Al-Jazeera television is reporting that a Patriot missile was launched accidentally from a US military base in the Gulf state of Qatar, landing in a farm but causing no casualties.

The U.S. secretary of defense told Russian military cadets Saturday the U.S. is ready to work with Russia on common security threats. In a speech at the Military Academy in Moscow, Secretary Robert Gates spoke about the history of the two countries, and said no nation has suffered more from the wars of the last century than Russia.

President Bush Friday urged the U.S. Congress to approve a set of free trade accords with Colombia, Panama and Peru. VOA's Brian Wagner reports that Mr. Bush said the trade deals will benefit U.S. business and boost democracy in the region.

The United States has rejected a Russian call to freeze a planned anti-missile defence system in central Europe, despite a warning from Russia that it would move to "neutralise" the threat from such a system.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the American plan to install parts of a missile defense system in eastern Europe will go ahead, despite strong objections from Russia.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates open strategic security talks in Moscow Friday with their Russian counterparts, in a push to narrow differences over U.S. missile plans in Europe.

A 14-year-old gunman has opened fire at an Ohio high school, wounding at least four people before killing himself in the latest school shooting to rock the United States.

The missile defense elements the U.S. plans to deploy in Poland could be used as shock weapons, and present a real threat to Russia, a Russian military expert said on Thursday.

The United States has urged Turkey to cooperate with the Iraqi Government after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave the green light for possible military incursions in northern Iraq.

The United States congress is expected to vote on the Armenian genocide resolution. But there are doubts since it may badly damage US and Turkish relations. The House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer predicts that the bill will pass.

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a resolution to require President Bush to give Congress a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq. The measure which had bipartisan support was the first of what Democrats say will be a series of bills this month relating to Iraq.

The founder of Blackwater USA is looking forward to telling his side of the story to members of Congress who labeled his private security firm an out-of-control outfit indifferent to Iraqi civilian casualties.