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The latest headlines from the city of Fallujah, the scene of much intense fighting involving U.S. forces during the Iraq War, are ominous:

— "Iraq Government Loses Control Of Fallujah." (Al-Jazeera)

— "Sunni Fighters 'Control All Of Fallujah.' " (BBC News)

— "Al-Qaida Militants In Iraq Seize Much Of Fallujah." (USA Today)

On All Things Considered Saturday, Jordan-based Middle East analyst Kirk Sowell tells host Arun Rath that "no one controls Fallujah as a whole" at this moment.

Fighters aligned with al-Qaida have been attacking police stations, killing local officials and taking over some areas, he says. Meanwhile, Sunni militias — many including some of the same fighters who assisted the U.S. during the "Sunni awakening" that pushed al-Qaida out of the region during the Iraq War — are in charge elsewhere.

At the same time, the Iraqi Army has pulled back in the face of attacks from the al-Qaida fighters and has largely ceded the ground fighting to the Sunni militias — who, to complicate matters further, have no great love for the Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his supporters. The army has been firing some shells into the city, though, allegedly in the direction of al-Qaida fighters. There have been deaths from that shelling and some of those killed, apparently, were Sunni — not al-Qaida.

The army has given up trying to control the exit and entry points around Fallujah, Sowell says, which means "there's complete freedom of movement" for fighters of all types.

But the worst thing al-Maliki could do, says Sowell, would be to send the Iraqi in to try to restore order. It could end up just getting bogged down and taking fire from all sides.

So what does he see as the better strategy? "Negotiate to where the city is in control of [Sunni] tribes that are hostile to al-Qaida."

Much more from Sowell's conversation with Arun will be posted on All Things Considered's page later today.

Former first lady Barbara Bush is home after more than five days of treatment at a Houston hospital. She had pneumonia.

The Houston Chronicle reports that Bush family spokesman Jim McGrath says the 88-year-old wife of one president and mother of another had a couple "truly great days" in which she responded well to treatment.

The Chronicle adds that in a statement, the former first lady says "I cannot thank the doctors and nurses at Houston Methodist enough for making sure I got the best treatment and got back to George and our dogs as quickly as possible."

This was the second straight holiday season in which one of the former first couple spent time in Houston Methodist Hospital. Former President George H.W. Bush was a patient there for nearly two months, from Thanksgiving 2012 past New Year's Day 2013. He had been suffering from bronchitis, a bacterial infection and a persistent cough.

The former president is 89.

As survivors of Haiyan — November's super typhoon in the Philippines — slowly put their lives back together, the rest of Asia has been marking the anniversary of another disaster.

Shortly after Christmas nine years ago, a huge tsunami swept across the region, killing at least a quarter of a million people.

Some of the worst damage was in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where whole villages were swept away by a wall of water so powerful it picked up ships and left them several miles inland.

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One day after helping to rescue 52 people from a ship stuck in Antarctic ice, a Chinese icebreaker is in danger of also being stranded for a while.

Australia's Maritime Safety Authority says the crew of the Xue Long sent out an alert Friday saying their ship may not be able "to move through heavy ice in the area."

So, the safety authority has told another icebreaker, the Aurora Australis, "to remain in open water in the area as a precautionary measure" and to be ready to render assistance. The Xue Long, meanwhile, "will attempt to manoeuvre through the ice when tidal conditions are most suitable during the early hours of 4 January 2014."

This means that the 52 passengers and scientists rescued Thursday from the MV Akademik Shokalskiy won't be getting back to Australia as soon as they hoped. They're now on board the Aurora Australis, after being flown there Thursday by a helicopter from the Xue Long, which is also known as the Snow Dragon.

Fortunately, according to the safety authority, "there is no immediate danger to personnel on board the Xue Long." The Polar Research Institute of China says the ship can carry up to 128 crew and passengers. So far, we haven't found news reports that indicate just how many people are on the Xue Long.

Also said to be safe: The 22 members of the Russian crew who remain aboard the Akademik Shokalskiy. They're keeping the ship ready to get underway as soon as conditions, hopefully, permit.

In case you're just catching up on all this, as we've said before, the Akademik Shokalskiy was about halfway into a month-long expedition when it got stuck in the ice near Cape de la Motte in East Antarctica on Christmas Eve. The Xue Long and Aurora Australis tried to break through the ice to free the Akademik Shokalskiy, but couldn't reach it. So, the passengers and scientists were ferried to the Australian ship by the Xue Long's helicopter.

Or, if you prefer your highlights in Twitterish bites:

— Russian ship carrying an Australian expedition to the Antarctic gets stuck in the ice.

— Chinese and Australian icebreakers try to break through.

— They can't reach the Russian ship.

— So, a Chinese helicopter flies 52 mostly Australian adventurers to the Australian ship.

— And now, the Chinese ship may be stuck in the ice as well.