Midday Roundup: UN report details extent of ISIS horror

Unimaginable suffering. Islamic State (ISIS) is responsible for killing nearly 19,000 civilians in Iraq in a 21-month period, according to a new United Nations report. About half of the victims came from Baghdad. Another 36,245 Iraqis suffered injuries amid fighting and insurgent attacks, and 3.2 million people had to flee their homes to escape the violence. The report, prepared by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, notes the ISIS killings between January 2014 and October 2015 might amount to war crimes and genocide. Although ISIS is known for brutal public executions, a majority of the casualties recorded in the report came from suicide bombings. The report also notes ISIS fighters continue to hold hundreds of women and children abducted from villages as sex slaves. And even those not directly harmed by ISIS violence are suffering from lack of food and medical care. “This report lays bare the enduring suffering of civilians in Iraq and starkly illustrates what Iraqi refugees are attempting to escape when they flee to Europe and other regions,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. “This is the horror they face in their homelands.”

Final appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed today to hear a case challenging President Barack Obama’s executive action granting protections for some illegal immigrants. Texas and 25 other states sued, claiming the president overstepped his authority in granting one-third of the nation’s undocumented immigrants protection from deportation. The president’s order would have shielded parents of children born in the United States and given them access to work permits and a host of healthcare, disability and retirement benefits. A federal court in Texas sided with the states, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision in November. Oral arguments in the case likely will be held in April. With the court’s term ending in early June, the ruling will come out at the height of the 2016 presidential campaign season, just before both parties hold their conventions.

Heartbreaking search. Crews continue to hunt for 12 Marines missing off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii, since Thursday. The Marines were flying in two helicopters that apparently collided in midair, although the exact cause of the accident has not been determined. Rescue teams spotted debris in the water shortly after the crash, but they have yet to find the remains of the helicopters. A Navy salvage ship joined the effort Monday, looking for wreckage from the crash underwater. Other teams are looking above water and along the shoreline for any clues about where exactly the choppers came down. There has been no sign of the 12 Marines, although a Coast Guard spokeswoman said three life rafts have been found. Some were inflated, but it’s not clear whether that was done intentionally by survivors or happened as part of the crash.

Punting the peacock. The Republican National Committee (RNC) has officially chosen to boot NBC from the presidential debate lineup. The RNC voted via conference call yesterday to sever ties with the network, which had been scheduled to host a GOP debate next month. The split comes after an October debate on the CNBC cable network, in which the debate’s moderators angered candidates and party officials with what many felt were overly contentious questions and rebuttals. The network said it had hoped to work out its differences with the RNC, but negotiations failed. The Feb. 26 debate will go on in Houston—without NBC.

Hollywood protest. Several prominent African-American entertainers will boycott this year’s Academy Awards ceremony to protest the lack of diversity among nominees and judges. For the second year in a row, the Academy selected an all-white slate of actors, snubbing several movies that featured African-American and Hispanic stars. Filmmaker Spike Lee, who won an honorary Oscar at the Academy’s annual Governor’s Ball, said he would skip next month’s ceremony to help encourage the industry to have “a serious discussion about diversity.” Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is African-American, responded swiftly with promises to make radical changes to the group’s membership, which is 93 percent white and 76 percent male.

WORLD Radio’s Mary Reichard contributed to this report.