NEW YORK: A suburban New York hospital technician accused of using bitcoin and other crypto-currencies to launder money meant for Daesh was arrested on charges of money laundering in support of a foreign terrorist organization and bank fraud, prosecutors said on Thursday.
Federal prosecutors in New York’s Suffolk County claimed in court papers that Zoobia Shahnaz, 27, used fraudulent credit cards and loans to accumulate $85,000, which she attempted to transfer to the radical group before attempting to go to Syria to join it.
Prosecutors said that after traveling to Jordan to work with the Syrian American Medical Society, Shahnaz returned to the US and applied for six credit cards, which she used to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
The resident of the hamlet of Brentwood in Islip on Long Island appeared before a federal judge late on Thursday and was ordered detained, prosecutors said.
Shahnaz’ lawyer, Steve Zissou, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.
After borrowing about $85,000 with fraudulently obtained credit cards and loans and withdrawing another $22,000 from bank accounts in her own name, Shahnaz sent funds to recipients in Pakistan, China and Turkey, prosecutors said.
Some of that money came in the form of $63,000 in bitcoin and other crypto-currencies purchased with the credit cards, prosecutors said.
Arraignment and detention documents released on Thursday showed that Shahnaz, a US citizen born in Pakistan, was arrested on Wednesday.
Prosecutors said that in July Shahnaz obtained a Pakistani passport and booked a flight to Pakistan with a layover in Istanbul with the intention of going to Syria. She was stopped by law enforcement investigators at John F. Kennedy airport and questioned about her trip and the financial transactions, prosecutors said.
She had $9,500 in cash with her, just under the limit of $10,000 that a person can take out of the country without declaring it to immigration and customs officials, they said.
Subsequent searches of Shahnaz’ electronic devices showed numerous searches for Daesh-related material, including travel checklists.
She faces three charges of money laundering, including money laundering in support of a foreign terrorist organization, and is also charged with bank fraud. She faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the money laundering charges and up to 30 years for the bank fraud charge.
Prosecutors say NY woman tried to use bitcoin to aid Daesh
Prosecutors say NY woman tried to use bitcoin to aid Daesh
UK approval of arms exports to Israel plunged at start of Gaza war
The figures, which have not previously been reported, are based on information provided by government officials to Reuters and data from the Department for Business and Trade’s Export Control unit.
The United States and Germany increased arms sales to Israel after the start of the war with Hamas.
However, the value of British-approved licenses between Oct. 7 and Dec. 31 last year dropped to 859,381 pounds ($1.09 million), government officials told Reuters. That is the lowest figure for the period between Oct. 7 and Dec. 31 since 2010.
This compares with the government approving 20 million pounds of arms sales to Israel for the same period in 2022, including small arms ammunition and components for combat aircraft, according to government data.
In the same period in 2017, the government approved 185 million pounds in arms sales to Israel, including components for tanks and surface-to-air missiles, the data shows, the highest figure for the period in publicly available data going back to 2008.
Unlike the US, Britain’s government does not give arms directly to Israel but rather issues licenses for companies to sell weapons, with input from lawyers on whether they comply with international law.
Many of the licenses approved in the period after the start of the war in Gaza were for items listed for “commercial use” or non-lethal items such as body armor, military helmets or all-wheel drive vehicles with ballistic protection.
Reuters could not establish if the fall in the value of approved licenses for Israel was because of a decision by Britain to restrict the sale of certain items, or because there was a drop in demand from Israel.
The Department for Business and Trade, which is responsible for approving the export licenses, and the Foreign Office declined to comment. Israel’s embassy in London did not respond to a request for comment.
RESTRICTIONS
Israel’s conflict in Gaza was triggered when Hamas fighters charged into Israel on Oct. 7 and killed some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent bombardment and invasion of Gaza has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave.
Members of Britain’s parliament and human rights groups have criticized the government for the lack of public information about arms sales to Israel since the start of the conflict.
Some countries such as Italy, Canada and the Netherlands have imposed restrictions on arms exports to Israel because of concerns about how the weapons could be used.
While Germany approved arms exports to Israel worth 326 million euros last year, 10 times more than in 2022, the volume of approvals fell to around 10 million euros in the first quarter of this year.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been one of Europe’s strongest advocates of Israel’s right to respond with overwhelming force against Hamas.
He has resisted calls to halt arms transfers to Israel but has said the government adheres to a “very careful licensing regime.”
Britain is expected to provide information about arms sales to Israel in the first half of this year in the coming months.
The government has in the past blocked arms sales to Israel, such as in 2009 when it revoked some licenses, and in 1982 when there was a formal restriction after the invasion of Lebanon.
Kremlin calls NATO chief’s nuclear weapons remark an ‘escalation of tension’
Stoltenberg told Britain’s Telegraph newspaper that NATO members were consulting about deploying more nuclear weapons, taking them out of storage and placing them on standby in the face of a growing threat from Russia and China.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Stoltenberg’s comments appeared to contradict a communique issued at a weekend conference in Switzerland that said any threat or use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine context was inadmissible.
The talks, held at the behest of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, were billed as a “peace summit” although Moscow was not invited.
“This is nothing but another escalation of tension,” Peskov said of the NATO secretary general’s remarks.
Stoltenberg later said Russia was trying to create confusion and that his comments referred to the modernization of NATO’s nuclear deterrent, including the replacement of F-16 jets with F-35s and the modernization of weapons deployed in Europe, which he said has been known for a long time.
“Russia is trying a way to always also create a situation where they can blame NATO, and the reality is that NATO is transparent,” Stoltenberg told reporters on a visit to Washington.
NATO had earlier sought to clarify Stoltenberg’s remarks, saying there were no significant changes to its nuclear posture.
“NATO is committed to ensuring a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent,” NATO spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah said.
“For that purpose, we have an ongoing modernization program to replace legacy weapons and aircraft,” she said. “Beyond that, there are no significant changes to our nuclear deterrent.”
Russia, which sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, says the United States and its European allies are pushing the world to the brink of nuclear confrontation by giving Ukraine billions of dollars worth of weapons, some of which are being used against Russian territory. President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is technically ready for nuclear war, and that Moscow could use nuclear weapons to defend itself in extreme circumstances.
Russia and the United States are by far the world’s biggest nuclear powers, holding about 88 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
The US has about 100 non-strategic B61 nuclear weapons deployed in five European countries — Italy, Germany, Turkiye, Belgium and the Netherlands, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The US has another 100 such weapons within its borders.
Russia has about 1,558 non-strategic nuclear warheads, though arms control experts say it is very difficult to say just how many there are due to secrecy.
Tobacco-like warning label for social media sought by US surgeon general who asks Congress to act
- Dr. Vivek Murthy said that social media is a contributing factor in the mental health crisis among young people
WASHINGTON DC: The US surgeon general has called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms similar to those now mandatory on cigarette boxes.
In a Monday opinion piece in the The New York Times, Dr. Vivek Murthy said that social media is a contributing factor in the mental health crisis among young people.
“It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe,” Murthy said. “Evidence from tobacco studies show that warning labels can increase awareness and change behavior.”
Murthy said that the use of just a warning label wouldn’t make social media safe for young people, but would be a part of the steps needed.
Social media use is prevalent among young people, with up to 95 percent of youth ages 13 to 17 saying that they use a social media platform, and more than a third saying that they use social media “almost constantly,” according to 2022 data from the Pew Research Center.
“Social media today is like tobacco decades ago: It’s a product whose business model depends on addicting kids. And as with cigarettes, a surgeon general’s warning label is a critical step toward mitigating the threat to children,” Josh Golin, executive director at Fairplay, an organization that is dedicated to ending marketing to children, said in a statement.
Last year Murthy warned that there wasn’t enough evidence to show that social media is safe for children and teens. He said at the time that policymakers needed to address the harms of social media the same way they regulate things like car seats, baby formula, medication and other products children use.
To comply with federal regulation, social media companies already ban kids under 13 from signing up for their platforms — but children have been shown to easily get around the bans, both with and without their parents’ consent.
Other measures social platforms have taken to address concerns about children’s mental health can also be easily circumvented. For instance, TikTok introduced a default 60-minute time limit for users under 18. But once the limit is reached, minors can simply enter a passcode to keep watching.
Murthy believes the impact of social media on young people should be a more pressing concern.
“Why is it that we have failed to respond to the harms of social media when they are no less urgent or widespread than those posed by unsafe cars, planes or food? These harms are not a failure of willpower and parenting; they are the consequence of unleashing powerful technology without adequate safety measures, transparency or accountability,” he wrote.
In January the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X and other social media companies went before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify as parents worry that they’re not doing enough to protect young people. The executives touted existing safety tools on their platforms and the work they’ve done with nonprofits and law enforcement to protect minors.
Murthy said Monday that Congress needs to implement legislation that will protect young people from online harassment, abuse and exploitation and from exposure to extreme violence and sexual content.
“The measures should prevent platforms from collecting sensitive data from children and should restrict the use of features like push notifications, autoplay and infinite scroll, which prey on developing brains and contribute to excessive use,” Murthy wrote.
Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal supported Murthy’s message Monday.
“We are pleased that the Surgeon General — America’s top doctor — continues to bring attention to the harmful impact that social media has on our children,” the senators said in a prepared statement.
The surgeon general is also recommending that companies be required to share all their data on health effects with independent scientists and the public, which they currently don’t do, and allow independent safety audits.
Murthy said schools and parents also need to participate in providing phone-free times and that doctors, nurses and other clinicians should help guide families toward safer practices.
While Murthy pushes for more to be done about social media in the United States, the European Union enacted groundbreaking new digital rules last year. The Digital Services Act is part of a suite of tech-focused regulations crafted by the 27-nation bloc — long a global leader in cracking down on tech giants.
The DSA is designed to keep users safe online and make it much harder to spread content that’s either illegal, like hate speech or child sexual abuse, or violates a platform’s terms of service. It also looks to protect citizens’ fundamental rights such as privacy and free speech.
Officials have warned tech companies that violations could bring fines worth up to 6 percent of their global revenue — which could amount to billions — or even a ban from the EU.
US-UK forces launch strikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah and Kamaran Island: Houthi-run Al Masirah TV
CAIRO: Al-Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen’s Houthi movement, said on Monday that US and British forces have carried out at least six airstrikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah International airport and four strikes on Kamaran Island near the port of Salif off the Red Sea.
More to follow...
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Saudi interior ministry arrests six violators of Hajj regulations
- Those arrested were given 15-day prison sentence and fined SR10,000 for each violator they tried to transport
- The vehicles used to transport the violators were confiscated
RIYADH: Hajj security forces stationed at entrances to Makkah arrested on Sunday six people who violated Hajj regulations by transporting a group of 52 individuals attempting to perform Hajj without a permit.
The resident and five citizens were each given a 15-day prison sentence and fined SR10,000 ($2,665) for each violator they tried to transport illegally.
The vehicles used to transport the violators were also confiscated, the Ministry of Interior said.
Residents who violate Hajj regulations face deportation and the ministry has urged all citizens and residents to strictly comply with Hajj regulations to ensure pilgrims feel safe, comfortable, and at peace when performing Hajj rituals.
