MOSCOW

Liberal lawmaker killed

A Russian lawmaker and vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin was shot to death Thursday in a killing colleagues called an attack on democratic ideals.

Sergei Yushenkov was gunned down outside his Moscow apartment building hours after announcing that his fledgling party Liberal Russia would take part in December parliamentary elections. Police said he was shot three times in the back and that a pistol with a silencer was found near the scene.

A supporter of human rights causes and an opponent of the war in Chechnya, Yushenkov, 52, was the second co-chairman of the Liberal Russia party to be killed this year.

LONDON

Billionaire J. Paul Getty dies

Sir J. Paul Getty Jr., the reclusive third son of billionaire American oilman J. Paul Getty, died Thursday in Britain, the country he adopted as his homeland and lavished with his philanthropic gifts. He was 70.

Getty, a reformed drug addict who donated more than $200 million to a variety of causes, died in London Clinic, where he was hospitalized Monday with a recurrent chest infection.

“He may have been born in the United States, but he was truly a British citizen,” said Theresa May, chairwoman of the opposition Conservative Party, which received $8 million from Getty.

JERUSALEM

Congressmen visit Arafat

A U.S. congressional delegation met with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the newly appointed Palestinian prime minister on Thursday, smoothing the way for a U.S.-backed peace plan that envisions a Palestinian state.

It was the first high-level meeting between U.S. officials and the embattled Arafat since President Bush effectively boycotted him in June.

The talks, however, were not sanctioned by the State Department.

The three congressmen said Arafat assured them he would give designated Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, real power to lead Palestinians — a key demand for the peace plan to move forward.

California

Prosecutor believes body is that of Laci Peterson

The county prosecutor in Modesto says he feels “pretty strongly” that the body of a woman that washed up on shore this week is the missing Laci Peterson.

“If I were a betting man, I’d put money on it,” Stanislaus County Dist. Atty. James Brazelton told the Modesto Bee for a Thursday story.

A state crime lab was working to determine whether two bodies found on the shores of the San Francisco Bay were Peterson and the baby she was carrying when she vanished Dec. 24. She was eight months pregnant.

“I feel pretty strongly it is (Peterson),” said Brazelton, whose jurisdiction includes Modesto. “It’s too much of a coincidence to have a female and a baby found close to each other a day apart and no others were reported missing.”