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

A Moscow district councilman has been detained by police on suspicion of killing a man, chopping up the body and disposing of the remains in Izmailovsky Park, police said Wednesday.

The Federal Space Agency has signed a space tourist contract with U.S. millionaire Gregory Olsen, a spokesman said Wednesday, in a deal that would make the 60-year-old scientist only the third tourist to visit the international space station.

State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said Wednesday that the chamber's Management Committee had jumped the gun in granting Sergei Baburin's group of nine nationalist deputies permission to set up a faction to rival Rodina.

The State Duma on Wednesday finalized electoral reforms seen by the Kremlin as enhancing political stability but by critics as risking a revolution by alienated government opponents.

Meder Usenov led anti-government protests in this southern city three months ago, throwing punches at police officers and urging crowds of demonstrators not to back off.

Bad Air Quality Thursday Harmful emissions in Moscow's air are expected to exceed permissible levels by 2.5 times for several hours Thursday, a jump that often occurs when dry and windless weather sets in, the federal weather bureau said Wednesday. A warm front that arrived in Moscow on Tuesday has blocked rain and wind that would normally disperse emissions from traffic and factories, bureau spokeswoman Natalya Yershova said. Rain, however, is expected Thursday afternoon, she said. Moscow's air quality was also bad on Wednesday, with harmful emissions such as nitrogen dioxide and phenol exceeding permissible levels by 1.5 times. Levels were even higher in the area around the All-Russian Exhibition Center, the bureau said. (MT) U.S. Rejects Pullout Call WASHINGTON -- The United States rejected a call from an alliance led by Russia and China to set a deadline for withdrawing its forces from Central Asian countries. U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan have been based in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.