Skip to content

Terrorists Exploit Cryptocurrency, Says Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton

  • Tech

Stanford Scientists Invent Fire Prevention Gel

California scientists have developed a weather-resistant gel that lasts for months and can be sprayed on vegetation to prevent deadly and destructive wildfires. Unlike traditional fire retardants, the gel-like fluid is water and wind resistant, so it can be sprayed on grasses and other vegetation and remain effective for months at a time—long enough to last an entire wildfire season in California. It’s also non-toxic and biodegradable. The gel was invented in a lab at Stanford University by assistant professor of materials science and engineering Eric Appel and a team of students following about three years of research and development. The substance contains the same safe, active ingredient found in the red-colored fire retardant that most Californians have seen cascading down from aircraft during fire season. The groundbreaking discovery, published…

In this photo illustration a visual representation of the digital currency Bitcoin sinks into water in London, England on Aug. 15, 2018. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Terrorists are exploiting crypto-currencies to fund their deadly missions, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has warned.

Dutton says the anonymity of the online currencies allows extremists to escape scrutiny.

“The anonymity afforded by such technologies enables terrorist financiers to obfuscate their activities,” he told a counter-terror conference in Melbourne on Thursday.

“The increasing use of digital and crypto-currencies, stored-value cards, online payment systems­ and crowd-funding platform­s provide new channels through which terrorism may be financed.”

Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton faces the media at a press conference in Canberra on Aug. 21, 2018. (Sean Davey/AFP/Getty Images)

 

He said countries need to stay ahead of modern financing measures, while also warning terrorists continue to use traditional methods, like ransom money and fraudulent charities.

He called on Australia’s private lenders to help join the fight, saying nations needed to embrace expertise from outside governments.

Greater scrutiny of charities and not-for-profits is also needed, having become popular terror financing conduits.

“In many cases, not-for-profits are not even aware that they are being taken advantage of,” Dutton said.

Dutton pointed to the work of Australia’s anti-money laundering watchdog, AUSTRAC, in the Indo-Pacific to combat the terrorist groups ISIS and al-Qaeda.

The minister also lumped Islamist extremism and far-right extremism in with “environmental radicalism.”

This article is from the Internet:Terrorists Exploit Cryptocurrency, Says Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton

Jeffrey Epstein’s Brother Says There Were ‘Unexplained’ Injuries on Shoulder, Wrist

The brother of dead disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein said he had unusual injuries on his wrists and shoulders. Mark Epstein, 65, said there were two contusions on both of Jeffrey’s wrists, an injury to his left forearm, and muscle hemorrhaging of his left shoulder or deltoid. “Those are unexplained. Was he handcuffed and struggled? Was someone holding his wrists? The marks on his wrist are unexplained,” he told Fox News. His comments about his brother’s death in August—which the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office said was due to suicide by hanging—come after famed pathologist Dr. Michael Baden said there were questions about Epstein’s neck injury. “Did the injuries happen a week before or at the time of the incident? We have to look at the microscopic slides to see…