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US Secretary of State John Kerry has vowed “intense and sustained support” for Iraq after meeting key politicians in the capital, Baghdad.
His visit comes as Sunni insurgents expand their control of towns across the country’s north and west.
The rebels are bearing down on a vital dam near Haditha, and have captured all of the border crossings to Syria and Jordan from government forces.
The key airport in the northern town of Tal Afar has also fallen to the rebels.
The inventor of Kevlar, the lightweight fibre used in bulletproof vests and body armour, has died aged 90.
Stephanie Kwolek was a chemist at the DuPont company in Wilmington, Delaware, when she invented the stronger-than-steel fibre in 1965.
It was initially intended to be used in automobile tyres.
In a statement, DuPont chief executive Ellen Kullman described Kwolek as “a creative and determined chemist and a true pioneer for women in science”.
Kwolek is the only female employee of DuPont to be awarded the company’s Lavoisier Medal for outstanding technical achievement.
A Sudanese woman sentenced to death for abandoning her Islamic faith has been freed from jail, her lawyer has told the BBC.
Meriam Ibrahim’s death penalty was overturned by an appeal court, the official Suna news agency reported.
She is married to a Christian man and was sentenced under Sharia law to hang for apostasy in May after refusing to renounce Christianity.
Her husband, Daniel Wani, said he was looking forward to seeing her.
At least five people have been killed in an attack on the Kenyan coast, close to the scene of raids last week in which more than 60 people died.
Officials said an armed gang descended on the village of Witu, about 15km (9 miles) from the town of Mpeketoni.
No group has said it carried out the latest attack.
Somali Islamist group al-Shabab said it was behind the raids on Mpeketoni, near Lamu but President Uhuru Kenyatta has blamed local political groups.
The seven-year jail terms handed out to three al-Jazeera journalists accused of supporting Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood have led to an international outcry.
US Secretary of State John Kerry described the sentences as “chilling and draconian”.
James Harding, the BBC’s Director of News, said it was an “act of intimidation against all journalists.”
Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were convicted of spreading false news on Monday.
The trio had denied the charges and are expected to appeal against the verdict.