Mobile payments startup Isis Wallet is changing its name to Softcard to avoid association with the Islamic militant group known as ISIS.

The company said in July that it would be rebranding for that reason, but didn't have a new name to announce then.

"However coincidental, we have no desire to share a name with this group and our hearts go out to those affected by this violence," said Isis CEO Michael Abbott, in a company announcement.

"According to a report attributed to the Syrian military, almost 54,000 foreign combatants from 87 different countries have come to the country since the start of the civil war. Thousands of them are said to have been killed. [...] It says Chechens top the list of foreign fighters with 14,000 combatants, of which 3,691 have been killed. Besides Chechens, the largest groups of fighters are thought to be Saudis, Lebanese, Libyans, Iraqis and Tunisians."

The Guardian reports that the British government has decided to arm the Kurds, but will withhold direct military aid to Baghdad until a new Iraqi government is formed.

John Meoli of the Baltimore Sun reports that former Ravens wide receiver Donte Stallworth has been signed by The Huffington Post to write about national security issues. I know the punchlines practically write themselves, but as far as celebrity analysts go, Stallworth can't possibly be any worse than Phil "Convert 'em or kill 'em" Robertson, the Duck Dynasty patriarch who's become a Fox News favorite.

In the cities and towns across the desert plains of northeast Syria, the ultra-hardline al Qaeda offshoot Islamic State has insinuated itself into nearly every aspect of daily life.

    The group famous for its beheadings, crucifixions and mass executions provides electricity and water, pays salaries, controls traffic, and runs nearly everything from bakeries and banks to schools, courts and mosques.

    While its merciless battlefield tactics and its imposition of its austere vision of Islamic law have won the group headlines, residents say much of its power lies in its efficient and often deeply pragmatic ability to govern....

...  "Scientists and men with degrees are joining the State," said one Arab jihadi.

    The group has also invested heavily in the next generation by inducting children into their ideology. Primary, secondary and university programs now include more about Islam.

    The group also accepts women who want to fight - they are trained about "the real Islam" and the reasons for fighting....

"Every three days we receive at least 1,000 fighters. The guest houses are flooding with mujahideen. We are running out of places to receive them," the Arab jihadi said.

By some estimates, the extremist group ISIS controls 60 percent of oil production in Syria, as well as six oil wells in Iraq.

Much of this oil ends up in the black market, and given that, the "purchase" and sale of this oil is far from typical.

...Middlemen take a big cut of the money on the way to the black market. So instead of earning the world market price of $100 a barrel, ISIS pockets half or a quarter of that.

Still, assuming intelligence estimates that the group sells 40,000 to 60,000 barrels each day, daily revenue comes out to $1 million to $3 million.

"Once oil is integrated, it's very hard to know, literally impossible to know, if a drop comes from here or from there," says Matthew Levitt, a former Treasury Department intelligence official now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "What we are going to need is intelligence identifying those middlemen, and then deciding how to target their ability to continue functioning in that manner."

As important as oil revenue is to ISIS, Levitt thinks it's a small piece of the group's overall finances.