According to a report from the U.N., ISIS — the Sunni militant group taking control of Iraq and Syria — has ordered women and girls in Mosul to undergo genital mutilation. This fatwa potentially affects 4 million women and girls.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, shadowy leader of the jihadist group that's taken over much of Iraq and self-appointed leader of the world's Muslims, made an unprecedented public appearance at the beginning of last week—and was promptly criticized for being a sheikh with a chic fashion watch.

The Associated Press reports that a man purporting to be the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has made what would be his first known public appearance today in a video promoted on social media sites tied to ISIS.

Plenty of teens fall in love on the internet, but Shannon Maureen Conley, 19, fell in love with a man who says he's an ISIS militant in Syria. She was arrested in April for trying to board a plane to meet him in Turkey. According to court documents unsealed yesterday, Conley was committed to supporting ISIS and waging jihad against non-believers.

The group of Sunni militants that have stormed Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, or ISIL), issued a new edict today proclaiming the creation of a new religious state in Iraq and Syria, a "caliphate" that holds supreme rule over all Muslims. The group's leader, Abu Baker al-Baghdadi, has be declared "caliph," or the supposed successor of the Prophet Mohammed. The insurgents have also abandoned the names ISIS and ISIL and will now refer to themselves as The Islamic State.

Human Rights Watch confirmed Friday that 160 to 190 men were killed in mass executions by ISIS earlier this month in Iraq. ISIS posted pictures of the executions online, and HRW confirms today that they happened in at least two separate locations in Tikrit between June 11th and June 14th.

According to U.S. officials, Iran has been secretly sending surveillance drones over Iraq to help Shiite militias battle ISIS militants. The officials also said Iran has been supplying Iraq with up to 140 tons of military equipment per day.

A suicide bomber attacked a hotel in Beirut today, killing one (the bomber) and seriously injuring several others. The Associated Press reports that the bomber detonated on the fourth floor of the hotel while security officers were raiding the building in search of terrorists believed to be connected to ISIS militants.

"Iraq is not our neighbor, ISIS is our neighbor," a Kurdish government official tells VICE. The Kurds have staked out their real estate and apparently come to an understanding with the Islamists to their south. The nation of Iraq is fast becoming a political fiction, in much the way it began.

Lionel Messi, the Argentine soccer superstar, reportedly got online accolades for his World Cup heroism this weekend from the Islamic militants rapidly taking over Iraq—along with an invitation to "join the jihadist call," according to news reports.

The U.N. reports that at least 1,075 people — 757 of them civilians — have been killed in Iraq in June. U.N. spokesman Rupert Colville noted Tuesday that 1,075 "should be viewed very much as a minimum."

ISIS insurgents have taken the Baiji oil refinery just north of Baghdad. The refinery, the largest in Iraq, supplies a third of the country's oil to gas and power stations, and days of attacks on the facility have already led to its shutdown and petrol rationing.

After meeting with Iraqi leaders today in Baghdad, Secretary of State John Kerry said that as ISIS grows more powerful in Iraq, the U.S. is less inclined to wait for a political solution to the crisis before taking military action.

ISIS militants seized three more towns in the Iraqi province of Anbar Sunday as the group continues its fight toward Baghdad. These conquests give the militants control over a large stretch of borderland between Iraq and Syria and within striking distance of Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Since taking Mosul earlier this month, the Islamic militant group ISIS has robbed banks, committed mass executions, and burned oil refineries as Iraq slides closer and closer to all-out war. According to NYPD counterterrorism chief John Miller, New Yorkers and other Americans are marching in their ranks.

Fitness is an important component of people's daily routine, all over the world. But is it the right kind of fitness? Hamilton Nolan investigates.

Sunni militants hung their black banners over the watchtowers of the Baiji oil refinery early this morning, according to the Associated Press. The facility, just 140 miles north of Baghdad, is still contested by Iraqi officials, who claim the government is in control and that the militants have retreated.

Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria attacked Iraq's largest oil refinery last night, reportedly setting as many as 17 storage tanks on fire. The Iraqi army claimed it fought off the militants, killing 40, though reports from refinery workers indicate that the ISIS remains in control of the Baiji plant, which is located just 140 miles north of Baghdad.

Sunni militants captured a key northern Iraqi town, Tal Afar, early Monday morning. Only hours before, Prime Minister Nouri Al-Malaki tried to inspire volunteers who've joined the Iraqi security forces: "We will march and liberate every inch [the militants] defaced, from the country's northernmost point to the southernmost point," he said.

The State Department announced Sunday that an undisclosed number of personnel at the American Embassy in Baghdad would be temporarily relocated as Islamic militants advance through Iraq.