A.M. Links: Iraq Falls Apart, Obama Weighs Military Action, More Clashes in Ukraine

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  Credit: White House / Flickr.com

  The news from Iraq keeps getting worse. On the heels of the insurgent takeover of Mosul, military experts now say that Iraq's Al Qaeda offshoot appears to have "grown into a military organization that is no longer conducting terrorist activities exclusively but is conducting conventional military operations." Meanwhile, President Barack Obama is considering a new round of military action in Iraq.

• According to a new poll, Barack Obama's approval ratings have hit a new low. He is now as unpopular as George W. Bush.

• Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the captured U.S. soldier recently swapped for five Taliban fighters held at Guantanamo, is back on American soil.

• Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists are battling in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.

• Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, currently out promoting her new memoir, had an ill-tempered exchange with National Public Radio over her "evolving" views on gay marriage, including the uncomfortable fact that her husband, President Bill Clinton, signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law. "I think you are trying to say that I used to be opposed and now I am in favor and I did it for political reasons," Clinton complained to NPR host Terry Gross.

• Violent protests broke out in Sao Paulo as the 2014 World Cup got underway on Thursday.

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