andersen7

The 54 year old officer, Charles Cassidy, was checking on a Dunkin'Donutss shop around10 a.m., Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnston said. The robber shot him almost immediately after the officer walked in.

" He actually walks into a robbery, a holup, unbeknownst to him," Johnston said.The robber left the shop, returned to pick up the officers gun and then fled, Johnson said. The police swrmed the north philadelphia area neighberhood in a search for a gunman, combing the area on foot, in squad cars and in a police helicopter. More than a dozen scholls in that area were in lockdown. 

Police investigate the scene of the robbery and shooting at a Dunkin' Donuts in north Philadelphia Wednesday.

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President Bush suggested Wednesday the vice president is going as Darth Vader this Halloween.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Even Vice President Dick Cheney is dressing up for Halloween - according to President Bush.

Speaking before a Grocery Manufacturers Association gathering Wednesday, Bush suggested his No. 2 is going as "Star Wars" nemesis Darth Vader this year - even though he's not wearing a costume.

"This morning I was with the vice president," Bush joked. "I was asking him what costume he was planning. He said, 'Well I'm already wearing it,' and then he mumbled something about the dark side of the force."

Cheney has often been likened to the infamous character, most recently by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at a fundraiser in September.

"You can always tell when the Republicans are getting restless, because the Vice President's motorcade pulls into the Capitol, and Darth Vader emerges," the New York senator said.

Cheney himself addressed the comparison earlier this month, telling the Institute for Near East Policy, "Most of you knew me long before anyone called me Darth Vader."

"I've been asked if that nickname bothers me, and the answer is, no," Cheney added then. "After all, Darth Vader is one of the nicer things I've been called recently."

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran should be allowed to pursue its nuclear program for peaceful purposes, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday during the first visit to the country by a Kremlin leader since 1943.

Putin, right, is greeted by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad following his arrival in Tehran.

Putin, who is in Tehran to attend a summit of Caspian Sea nations, said that he and the other leaders agreed that "peaceful nuclear activities must be allowed" in the region.

"The Iranians are cooperating with Russian nuclear agencies and the main objectives are peaceful objectives," he said.

Russia is building Iran's first nuclear power plant and has resisted moves by the U.S. and its allies to impose stronger U.N. sanctions against Tehran.

On Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates reiterated the Bush administration's stance that "all options" must be kept "on the table" in confronting the threats posed by Iran -- a reference to the option of using military action against the long-time U.S. adversary.

"We should have no illusions about the nature of this regime or its leaders -- about their designs for their nuclear program, their willingness to live up to their rhetoric, their intentions for Iraq, or their ambitions in the Gulf region," Gates said in a speech to the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.

The leaders of Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan also met Tuesday to reach agreement on issues relating to the sharing and regulating of the Caspian Sea -- the world's largest inland body of water.

Putin, defying reports of an assassination plot against him, was greeted by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as he stepped off his plane at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport.

During a news conference Monday after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Wiesbaden, Germany, Putin said rumors of an attempt on his life would not stop his plans.

"Of course I will travel to Iran," Putin said. "If I reacted to these kinds of rumors every time, I could never leave the house."

Iranian officials denied there was an assassination plot against Putin, with a Foreign Ministry spokesman describing rumors of a possible terrorist action during the Putin visit baseless.

"Spreading this kind of totally false news lacks any value and cannot damage the trend of the prepared programs," spokesman Mohammadali Hosseini told the Iranian FARS news agency.

Don't Miss

• TIME.com: The point of Putin's Tehran trip
• Putin to visit Iran, despite 'plot'

Hosseini blamed the rumor on Western media, particularly the U.S. media, saying the report was "made up by the enemies of relations between Iran and Russia to create a psychological war."

Putin's visit is the first by a leader in the Kremlin to Iran since Joseph Stalin's World War II conference meeting with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

"Putin's trip to Tehran is a show of Russia's independence in global affairs. Putin, who approaches the end of his term, wants to demonstrate that he wouldn't cave in to the U.S. pressure," said Alexander Pikayev, an expert on Iran with Russia's Institute for World Economy and International Relations, in a report carried by AP.

Putin's schedule also includes meetings with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the country's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, AP said. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

All About Russia • Vladimir Putin • Nuclear Proliferation

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran should be allowed to pursue its nuclear program for peaceful purposes, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday during the first visit to the country by a Kremlin leader since 1943.

Putin, right, is greeted by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad following his arrival in Tehran.

Putin, who is in Tehran to attend a summit of Caspian Sea nations, said that he and the other leaders agreed that "peaceful nuclear activities must be allowed" in the region.

"The Iranians are cooperating with Russian nuclear agencies and the main objectives are peaceful objectives," he said.

Russia is building Iran's first nuclear power plant and has resisted moves by the U.S. and its allies to impose stronger U.N. sanctions against Tehran.

On Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates reiterated the Bush administration's stance that "all options" must be kept "on the table" in confronting the threats posed by Iran -- a reference to the option of using military action against the long-time U.S. adversary.

"We should have no illusions about the nature of this regime or its leaders -- about their designs for their nuclear program, their willingness to live up to their rhetoric, their intentions for Iraq, or their ambitions in the Gulf region," Gates said in a speech to the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.

The leaders of Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan also met Tuesday to reach agreement on issues relating to the sharing and regulating of the Caspian Sea -- the world's largest inland body of water.

Putin, defying reports of an assassination plot against him, was greeted by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as he stepped off his plane at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport.

During a news conference Monday after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Wiesbaden, Germany, Putin said rumors of an attempt on his life would not stop his plans.

"Of course I will travel to Iran," Putin said. "If I reacted to these kinds of rumors every time, I could never leave the house."

Iranian officials denied there was an assassination plot against Putin, with a Foreign Ministry spokesman describing rumors of a possible terrorist action during the Putin visit baseless.

"Spreading this kind of totally false news lacks any value and cannot damage the trend of the prepared programs," spokesman Mohammadali Hosseini told the Iranian FARS news agency.

Don't Miss

• TIME.com: The point of Putin's Tehran trip
• Putin to visit Iran, despite 'plot'

Hosseini blamed the rumor on Western media, particularly the U.S. media, saying the report was "made up by the enemies of relations between Iran and Russia to create a psychological war."

Putin's visit is the first by a leader in the Kremlin to Iran since Joseph Stalin's World War II conference meeting with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

"Putin's trip to Tehran is a show of Russia's independence in global affairs. Putin, who approaches the end of his term, wants to demonstrate that he wouldn't cave in to the U.S. pressure," said Alexander Pikayev, an expert on Iran with Russia's Institute for World Economy and International Relations, in a report carried by AP.

Putin's schedule also includes meetings with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the country's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, AP said. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

All About Russia • Vladimir Putin • Nuclear Proliferation