Iraq: Iraqi police say gunmen killed an Iraqi newspaper editor outside his home in Baghdad today (Sunday) after he resisted their attempts to kidnap him.
The editor (Mohan al-Dahir) worked for the independent "Al-Mashirq" newspaper. He was a Shi'ite Muslim who lived in a Sunni neighborhood of Baghdad.
Also today, the U.S. military says American troops raided a mosque in Baghdad and detained three suspected insurgents hiding inside. The military says one of the men is suspected of distributing weapons, including roadside bombs.
U.S. military guidelines allow American troops to enter mosques, but only as a last resort in pursuing militants.
Separately, Iraqi officials say government troops freed an adviser to Iraq's Defense Ministry (Lieutenant General Thamir Sultan) today after he was abducted in Baghdad Saturday. Iraqi troops also detained four of his kidnappers.
Iraq Pol: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said today (Sunday) he plans to reshuffle his Cabinet within the next two weeks.
Mr. Maliki did not say how many, or which ministers in his 39-member Cabinet will be dismissed.
U.S. officials have urged Mr. Maliki to cut ties to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and form a new political alliance of mainstream Shi'ites, moderate Sunnis and Kurds.
Six members of the current Cabinet are loyal to Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia is blamed for many sectarian attacks against Sunnis.
Mr. Maliki told the Associated Press Saturday that he also will pursue criminal charges against politicians linked to militant groups.
Afghanistan: Afghan police say eight civilians were killed and at least 22 wounded today (Sunday) when a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan.
The nationality of the troops involved was not immediately clear.
Authorities say the civilians were shot by the foreign soldiers, who opened fire after the car bomber rammed the convoy near the eastern city of Jalalabad.
There was no word on whether any soldiers were killed or wounded.
Afghan authorities said the shootings sparked angry protests by hundreds of residents, who blocked roads and threw rocks at police.
In a separate incident, NATO officials said today two soldiers were killed in combat in southern Afghanistan Saturday.
Laos - Bird Flu: Health officials say Laos may have found the country's second human case of bird flu.
Officials said today (Sunday) a woman who fell ill last month has tested positive for the H5 strain of the flu virus. More tests are needed to determine whether she is carrying the deadly H5N1 strain.
The woman lives in Vientiane province, outside the capital, near a village where bird flu has infected poultry.
Last month, health officials confirmed the country's first known human case of the disease in a 15-year-old girl living in a different village near Vientiane.
Bird flu first appeared in Laos in 2004. It is known to have killed 167 people worldwide since 2003, mostly in Asia.
Listen to our World News for details.