Cashmore expected to plead guilty to reduced cha

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The deputy police chief in the northern Iraqi town of Kirkuk escaped unharmed when a bomb exploded near his convoy Saturday in central Kirkuk, but one of his bodyguards was killed, police said."If we are unable to obtain such a goal ... it will be difficult for us to keep within the framework of the treaty in a situation where other countries do develop such weapon systems, and among those are countries located in our near vicinity," he said.The United States has repeatedly rejected Russian demands to freeze U.S. negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic, and Rice did so again Friday, said three senior U.S. officials present at the sessions with Rice, Gates, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.The U.S. proposals are intended to ease fears that its missile defense plans threaten Russia's nuclear deterrent and include the creation of a so-called joint regional missile defense architecture to protect the Unit
ed States, NATO allies in Europe and Russia.U.S. Air Force planes prepare to take off in November 2001 from the air base at Incirlik, Turkey.Putin set the tone early on when he hosted the pair and their Russian counterparts at his country home outside Moscow and delivered a stern rebuff to U.S. plans to push ahead with establishing missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic.Initial reaction from Lavrov and Serdyukov, though, was less gracious.MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- President Bush's top two Cabinet officials, expecting a polite photo op, were ambushed by a Russian leader who fears Eastern Europe may be turned into a U.S. staging point for a new Cold War.The U.S. military said terrorists on Friday fired three mortar rounds into the southern Baghdad district of Dora, killing one civilian and wounding eight others -- including four children under 10 years old.In combative comments that took the U.S. side aback during a photo session, Putin criticized Bush's pet
project and threatened to pull out of a Cold War-era treaty that limits intermediate-range missiles.