Law

Bitcoin and other digital currencies are seemingly tailor-made for use by organized crime groups, given that they’re widely used and allow for a level of anonymity. But a study by the European Union exploring financing options used by organized crime and terror groups claims that the technological barriers associated with using bitcoin and other digital currencies have so far prevented widespread adoption.

The use of cryptocurrencies by criminal groups – other than hackers - is fairly rare.

In its conclusion, the report claims that:

Over the past 9 months, as the media has launched an all out offensive on the Trump administration for crimes that have yet to be even identified with any level of specificity much less proven, former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz has tried to be a voice of reason by appearing on numerous talk shows to discuss facts and legal precedents as opposed to innuendo and baseless accusations.

With diplomatic relations between the US and Iran - a state Donald Trump has repeatedly accused of being a "state sponsor of terrorism" - alrady near rock bottom, on Sunday they took another turn for the worse after a United States citizen accused of "infiltration" in Iran was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Within hours of President Donald Trump’s return to the US following his Bastille Day visit to Paris as a guest of French President Emmanuel Macron, the Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to block a ruling by a federal judge in Hawaii that seeks to expand who can be let into the US under the narrower terms of the Trump travel ban.

Fuel theft in Mexico used to consist of a few villagers drilling holes in Pemex pipelines and carrying away just enough gasoline to fill their vehicles and maybe a couple extra gallons to sell on the side of the freeway.  But as The Columbian notes, illegally tapping into pipelines and stealing gas from Mexico's state-owned oil company has morphed into a very well organized criminal enterprise, run by well-armed regional cartels and supported by distribution on a commercial scale to factories and petrol stations.