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• The officials said the militants captured Rutba, about 90 miles (150 kilometers) east of the Jordanian border, late Saturday. Residents were on Sunday negotiating with the militants to leave after an army unit on the town's outskirts threatened to start shelling.
• The latest advance has dealt another blow to Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is fighting for his political life even as forces beyond his control are pushing the country toward a sectarian showdown.
• In a reflection of the bitter divide, thousands of heavily armed Shiite militiamen -- eager to take on the Sunni insurgents -- marched through Iraqi cities in military-style parades Saturday on streets where many of them battled U.S. forces a half decade ago.
• The towns of Qaim, Rawah, Anah and Rutba are the first seized in predominantly Sunni Anbar province since fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant overran the city of Fallujah and parts of the provincial capital of Ramadi earlier this year.
• ___

• CAIRO (AP) -- The United States, seizing on Egypt's weak economy and shaky security, is seeking to convince its new president to embrace more moderate policies to achieve stability -- and deliver more American aid.
• In the few weeks since President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi officially took office, U.S. officials say they have seen some small encouraging signs that he is prepared to protect his people's rights, including issuing severe penalties for sexual assault against women and freeing a jailed journalist.
• But Washington remains concerned about the Egyptian government's widespread crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood, which el-Sissi ousted from power last July in a coup when he was serving as the nation's army chief.
• The Brotherhood, an Islamist political organization, has responded with protests that have turned into violent clashes between demonstrators and government security forces. Egypt is also facing a growing jihadi threat in the Sinai Peninsula, where militants are thriving on a flood of heavy weapons that are easily smuggled in from Libya.
• Taken together, the security problems have contributed to a severe slowing of Egypt's tourism industry that began in early 2011 when the country went through its second political revolution in as many years.

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