A young Yazidi woman went before the U.N. Security Council on Saturday, detailing the horrifying experiences she suffered at the hands of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and begging the United Nations to wipe the group out.

Via a translator, 21-year-old Nadia Murad Basee Taha told the international community what had happened to her. In August of 2014, ISIS attacked her quiet town in what she called “a true genocide.” Her family and neighbors were taken to a nearby school, where women and the children were separated from the men. “I saw them from the second floor of the school. They took the men and they killed them. Six of my brothers were killed.” The women and children were taken by bus to another region, where they were commodified and parceled out as gifts to ISIS men.

Taha recounted being claimed by a man who humiliated and tortured her. When she tried to escape, she was caught, beaten, and was put in a room with guards who “proceeded to commit their crime.” After three months, she managed to escape for good. She fled to Germany, where she was given medical care and assistance.

Yazidis, like Taha, are a religious and ethnic minority centered in northern Iraq. ISIS considers them heretics and has specifically targeted the community. Thousands have diedat the hands of ISIS and more have been threatened or taken captive. When it comes to women and girls, ISIS claims that the rape of non-Muslim women is not only permissible, but encouraged. Yazidi women are a frequent target.

“These crimes were not committed in an arbitrary fashion,” Taha told the United Nations. “It was an organized, planned policy. The Islamic State came with one sole aim, to destroy the Yazidi identity.”

She called the attacks on her community "genocide," and called for the U.N. to help the thousands of women and children still in the hands of the Islamic State. “I implore you, get rid of Daesh completely. I went though this terrible suffering because of them...all those who commit these crimes of trafficking and genocide need to be brought to justice so women and children can live in peace.”


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A community and its youth are grieving today over the death of Zaevion William Dobson, a high school student-athlete who was fatally shot after he and his friends were fired on as they sat outside, authorities said.

"[He] was very well liked by his peers and his teachers," Fulton High football coach Rob Black said during a news conference today. "This was a fine, fine young man. ... I want to try to continue to celebrate the life that he had [and] the impact he had on his peers."

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At the news conference, Knoxville Police Department Chief David Rausch choked back tears at one point as he detailed the Thursday night shooting that killed the 15-year-old sophomore and football player at Fulton High School. Rausch said that Dobson had been trying to shield three girls from the barrage of gunfire.

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"Unfortunately, they picked a random group of young men and women who were just hanging out and trying to prepare to celebrate the holiday," he said of the shooters.

Police said the Dobson slaying was one of three overnight shootings currently under investigation.

Raush said that around 7:18 p.m. Thursday police responded to a call about shots being fired in a home. Inside the house, which had been struck by gunfire multiple times, police found a 46-year-old woman as well as a 10-year-old child. Raush said the woman, Lisa Perry, had been shot more than once in her lower back. She was hospitalized. The child was not injured.

Several hours later, around 10:12 p.m., Brandon Perry, Lisa Perry's 23-year-old son, and "several additional males" then drove to a different area and allegedly "randomly fired multiple times" at a group of young adults, including Dobson. Dobson was struck and killed. No other injuries were reported.

Around 2 a.m., police responded to reports of a 2002 BMW that had crashed into an apartment, trapping an elderly female resident. Rausch said the woman was rescued and uninjured. The driver of the BMW was identified as Brandon Perry. Police said he'd been shot before the crash.

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Brandon Perry was taken to the hospital, where he later died this morning. Two other males who fled the vehicle were taken into custody. One was released after questioning. According to WATE-TV, the other passenger was charged with "being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and violation of probation."

Rausch said authorities believed there was a connection between the shootings and gangs.

"This is a very active investigation. ... We know all three of the incidents that happened overnight are connected," he said. "There were multiple individuals out there."

Later today, police announced that a suspect has been arrested in connection with the three overnight shootings.

Christopher D. Bassett, 20, has been charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and violation of probation, police said, noting there could be additional charges. Bassett was apprehended fleeing from the wrecked BMW after the driver, Brandon Perry, was shot, police said.

Bassett is being held without bond, police said.

Tenn. teen dies shielding others from gunfire

His coach at Knoxville's Fulton High says Zaevion William Dobson was killed in a senseless act of random violence.
Just 15 years old

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing was enveloped in eye-watering, throat-irritating smog on Saturday as the second red alert of the month went into effect in the Chinese capital, forcing many cars off the roads and restricting factory production.

A wave of smog settled over the notoriously polluted city of 22.5 million overnight and is forecast to last into Tuesday because of a lack of strong winds.

Smog red alerts, the most serious in a four-tier warning system, are triggered when high pollution levels are forecast to last more than 72 hours.

Levels of PM2.5, the tiniest and deadliest airborne particles, rose to as high as 331 in some parts of Beijing on Saturday and are predicted to top 500 in the coming days — more than 20 times the level considered safe by the World Health Organization.

As a result of the red alert, schools were ordered closed and half the city's cars forced off the roads each day. Barbecue grills and other outdoor smoke sources have been banned and factory production restricted.

While some balked at the inconveniences, most Beijingers appeared to support the measures after a lengthy stretch when the government was seen as largely ignoring the smog problem.

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Chinese paramilitary policemen wear masks as they march across Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, China, Sat …

"I think (the government) is doing a better job than before," Beijing resident Ma Yunan said. "In previous times, the government would not issue red alerts even when the haze was very serious. Now they are publishing alerts beforehand for us to get ourselves prepared and the alerts are accompanied with some measures."

Although the smog warning system was launched two years ago, Beijing had not issued a red alert until Dec. 7, drawing accusations that it was ignoring serious bouts of smog to avoid the economic costs.

The smog in Beijing is largely blamed on coal burning power plants, industrial pollution and the booming number of vehicles. The city's geography worsens the problem because mountains on three sides trap smog, and cold winter air presses down on it to keep it from clearing.

While waiting for promised plans to cut coal pollution to take effect, residents of Beijing and other polluted cities in northern China adapt by wearing face masks and equipping their homes with air filters.

China, the world's biggest carbon emitter, plans to reduce hazardous emissions from coal-fired power plants by 50 percent over the next five years, and says its overall emissions will peak by about 2030 before starting to decline.

Scientific studies attribute 1.4 million premature deaths per year to China's smog, or almost 4,000 per day.

Washington (AFP) - Some 200 Islamic State jihadists were killed by US-led coalition aircraft during an intense battle in Iraq this week, a US military spokesman said Friday.

Baghdad-based Colonel Steve Warren, who represents the US-led coalition that is attacking the IS group in Iraq and Syria, said about 500 jihadists had carried out an offensive against Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces in the northern province of Nineveh on Wednesday.

Coalition aircraft from five nations responded and dropped nearly 100 bombs during the overnight fight, he added.

"Air power alone killed nearly 200 of them, about 187 by last count," Warren told Pentagon reporters in a video call.

"So, a significant blow to this enemy. And then, of course, ground forces. We don't have a good count yet for how much damage the pesh (peshmerga) were able to inflict on this enemy during the course of this fairly long battle. But we know it was significant."

The multi-pronged IS offensive saw jihadist fighters target several areas including a base housing Turkish soldiers that has been at the heart of a bitter dispute between Baghdad and Ankara.

Peshmerga forces repelled coordinated attacks in Nawaran, Bashiqa, Tal Aswad, Khazr and Zardik, the Kurdistan Regional Security Council (KRSC) has said.

Warren said much of the fighting took place in Tal Aswad.

The KRSC, which is headed by de facto regional president Massud Barzani's son Masrour, previously said that more than 70 IS members were killed in the attacks.

Warren said Canadian special operations troops, who are in Iraq to help train Kurdish fighters, helped in the fight on the ground.

Tehran (AFP) - Iran is to close schools for two days in Tehran, an official said on Saturday, following air pollution three times the acceptable level that has blanketed the city in smog.

Air quality in Iran's capital was the worst for at least nine months this week, media said, and airborne particles from car emissions were at "seven times the standard level".

"All schools will be closed on Sunday in Tehran and in the... towns of Shahr-Rey and Islam-Shahr (both south of the capital)," said environment official Mohammad Hadi Heydarzadeh.

"If the pollution continues, schools will also be closed on Monday," he said on state television.

Traffic will be limited in the city centre and some factories will be closed, media reported.

The official IRNA news agency said that schools will also shut in Alborz province, west of Tehran.

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The Iranian capital Tehran engulfed in smog on December 19, 2015 (AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)

Authorities have asked state employers to grant mothers time off to look after children who will be unable to go to school and urged the elderly, children and sick people to avoid going outdoors.

Emergency services have also been mobilised.

In December 2014, almost 400 people were hospitalised with heart and respiratory problems caused by heavy pollution in Tehran, with nearly 1,500 others requiring treatment.

The Air Quality Index on Monday showed an average reading of 162 -- a "red status" warning that the air is unhealthy for everyone, according to World Health Organization standards.

On Saturday it had dropped slightly to 148, still well above the normal healthy level of between zero and 50.

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A general view taken from the west of Tehran shows the heavily-polluted skyline of the Iranian capit …

Peak pollution hit 180 in some areas of Tehran, where poor air is worsened due to high altitudes -- between 1,100 and 1,700 metres (3,600-5,600 feet) above sea level -- in a basin surrounded by mountains.

- 'We cannot breathe' -

Visibility was low Saturday as a grey fog blanketed the capital, a megacity of an estimated 14 million people, and authorities said they expect pollution to worsen in the coming days.

Exhaust fumes from five million cars and almost as many motorcycles that ply Tehran's roads each day make up 80 percent of its pollution, which increases in winter as emissions fail to rise above cold air.

"We cannot breathe. My eyes are itchy and my head hurts," said a taxi driver who only gave his first name, Khosro.

"Traffic is getting worse each day, it is stifling. It is like there is a grey haze hanging over the city. We can't seen the mountains," he said referring to the snow-capped Alborz range that overlooks Tehran.

Iran's government has tried to cut pollution by supplying lower emission fuel in large cities, Masoumeh Ebtekar, a vice president responsible for environmental protection, said this week.

In 2012, pollution contributed to the premature deaths of 4,500 people in Tehran and about 80,000 in the country, the health ministry said.

According to the office in charge of monitoring air quality, the air in Tehran was "pure for only 219 days" during the past 16 years.