The Blog Herald

  IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Former South Korea president Park Geun-hye was serving a 22-year prison sentence before being pardoned South Korean President Moon Jae-in has pardoned former President Park Geun-hye, who was serving a 22-year prison term for a vast corruption scandal. The 69-year-old was convicted of abuse of power and coercion in 2018 after she was impeached the previous year. She was her country's first democratically-elected leader to be forced from office. Park has been hospitalised three times this year due to chronic shoulder and lower back pain. Local news outlet Yonhap said Park, who was among the beneficiaries of Mr Moon's special amnesty for the new year, had been placed on the list due in part to her poor health. The announcement has come as a surprise as President Moon Jae-in had previously ruled out a pardon. South Korea's first female prime minister Han Myeong-sook, who served a two-year prison sentence from 2015-2017 for bribery, wa...

  While it plans to issue its own digital rouble, Russia has opposed private cryptocurrencies for years, saying they could be used in money laundering or to finance terrorism. Bank of Russia Deputy Governor Vladimir Chistyukhin hinted on Monday that privately run cryptocurrencies may soon no longer be used in the country's financial markets,  TASS  news agency reported. (Sign up to our Technology newsletter, Today's Cache, for insights on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, business and policy. Click here to subscribe for free.) The central bank is working on a report elaborating on proposals to limit the use of such currencies in Russia, TASS cited Chistyukhin as saying. While it plans to issue its own digital rouble, Russia has opposed private cryptocurrencies for years, saying they could be used in money laundering or to finance terrorism. But it has recently ratcheted up its campaign. "I'll give you a hint: We do not see room for cryptocurrency on th...