Iraqi Army

Scientists studying penguins in the Antarctic have set up automated cameras to document the lives of the sea birds. Unfortunately, all that footage has to be categorized — and that’s where you come in. Meanwhile, the Iraqi Air Force is smarting after an embarrassing blunder of reinforcing ISIS militants. And in China, the police were taking no chances with a group of ceremonial pigeons. Those stories and more, in today’s Global Scan.

My enemy’s enemy is not my friend, says militant Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. His militia once fought American soldiers and is now mobilizing to take on ISIS, but Sadr and others, even some Iraqi politicians, want no part of US-led airstrikes against the terrorist group.

In recent months, Iraqi Christians have been displaced by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Christian leaders in northern Iraq are calling upon young Christian men fight alongside the Peshmerga and Iraqi army against ISIS. While thousands are heeding the call, most remain skeptical.

Political tensions have calmed in Baghdad, but unrest in Iraq has given power — and weaponry — to the Shiite militias who stepped up to help fight ISIS. Now no one is sure if they’ll still listen to the Iraqi government or look after their own interests.

Canadian photojournalist Rita Leistner looks at Shia civilians volunteering for battle against ISIS fighters. “Half the time they’re only wearing slip-on sandals as they head off to war,” Leistner says.