MILESTONES

ENGAGED. MORTIMER ZUCKERMAN, 59, publishing and real estate magnate, and MARLA PRATHER, 40, a curator at the National Gallery of Art. DIVORCING. PRINCESS STEPHANIE, 31, Monaco's younger princess, and DANIEL DUCRUET, 31, her ex-bodyguard; in Monaco. The split follows publication of photos of a nude romp by Ducruet and a beauty queen.

PLEADED GUILTY. RICHARD PETTY, 59, ex-auto racing ace and G.O.P. candidate for North Carolina secretary of state; to charges of tailgating on Interstate 85; in Concord, North Carolina.

RETIRING. SHIMON PERES, 73, recently defeated Israeli Prime Minister and Nobel Peace laureate; as head of the Labor Party; in Jerusalem. His departure next year ends one of Israel's most notable political careers.

KILLED. MIR MURTAZA BHUTTO, 42, brother and rival of Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto; during a battle between police and his supporters; in Karachi. Shooting broke out hours after a press conference he called in which he accused the police of corruption. The siblings have fought bitterly over who should inherit the mantle of their late father, who was deposed in a 1977 coup.

DIED. GENE NELSON, 76, loose-limbed actor-dancer in 1950s Hollywood musicals, best remembered for playing the lasso-twirling Will Parker in the film version of Oklahoma!; in Los Angeles.

DIED. JOE MARTIN, 80, the policeman who coached Muhammad Ali to his 1960 Olympic gold medal in Rome; in Louisville, Kentucky. Martin first met Ali when the 12-year-old, then named Cassius Clay, reported a stolen bike.

DIED. PAUL DRAPER, 86, dance star who developed a distinctive mix of tap and classical ballet and whose career was derailed when he was blacklisted as a communist sympathizer; in Woodstock, New York.