight people were killed. About 50 cement block houses were damaged including some along the waterfront that were said to house the camp's guerrilla guard. Lebanon reported that coastal guns returned the fire and hit one Israeli boat. [New York Times] Finance Minister Valery Giscard d'Estaing Won the French presidential election by a slender margin, turning back the most effective challenge yet made by the French left. The Socialist leader Francois Mitterrand, backed by the Communists, came within 1.4 percentage points of winning and conceded. Mr. Giscard d'Estaing, in claiming victory, promised a new era of politics and change for France. [New York Times] Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's Labor party government is expected to remain in office in Australia after an apparent narrow victory in a midterm election, But the main winner appeared to be Bill Snedden, the opposition leader, whose Liberal party trimmed the government's majority. [New York Times] Striking Protestant workers in Northern Ireland lifted a threat to black out the entire electric power system, They did so after the British government declared a state of emergency giving it sweeping powers to regulate the economy, now virtually paralyzed by militant Protestant strikers. [New York Times]