World In Brief : ISRAEL : Peres Says He Will Take 2 Top Posts

Israeli Labor Party leader Shimon Peres said he wants to serve as both prime minister and foreign minister in a proposed coalition government, but his announcement was clouded by reports that two key supporters may defect. Peres told a meeting of Labor’s 1,500-member Central Committee that Labor’s No. 2 leader, Yitzhak Rabin, would be defense minister. But Israel Radio reported growing speculation that two legislators from the ultra-Orthodox Agudat Israel party would renege on their party’s coalition agreement with Labor and abstain or vote against Labor in today’s crucial Parliament vote.