NATION IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Rival Bensonhurst Figures Call Truce

Black activists and white Bensonhurst leaders declared a cease-fire in the war of words and marches that followed the racial slaying of a black teen-ager in the Brooklyn neighborhood last summer. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has led weekly processions through the community, and Assemblyman Frank Barbaro, who represents Bensonhurst, stood on the steps of City Hall to announce the truce. They were joined by Moses Stewart, father of the slain youth--Yusuf Hawkins--and a score of religious and political leaders on both sides of the dispute. The accord calls for an end to the marches by black activists. Bensonhurst officials will in turn meet today with members of Stewart’s family to express condolences.