EVENTS

CLINTON, PERES, JORDAN'S HASSAN TO MEET Israel and Jordan have begun drafting a peace treaty, and the date for signing the accord could be announced as early as next week, an Israeli official said yesterday. Israeli and Jordanian officials later lowered expectations, saying a peace treaty was still months away. President Clinton has invited Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Jordan's Crown Prince Hassan for talks next week at the White House. The announcement of the signing date is expected to be made after the White House meeting, said the Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Israel and Jordan ended their 46-year state of war in July at a White House summit between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein. Kravchuk wins seat

Former Ukraine President Leonid Kravchuk won election to parliament, just three months after being narrowly defeated in his bid for a second term as that nation's leader, officials said yesterday.

Floods in far east Russia

Floods unleashed by torrential rain in the Russian Far East have killed 13 people and caused more than $290 million in damage, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported yesterday. The Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations said the floods, which began Sept. 19, damaged or destroyed roads, bridges, and communications lines. The floods were concentrated in rural areas near the port city of Vladivostok.

Oil spill land damages

An Alaska Superior Court jury in Anchorage Saturday awarded $7.9 million to six Alaska native corporations and one municipality to compensate for land and archaeological damages from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The award, made after nine days of jury deliberation and two months of testimony, was a small fraction of the $120 million that the native corporations and the Kodiak Island Borough sought from Exxon.

Change at Phillips Academy

The first headmaster of Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., was installed during the Revolutionary War. Its last headmaster was hired in 1981. Now, Barbara Landis Chase is in charge. She is the first woman to lead the venerable prep school whose alumni include Samuel F.B. Morse, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and former President Bush.

Rabaul relief efforts

Australian and US Air Force planes helped ferry food and supplies to volcano victims in Papua New Guinea yesterday as weeklong eruptions continued to subside around the town of Rabaul. Workers hurried to rebuild the grass airstrip at Tokua, 19 miles from Rabaul. Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan said he was appalled at the havoc caused by the heavy, damaging eruptions, which began last Monday.