Your daily scoop of what State of the Union is watching today, August 13, 2014.
1. Iraq. As nearly 130 more American military advisers arrive in northern Iraq, the U.S. is considering an air evacuation of thousands of Yazidis stranded on a mountain and threatened by ISIS fighters. The plight of the Yazidis, coupled with the ISIS assault against Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region, prompted the United States to begin targeted airstrikes over the past several days. Humanitarian airdrops of food and water are also underway. A U.S. official tells CNN that if an air operation is proposed and approved by President Obama, it would require putting U.S. ground troops both on the mountain and at a nearby airfield. The official also said focusing on a possible air option - rather than a ground one - is due to initial indications that going by land would take too long would up the risk to the Yazidis. Meanwhile Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Malaki is fighting efforts to replace him as his support crumbles. Iraq's president has nominated Haider al-Abadi to be the new prime minister, a move supported by both the U.S. and Iraq's neighbor Iran.