A brief look at the stories making headlines in the Russian-language press

Writer's Son Dead MOSCOW (AP) -- The 13-year-old son of fantasy writer Andrei Belyanin was found dead in Astrakhan after being allegedly kidnapped for ransom, regional authorities said Friday. Ivan Belyanin's body was found under a bridge in Astrakhan on Thursday. The discovery came a day after authorities detained and began questioning a suspect in connection with the boy's disappearance, said Nurislyam Uzbekov, spokesman for the regional police. The man is now facing charges of murder, Uzbekov said. He could not say what led police to the suspect. However, Itar-Tass said police had detained the suspect, whom it identified as 20-year-old Ivan Kostalyev, when he tried to collect the ransom. It said the kidnappers had demanded $100,000 for the boy and ordered his father to deliver it by Thursday. The boy's father sought police help, and Federal Security Service officers made the arrest, but the man said the boy had already been killed.

Israel's Supreme Court cleared the way Sunday for the army to demolish Palestinian refugees' homes near a flashpoint Israeli-controlled corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and one of his top aides authorized the expansion of a secret program that permitted harsh interrogations of detained members of al-Qaida, allowing these methods to be used against prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, according to an article in The New Yorker magazine.

India's ruling Congress party chose Italian-born Sonia Gandhi on Saturday to be India's next prime minister, as communist parties debated whether to join her new government.

Saratov Governor Dmitry Ayatskov is facing charges of abuse of office in an investigation into the misappropriation of regional funds, prosecutors said Friday.