Foreign briefs

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A tentative cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip lasted barely half a day on Tuesday, dissipating in the smoke of gunfights and rockets fired from helicopter gunships.

The renewed fighting, which came as the Israeli and Palestinian leaders prepared to attend talks in Paris with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, showed that Israel may have overestimated Yasser Arafat's influence over an enraged Palestinian population. Israel has said Arafat orchestrated the violence to extract concessions in negotiations with Israel.

In Gaza, at least two Palestinians were killed in a heavy exchange between Palestinian gunmen and troops in an Israeli outpost near the isolated settlement of Netzarim. One man was unidentifiable, his face blown away by submachine gunfire. Israeli helicopters fired a dozen rockets on the Palestinians assailing the outpost.

Youths who had stoned the outpost ducked for cover when the shooting began. Ambulance workers hastily loaded the wounded, and then sped from the site, doors open.

Milosevic threatens crackdown

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- The embattled government of Slobodan Milosevic threatened Tuesday to crack down on the opposition, calling them subversive elements waging warfare against the country through strikes and blockades.

The statement, read on state television, suggested the Yugoslav president may unleash one his last weapons -- the police and military -- against political foes and independent media. The result could lead to street clashes and arrests to try to end the wave of protests that have paralyzed much of the country.

But opposition leaders and supporters remained defiant and insisted Milosevic accept his landslide election defeat. The opposition has ruled out participating in a planned run-off Sunday, insisting Milosevic would only cheat again.

"No one has the right to so bluntly annul the people's will," said challenger Vojislav Kostunica, whom the opposition says won an outright victory in the Sept. 24 elections.

Keith moves toward Mexico

BELIZE CITY (AP) -- Snapped power lines dangled treacherously over Belize City's water-laden streets. Aluminum roofs, peeled back like sardine-can lids by Hurricane Keith's high winds, flapped uselessly over flooded wooden homes.

As Keith weakened to a tropical depression with 33 mph winds and moved over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Tuesday, emergency aid teams mobilized to assess the damage it had done in Belize.

The U.S. government sent a 12-person relief and rescue team from Miami to Belize with emergency aid including blankets, plastic tarps and water jugs. The International Committee of the Red Cross was also mobilizing aid efforts.