Germany announced plans to switch away from Russian oil. It’s a laudable goal, but the logistics of doing so present an immense hurdle. With (almost) no oil production of its own, Germany depends on imports. Those come in two forms — crude oil for processing in the country’s refineries and finished products such as the diesel fuel that powers ...

Every year on July 31, on the site of an 18th-century coffee plantation in the Jamaican village of Woodside, there is a reenactment of Emancipation Day in 1838 when the slaves were freed by Royal Proclamation. People perform a memorial play, cite the proclamation and debate its meaning. The characters ask, “why should God save the Queen and not the ...

  The financial strictures imposed on Russia have put a spotlight on cryptocurrencies. Could the Russian government, or sanctioned officials, use digital assets to hide and move their wealth, undermining efforts to punish President Vladimir Putin’s regime for its bloody war in Ukraine? Here’s where things stand: Global illicit crypto activity amounted to $14 billion in 2021 — or about ...