Rice in talks on slain journalist

MOSCOW - United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday met the editors and son of Russian reporter Anna Politkovskaya, a harsh critic of President Vladimir Putin gunned down by unknown assailants.

Rice, a Russian speaker, invited the editors of Novaya Gazeta and the murdered journalist's son, Ilya Politkovsky, to her Moscow hotel, where she hailed the reporter's courage.

Politkovskaya's killing this month was condemned worldwide and Rice was expected to raise the case in talks later with Putin, who is accused by Western countries of undermining press freedoms.

- REUTERS