Society's ChildS


Quenelle

Colombian presidential election run-off: Swarm of angry bees attacks right-wing candidate's rally

Videos circulate in local media showed rally attendees hurrying to escape swarm at event for Iván Duque
Ivan Duque Colombia
© Fernando Vergara/APIvan Duque holds a campaign rally in Armenia, Colombia Sunday.
Campaign managers for Colombia's rightwing presidential candidate Iván Duque were probably hoping to create a bit of a buzz with a campaign rally ahead of next week's election, but the event turned into fiasco after it was attacked by a swarm of angry killer bees.

Scores of people were caught up in the bizarre incident on Saturday, including former president Álvaro Uribe, who was stumping on behalf of his protege Duque.

Uribe had been scheduled to address supporters in La Loma, a small town in the northern Cesar province, but was forced to run for cover before he could give his speech. Fifteen people were taken to hospital, but were later discharged.

Videos circulated in local media showed rally attendees hurrying to escape the swarm, some covering their faces with T-shirts.


Red Flag

Brexit campaigner Arron Banks hit with accusations of links to Moscow but responds with trolling and shrugs

Arron Banks
© Rob Pinney / Global Look PressAndy Wigmore (L) and Arron Banks (R) are seen leaving BBC office on April 23, 2017
The UK media has come up with yet another 'sensational revelation' that allegedly sheds light on ties between the Kremlin and major Brexit campaigners. The story only seemed to raise laughter from those mentioned in it, though.

There is no rest for the wicked, it seems, as the British media apparently goes to great lengths to continue the narrative of Russia's interference in the UK's vote to leave the EU alive. This time, the Sunday Times dug up a story that was immediately turned into a new 'reason' for anti-Russian hysteria and even prompted the Minister for the Cabinet Office in Theresa May's government, David Lidington, to call for an investigation.

The respected "quality paper" reported that Arron Banks, the millionaire co-founder and major funder of the Brexit campaign known as Leave.EU, made repeated contacts with Russian officials and even took such an incautious and reasonably suspicious step to make a trip to Moscow at the time when the UK was at the height of the Brexit campaign. And by saying "repeated contacts," the Sunday Times actually means as many as three meetings between Banks and Andy Wigmore, the director of communications for Leave.EU, and Russian Ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko over a period of more than a year.

Cow

Sentenced to death for illegally crossing the EU border, Penka the cow shall live

Cow eating hay
© GERARD JULIEN / AFP
Penka the cow, whose life was left hanging by a thread after illegally crossing the EU border without the necessary paperwork, is to be spared.

Bad Guys

Europe weighs in on Austrian plans for crackdown on "political Islam"

Sebastian Kurz
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz
Austria announced on Friday that it will likely expel up to 60 Turkish-funded Imams and their families, and may shutter seven mosques as part of a crackdown on what they have termed "political Islam," reports AFP.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that Austrian officials will shut a Turkish nationalist mosque in Vienna, while dissolving a group called the Arab Religious Community that runs six mosques.

Comment:


Eye 2

7 injured as Paris suburban train overturns due to heavy rain causing landslide

Train
© Martin BUREAU / AFP
Seven people were slightly injured after a Paris suburban RER train overturned as a result of a landslide caused by heavy rain, AFP reports.

The landslide caused "three carriages to overturn. Fortunately, there are only seven slightly injured, who are being treated," France's Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne told Franceinfo radio, as cited by AFP.

Vader

Why is Washington pressuring Jordan by stirring up unrest?

Jordan protests
© Khalil Mazraawi / Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesProtesters raise their hands and wave flags near members of the gendarmerie and security forces during a demonstration outside the prime minister's office in Amman, Jordan's capital, late on June 3, 2018.
Are the Jordanian demonstrations a sign of a new episode of the Arab Spring, or, on the contrary, are they a means of pressuring King Abdallah II to accept the US plan for Palestine ?

At the beginning of June, Jordan was shaken by a week of peaceful demonstrations against a project for a fiscal law which planned for a rise in taxes of between 5 % and 25 % for all persons with an annual salary of more than 8,000 dinars ($11,245). The demonstrators, whose quality of life had suffered greatly from the consequences of the Western war against Syria, demanded, and obtained, the resignation of the Prime Minister and the withdrawal of the project for law.

In reality, the Kingdom hardly had a choice - the plan was in conformity with the engagements taken in 2016 during the subscription for a loan from the International Monetary Fund. It had been rejected several times because of the war, and had only been presented when Parliament was closing. Its modification would have supposed a complete change of economic policy, which is not on the agenda. The only solution would be to obtain financial support from Saudi Arabia in order to reimburse the debt.

Camera

Young man's before and after photos of Benghazi highlight devastation in Libya caused by NATO forces

Benghazi Libya
© Esam Omran Al-Fetori / ReutersA historic building, that was ruined during a three-year conflict, is seen in Benghazi, Libya February 28, 2018.
Before and after images are good for promoting healthy eating, but they have a dramatically different effect when it comes to war-torn countries, as proven by a Libyan man who took photos of himself in Benghazi in 2000 and 2018.

His photos posted on Twitter show the same locations in Benghazi after 18 years. Where there were once tall buildings and clean, wide streets, there are now bullet-ridden ruins following the 2011 uprising, which was backed by a bombing campaign by the US-led NATO bloc and led to the deposing and murder of long-time Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.


Benghazi gained infamy a year later after the US diplomatic facilities in the city were attacked by terrorists, who killed several American citizens, including US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

Comment: See also:


Heart - Black

After 21-hour standoff with police, Florida hostage-taker kills 4 children, commits suicide

police crime scene line tape
© Gaston De Cardenas / Reuters / File
Four young children held hostage by a felon were discovered dead following a 21-hour standoff that began after the suspect shot an Orlando police officer in the face.

Gary Lindsey Jr., 35, a convicted felon, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound along with four children ages 1, 6, 10 and 11 he had held hostage since Sunday night, Orlando police Chief John Mina said at a press conference just before midnight.

The incident began late Sunday night when police responded to a domestic violence call at a west Orlando apartment complex. When they arrived at the scene, the suspect opened fire, shooting officer Kevin Valencia in the face. The officer was rushed to a hospital in a "serious" condition, while the suspect barricaded himself inside with the hostages.

X

Honduran immigrant in US custody kills himself after being separated from wife and child at border crossing

man in jail
© iStock
A Honduran immigrant reportedly took his own life while in custody after his wife and child were separated from him at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Marco Antonio Muñoz, 39, killed himself in the cell of a Texas jail last month, according to the Starr County sheriff's department incident report obtained by The Washington Post.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not publicly disclose the death, according to the Post. The Hill has reached out to DHS for comment. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Starr County authorities did not respond to The Washington Post's requests for comment.

Muñoz's death occurred just weeks after the Trump administration announced it would crack down on illegal border crossings by prosecuting more parents and separating them from their children at the border.

Border Patrol agents familiar with the situation told the Post that Muñoz, his wife and 3-year-old son were taken into custody after crossing the border into the U.S. near Granjeno, Texas. One agent speaking to the paper on the condition of anonymity said that after the family said they wanted to apply for asylum, they were told they would be separated.

Eye 1

HART: Homeland Security's massive new biometric database that you know very little about

biometric eye
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is quietly building what will likely become the largest database of biometric and biographic data on citizens and foreigners in the United States. The agency's new Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) database will include multiple forms of biometrics-from face recognition to DNA, data from questionable sources, and highly personal data on innocent people. It will be shared with federal agencies outside of DHS as well as state and local law enforcement and foreign governments. And yet, we still know very little about it.

The records DHS plans to include in HART will chill and deter people from exercising their First Amendment protected rights to speak, assemble, and associate. Data like face recognition makes it possible to identify and track people in real time, including at lawful political protests and other gatherings. Other data DHS is planning to collect-including information about people's "relationship patterns" and from officer "encounters" with the public-can be used to identify political affiliations, religious activities, and familial and friendly relationships. These data points are also frequently colored by conjecture and bias.

In late May, EFF filed comments criticizing DHS's plans to collect, store, and share biometric and biographic records it receives from external agencies and to exempt this information from the federal Privacy Act. These newly-designated "External Biometric Records" (EBRs) will be integral to DHS's bigger plans to build out HART. As we told the agency in our comments, DHS must do more to minimize the threats to privacy and civil liberties posed by this vast new trove of highly sensitive personal data.

Comment: Minority Report anyone? The Orwellian dream of total control inches closer day by day. As the power of technology increases, it will be increasingly exploited to usher a finer order of control - at least they hope.