The Iraqi government declared a state of emergency Tuesday as al Qaeda-linked militants from ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, violently seized control of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. Via The Foreign Bureau, WSJ’s global news update. BAGHDAD—Islamist insurgents seized control of Iraq’s second-largest city on Tuesday in a brazen military operation that underscored the weakness of the central government across vast swaths of the country. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a nationwide “state of maximum preparedness” after government forces fled Mosul in disarray following four days of fighting. He asked parliament to declare a state of emergency. But he didn’t say whether military forces were mobilizing to retake the city, 220 miles north of the capital, Baghdad. By nightfall, the militants were still expanding their territorial conquests. Local security forces said the fighters had taken over territory in the neighboring province of Kirkuk to the east […]