World/Nation

• 'Big grave' for militants pledged by Iraqi official

BAGHDAD - Iraq's outgoing prime minster pledged Monday to turn his country into "a big grave" for Sunni militants from the Islamic State group and commended security forces who achieved a rare victory over insurgents by ending the siege of a Shiite town.

Nouri al-Maliki made the comments during an unannounced visit to the northern community of Amirli, where he was greeted with hugs. A day earlier, Iraqi forces backed by Iran-allied Shiite militias and U.S. airstrikes broke a two-month siege of the town where some 15,000 Shiite Turkmens had been stranded.

In footage aired on state TV, al-Maliki was shown sitting at a wooden desk in front of a large poster of Shiite leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistsani, ordering promotions and awards for those who fought in the battle.

"I salute you for your steadfastness and patience against those beasts and killers," he told a gathering of fighters in a large hall as they chanted Shiite religious slogans. He vowed to root out Sunni militants from areas they control in the country.

"All Iraq will be a grave for those infidels, and we will send all the IS (Islamic State) gang to death," he added.

• Sour electorate poised to 'keep the bums in'

WASHINGTON - A surly electorate that holds Congress in even lower regard than unpopular President Barack Obama is willing to "keep the bums in," with at least 365 incumbents in the 435-member House and 18 of 28 senators on a glide path to another term when ballots are counted Nov. 4.

With less than 10 weeks to the elections, Republicans and Democrats who assess this fall's midterm contests say the power of incumbency - the decennial process of reconfiguring congressional maps and hefty fundraising - trumps the sour public mood and antipathy toward gridlocked Washington.

"Despite the incredibly low polling, favorable ratings for Congress, it's still an incumbent's world," said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics that tracks political money.

That leaves many voters angry, not only with the political reality but their inability to change it.

"I can't get over where they say people are going to be able to keep their seats when they're not doing their jobs. I just don't understand it," said retired teacher Pauline Legendre after voting in Minnesota's Democratic primary last month.

- The Associated Press