The World : 7-Day Beirut Truce Blasted

A weeklong truce was shattered when Muslim militia members, backed by Syrian gunners, exchanged artillery fire with Christian forces in and around Beirut, police said. Initial reports said one person was killed and 13 wounded in the four-hour shelling of the Lebanese capital. The flare-up came hours after the United Nations called on the warring factions to end six weeks of bloodshed--and on the eve of a conference of Arab League foreign ministers in Tunis aimed at solving the conflict. A series of brutal battles has claimed 250 lives since mid-March.