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Barak, Arafat speak of restraint for crisis

JERUSALEM - After seven weeks of Mideast bloodshed, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat aren't on speaking terms, but both are speaking of restraint.

Barak said yesterday that Israel didn't want to escalate the conflict, and therefore was not planning to retaliate for the shooting death of an Israeli soldier. Palestinian leaders said they were working to implement Arafat's recent call for an end to shooting from territory under his control.

Unrest yesterday was scarce, though still deadly. A 14-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and six Palestinians injured in a brief clash in the Gaza Strip, doctors said. Also, an Israeli diplomat suffered minor wounds in a shooting attack in the capital of neighboring Jordan.

But overall, violence has ebbed. In the past few days, most casualties have come from brief outbursts of shooting, rather than the large-scale, sustained clashes that characterized much of the conflict that has claimed more than 230 lives, most of them Palestinian.

Previous lulls have lasted only briefly, followed by renewed spasms of unrest. Still, both sides said yesterday there were hopeful signs that calm could be restored.

Fujimori warns he will resign position

LIMA, Peru - President Alberto Fujimori, whose 10-year authoritarian rule has crumbled in recent months over scandals involving corruption, said in Tokyo early today that he would resign within 48 hours.

Fujimori issued a brief written statement confirming announcements made hours earlier in Peru by his prime minister and his second vice president.