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 ...

  Judging by official Chinese media, President Xi Jinping appears to have focused more on the question of Taiwan than the Russian invasion of Ukraine when he spoke with his US counterpart Joe Biden. If Xi fears US support for what he calls “Taiwan independence” forces, many US analysts worry about the opposite — that China might be inspired by ...

  Bloomberg China has retrieved the second black box from a jet that crashed after days of searching, as investigators try to work out what happened to the China Eastern Airlines flight carrying 132 people that plummeted from a cruise altitude. The flight data recorder was found 5 feet (1.5 metres) beneath the soil, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Investigators made ...