LET'S NOT FIGHT

Just hours before President Clinton arrived in London on a visit that will also take him to Belfast and Dublin, British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Prime Minister John Bruton agreed to put aside their differences on whether the IRA should begin disarming before peace negotiations with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams can begin. Instead, an international commission headed by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell will try to reach a compromise in order to begin talks sometime in late February. "Dublin and London agreed that they would accept any negotiated settlement: a united Ireland or the North staying part of the U.K., or any form in between," says London bureau chief Barry Hillenbrand. "But beyond that, none of the parties has agreed on anything, even when and how to talk."