20/11/2015 World Business Report

Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News.

Now for the latest financial news with

Could Bitcoin become a victim of the fight against terrorism?

One of these men will be Argentina's new president,

but can either restore confidence in its crippled economy?

Also in the programme, a beef over foreign ownership

as regulators scupper Australia's biggest ever land sale.

We start with the virtual currency bitcoin, we are asking

whether it could become a victim of the fight against terrorism.

Later today EU interior and justice ministers will meet to

discuss how to combat the militant group IS and the way it's financed.

According to reports, they are planning a crackdown

on virtual currencies and anonymous payment methods, the

Users can buy bitcoins at exchanges using their local currency.

Once purchased, the bitcoins can then be transferred

online to other users quickly and anonymously without verification

That has made them attractive to users ranging

from drug dealers to those trying to get around those money controls we

It's feared they could also be used to finance terrorism.

Dr Garrick Hileman is an alternative currency expert at the London School

of Economics and he joins us via Skype from San Francisco.

Welcome to the programme. I just want to see if we can get an

understanding... Do we have any idea if groups like ISIS use big coin or

other virtual currencies to fund their activities -- BitCoin. There

is very little evidence of that and one of the big barriers is that you

can spend them in very many places today. I'm glad you said that

because I was thinking the same thing. I can't imagine these

so-called ISIS people using them to buy over the shoulder rocket

launchers. Cash is king and that is probably something we have to put

controls on or keep an eye on. Absolutely. The big difference

between cash and BitCoin is that cash is pervasive. People like get

by and large. It is also minted by the state, so it is much easier for

governments to police that. I don't think anyone argues that Bitcoin

could provide a means for terrorist financing and it is worth at least

thinking about. Indeed. Am I correct in saying that Europe is not only

looking at Bitcoin, and many other virtual currencies, but any other

form of anonymous payments even down to prepaid credit cards and gold

we're even hearing? Indeed. It is smart to look at Bitcoin and other

virtual currencies in the context of other, arguably more anonymous

payment instruments. The UK recently put out a study on money laundering

and virtual currency came up scoring the lowest in terms of risk profile

of any other means of payment. I think it is encouraging to see the

European Union is taking a holistic approach here. Thank you. Can you

tell whoever set up your Skype that it is the best quality I have ever

seen? We are also in Argentina,

where voters go to the polls on The election brings to an end 12

years of rule by the Kirchner family and whoever takes over inherits an

enormous task, namely getting South America's number two economy back

on track, amid soaring inflation, rising poverty and almost zero

investor confidence. It's now down This is Daniel Scioli,

a former powerboat racer who's standing for the left wing ruling

party and backed by outgoing Here's his rival, the mayor

of Buenos Aires, conservative He's a businessman who has pledged

to restore business confidence That is seriously lacking

at the moment, here's why. According to official figures

inflation is running That sounds high

but the government's been widely accused of cheating

the data to underplay the problem. In fact, economists think

prices are rising at twice that That is crippling

ordinary Argentinians. Then there's the currency,

officially the peso is trading But nobody believes that,

in fact to change money on the black market a dollar will

cost you more than 15 pesos. Economists say whoever wins

the election will have to devalue the currency, possibly by 50%,

to restore credibility. The BBC's Daniel Gallas reports

from Buenos Aires. In one of the poorest neighbourhoods

in Buenos Aires, this small community centre is full of women

and children. They are here to claim social benefits from the

government. Each woman is entitled to about $70 monthly for each of

their children they can keep in school and with vaccination up to

date. Everywhere there are pictures of President Cristina Kirchner who

implemented the social programme. This community leader says most

people here are behind Cristina Kirchner's preferred candidate,

Daniel Scioli, because they believe he will expand her social

programmes. TRANSLATION: Before Cristina Kirchner, picture cheese to

take care of us. They give us medication, food, clothes for our

children. After she came to power the state started taking care of us

everything changed. But across town in Congress we hear a different

story. This MP is a familiar name in the Argentinian economy and an

inflation index is named after her. She says that prices rose so much

under the current government that the statistics were changed to mask

inflation. She released her own figures which show inflation is

twice as high as the real one. She thinks Mauricio Macri can make

Argentina flourish again by ending currency controls. We have had four

years where we are not growing. We are in Ground Zero. Part of the

problem in Argentina is that the government controls how many dollars

each businessperson can buy and there simply aren't enough to go

around for everyone. At this upmarket street in Buenos Aires, big

fashion brands like Louis Vuitton and Armani have had to close their

shops and some businesses have left Argentina altogether. Currency

controls are pushing up shops and driving investors away. Both

candidates have signalled a move to open up the economy but so far

neither have laid out a detailed plan of how this will be done. For

whoever wins the election next month, the challenge will remain the

same to secure the social gains made for the poor in the past decade

while convincing foreign companies to invest again in Argentina.

To Asia now and regulators in Australia have scuppered

a vast land sale that would have been the country's biggest ever.

Sharanjit Leyl is following the story for us in Singapore.

As an Australian, I think when we are talking big we're talking about

a cattle ranch as big as South Korea! That's right. It is bigger

than Ireland. Yet it constitutes just over 1%' APPLAUSE landmass. It

has nearly 200,000 cattle. The Chinese bidders had tried to buy

this. It is about $250 million worth, but it was blocked by

regulators and this was because of national interest, apparently --

Australia's landmass. It could potentially strained relationships

between China and Australia. China is Australia's largest trading

partner and according to the investment review Board in

Australia, the decision was because of the proximity of the land to a

weapons testing site. The federal Treasurer Scott Morrison said the

acquisition of this huge cattle station would be contrary to

Australian interests. It is interesting that this is under the

new government of Malcolm Turnbull and it is on the fine line that

Australia often balances between investment and concerns regarding

foreign ownership. But the Prime Minister has rebuffed any suggestion

that this might result in a backlash from China. Australia's national

interests. They would be yelling that the Chinese are coming!

In other news: The Dutch government is expected to raise

around four billion euros this Friday with the flotation

It's the biggest initial public offering of a European bank

since the financial crisis - and investor interest has been strong.

ABN was bailed out in 2008 at a cost of 22 billion euros.

Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem has admitted

the Dutch taxpayer is unlikely to get the full amount back.

A quick look at the markets. This is what the Asian markets are doing at

the moment and I will be back to take a look at some of the

newspapers from around the world shortly.

The influential Justice committee of MP's

in the UK has recommended that the government scrap the controversial