Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

Samia Shahid's death: Pakistan police probe 'honor killing'

Samia Shahid, 28, from Bradford, died while visiting relatives in Pandori in Northern Punjab
© Family photoSamia Shahid, 28, from Bradford, died while visiting relatives in Pandori in Northern Punjab.
Police in Pakistan have launched a murder investigation into the death of a woman whose husband says she was the victim of a so-called honor killing.

Samia Shahid, 28, from Bradford, died last week in Northern Punjab.

Police are treating her death as suspicious after receiving information from her husband.

No arrests have been made but officers are investigating her father and want to speak to her first husband Choudhry Shakeel, who has gone on the run.

Comment: Brother confesses to honor killing of social media star, has 'no regrets'


Handcuffs

Protesters gather outside DNC - 7 arrested after jumping security fence

philly police
© WeAreChange / YouTube
At least seven protesters outside the Democratic National Convention were arrested after jumping a security fence and are now facing federal charges.

Seven DNC protesters face federal charges, according to David Spunt of KYW-TV, who spoke with Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross.


A witness conveyed to Jamie Stover of WFMZ how several protesters broke through the security perimeter.


The protest, which was marked by flag burning, swung from peaceful demonstration to moments of high intensity, and back again.


With a helicopter overhead and still around a hundred protesters reported past midnight by Buzzfeed, things seemed to be dying down. There was even a group hug, Michaelle Bond of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.


USA

DNC circus: Anti-war protestors disrupt Panetta speech; convention organizers dim lights to drown them out

protests leon panetta speech DNC
© Lucy Nicholson / Reuters Attendees protest drone warfare as former Congressman and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 27, 2016.
Supporters of Bernie Sanders interrupted a speech being made by former defense secretary Leon Panetta at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), with delegates loudly chanting "No more war!" and "No more drones!"

The roaring disruption came from the Oregon and Washington delegates, who shouted "No more war!" as Panetta spoke at the podium. Both states were won by Sanders at the Democratic presidential primary.

Comment: Humiliation games and cognitive dissonance at the Democratic National Convention


Sherlock

Sun investigation reveals ISIS member tried to recruit undercover reporter to carry out terrorist attack in London

isis bomb supplies
© SWNSIS jihadi recruited an undercover Sun reporter to carry out a lone wolf terrorist atrocity
AN ISIS jihadi recruited an undercover Sun reporter to carry out a lone wolf terrorist atrocity — targeting Big Ben, London Bridge or a major shopping centre.

Abu Muslim Khurasani ordered our man to get the materials for a car bomb, saying: "Park somewhere busy with many people."

He spent two months coaching our man on the orders of ISIS's top recruiter — using the encrypted Telegram messaging app to communicate. He sent a bomb-making guide and ordered our reporter to get the readily-available materials to make an explosive device and hide it in a car.

A hit-list of targets included Big Ben and London Bridge — before Khurasani settled on a major shopping centre for a Nice-style atrocity. He said: "Learn from Nice. Get a car you can park somewhere busy with many people — and a gun you can use at the same time.

"While sitting in car, use them all (referring to bullets) and quickly press the button. Both things must be in a hurry. No time gap."

Khurasani, who claimed to have active jihadi operations in the UK and the US, ordered our man to launch his lone-wolf attack last Monday. On Sunday evening, believing our man was poised for his suicidal mission, Khurasani sent a final message.

Camera

Corporate appropriation: Getty resells thousands of donated images, now facing billion-dollar lawsuit

Carol Highsmith
© image via Wikimedia CommonsCarol Highsmith self-portrait in a broken mirror that she photographed during the Willard Hotel restoration, Washington, DC (c. 1980–90)
In December, documentary photographer Carol Highsmith received a letter from Getty Images accusing her of copyright infringement for featuring one of her own photographs on her own website. It demanded payment of $120. This was how Highsmith came to learn that stock photo agencies Getty and Alamy had been sending similar threat letters and charging fees to users of her images, which she had donated to the Library of Congress for use by the general public at no charge.

Now, Highsmith has filed a $1 billion copyright infringement suit against both Alamy and Getty for "gross misuse" of 18,755 of her photographs. "The defendants [Getty Images] have apparently misappropriated Ms. Highsmith's generous gift to the American people," the complaint reads. "[They] are not only unlawfully charging licensing fees ... but are falsely and fraudulently holding themselves out as the exclusive copyright owner." According to the lawsuit, Getty and Alamy, on their websites, have been selling licenses for thousands of Highsmith's photographs, many without her name attached to them and stamped with "false watermarks."

Since 1988, Highsmith has been donating tens of thousands of photographs of people and places in the United States to the Library of Congress, making them free for public use. The institution calls the donation "one of the greatest acts of generosity in the history of the Library." The Carol M. Highsmith Collection is featured in the library's Prints & Photographs Division, alongside the likes of Dorothea Lange's Dust Bowl and Depression photographs.

In fact, it was partly Lange's work with the Farm Security Administration that inspired the now-70-year-old Highsmith to begin her own project of documenting all 50 states through her nonprofit This is America! Foundation. Chances are, you've seen the results before. The United States Postal Service featured Highsmith's photographs of the Jefferson Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial on stamps, and her work has appeared in Smithsonian Magazine, Time, the New York Times, and the Washington Post Magazine.

Airplane

JetBlue airline to launch first US flight to Cuba on August 31

Jet Blue airlines
© Flickr/ wilco737
The first US flight to Cuba operated by JetBlue Airlines will take off on August 31, the airline announced in a statement on Thursday.

"JetBlue today announced it will launch flights to Cuba on August 31, 2016," the statement said.

The first flights will all leave from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in the US state of Florida and head to the Cuban city of Santa Clara, the airline noted. A one-way ticket will cost 99 dollars.

Comment: JetBlue is in the news today for another reason too: No shock there: Kilos of cocaine found on to JetBlue planes during check in Florida


Stock Down

Cutting off one's nose to spite face? Shell profits plunge 70% due to oil-price low

shell
© Sergei Karpukhin / ReutersFilled oil drums are seen at Royal Dutch Shell Plc's lubricants blending plant in the town of Torzhok, north-west of Tver.
Royal Dutch Shell posted a 70 percent drop in its quarterly profits, worse than analysts had expected. The Anglo-Dutch oil major is blaming low crude prices and small refining profits.

"Lower oil prices continue to be a significant challenge across the business, particularly in the upstream (business)," said Chief Executive Ben van Beurden on Thursday.

Shell's second-quarter profit slumped from $3.8 billion to $1 billion year-on-year. Analysts had expected the company would earn about $2.2 billion.

Not only Shell's oil business, but others divisions including gas, petrochemical and oil refining saw a steep decline. Cash flow reduced to $2.3 billion compared with $6.1 billion in the same period of 2015. This is not enough even to pay out $3.7 billion in dividends.

Airplane

No shock there: Kilos of cocaine found on two JetBlue planes during check in Florida

jetblue
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters
Maintenance workers carrying out routine checks on JetBlue aircraft in Florida got more than they bargained for when they inadvertently uncovered a drug haul on two passenger planes.

The aircraft, which fly domestic and international flights for the low cost airline, were at the HAECO hangar in Lake City for service when workers found kilos of cocaine in the walls of luggage compartments below their right wings.

The first discovery of one kilo of cocaine was made last Wednesday. Two more kilos were found in another plane on Sunday in the exact same area of the aircraft, according to WJXT .

JetBlue's planes are usually serviced by HAECO every three months, without a lot of advance notice.

Comment: Florida has been a major hub for the illegal drug trade for decades. Not coincidentally, it has also been a major hub for training "Contra" armies for regime-change ops in Central and South America. This latest 'bust' was small beans compared to what is sanctioned and directed by organizations like the CIA/DEA/etc. (See Doug Valentine's Strength of the Wolf for all the sordid history.)


Bell

Divided, conquered: 'Allahu Akbar' calls prompt tension at Munich memorial

munich
© Arnd Wiegmann / ReutersA man prays beside flowers laid in front of the Olympia shopping mall, where yesterday's shooting rampage started, in Munich, Germany July 23, 2016.
Cries of 'Allahu Akbar' caused uproar during a commemoration for victims of last week's shooting at a Munich shopping mall. Nine people were killed by a German-Iranian at the Olympia mall on July 22, with officials indicating a pre-planned attack.

The altercation at the scene of the shooting - where crowds have been paying their respects - was captured on camera and published by Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.

In the footage, a young Muslim expresses his outrage over the "unjust world." Il Fatto Quotidiano reports the young man was part of a group who lost friends in the attack.

VIDEO EMBED (Caution: Strong language)


Comment: 'Allahu Akbar' is not a jihadi slogan. It simply means 'God is great', and it is used by ordinary Muslims. In some contexts, it's similar to how Westerners might say 'Oh my God' or 'Praise the Lord'. The jihadis coopted the phrase, however, and use it before, during, and after their deadly attacks in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, and generally whenever they open their mouths.

So without more information, this event is neutral: probability suggests that whoever uttered the phrase here was a normal Muslim, not necessarily expressing support for the violence.

What the whole dynamic shows is just how fractured German society is; it's ready to collapse in its own internal divisions. Without proper guidance from the top (on the level of government and 'culture creators'), the polarization will only become more extreme. And the result will not be pretty.


Pistol

Reports indicate gunman in standoff with armed police in Surrey, southern England

British police line tape
© Stefan Wermuth / Reuters
Armed police are reportedly locked in a standoff with a gunman in Smallfield, Surrey, a rural town on the outskirts of London.

Carey's Wood road has been closed off and residents are being told to stay in their homes. One resident told the Surrey Mirror that a police helicopter has been near the scene since 5:30am GMT.

A witness told the newspaper that she saw two people sitting in the back of a police car and another person in handcuffs outside the house, which police have surrounded.

That police car has now left the scene, but the man who is reported to have the gun is still said to be inside the house.