The Caliphate: Sunni militants from Iraq have taken a Syrian border post in a sudden move to the west in their fight to carve out a separate state in the Middle East. They also captured a fourth town in Anbar province as the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appears helpless. Yesterday armed Shiite militiamen marched in Baghdad and other cities in a show of force indicating Iraq is on the brink of all-out religious war.

The Sunni Islamic militants known as ISIS are trying to bring to fruition a long-held dream to establish The Caliphate, an Islamic state stretching from the Mediterranean to Iran.After three years of civil war, a large part of eastern Syria is in the possession of Sunni militants linked to the fighters trying to take over Iraq.

Secy. of State John Kerry is on a swing through the Middle East in an attempt to jawbone the situation. He’s urging Iraq’s Shiite majority to form a more inclusive government, but the situation may have advanced too far for that to happen.

World: South Korean troops are in a standoff with a fellow soldier who killed five of his own colleagues and ran into the forest near the border of North Korea. The army says a sergeant threw a grenade then opened fire, killing five and wounding seven soldiers. The renegade sergeant is reported to be surrounded and more shots have been fired. Thousands of troops have been deployed to block escape routes.

Row, Row: Three Brits and a New Zealand rower taking part in the Great Pacific Race were rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter after their boat took on water about 100 miles West of California. Ocean rowboats with crews of one, two, and four people are racing from Monterey, Ca. to Honolulu. The members of Team Pacific were plucked from the water just as their boat was settling in for the deep row.

Nil: US women’s soccer goalie Hope Solo was arrested on domestic violence charges after police responded to her Seattle home. Solo is suspected of assaulting her sister and nephew, but her lawyer says it was Solo who was attacked. It’s not the first time the cops have been to her house. Her husband, former Seattle Seahawks tight end Jerramy Stevens, was accused of attacking Solo the day before their planned wedding.

Social Page: Yahoo News Global Anchor Katie Couric was married yesterday to New York financier John Molner at her East Hampton home on Long Island. They had dated for two years.

Extra! Extra!: The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart skewered Fox and CNN for claiming to have conducted “exclusive” interviews with Hillary Clinton on the same day. The undeclared presidential candidate has been sitting in front of any available camera to promote her presidential-credential book, the name of which escapes us. Stewart said, “They should be proud of themselves to score an exclusive interview with the Salinger-like recluse Hillary Clinton, a woman whose secretive nationwide book tour had restricted her access to NBC, CBS, ABC twice, and the Arlington, Virginia Costco.”

Badda Bing:Pope Francis The Tolerant yesterday excommunicated the Sicilian Mafia saying, “Those who in their lives follow this path of evil, as Mafiosi do, are not in communion with God. They are excommunicated.” Members of the Mafia are reported to have responded, “Hey, whaddaya gonna do?”

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