Ellison testified against Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX’s founder and her ex-partner who was sentenced to 25 years in prison

Disgraced former cryptocurrency executive Caroline Ellison was released from federal custody Thursday after serving about 14 months for her involvement in the multibillion-dollar FTX fraud scandal. Ellison was previously head of FTX’s associated trading arm and the on-again, off-again romantic partner of the crypto exchange’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.

Ellison, 31, was sentenced to 24 months in prison in 2024 after pleading guilty to seven charges including wire fraud and money laundering. She featured prominently as a witness for the prosecution of Bankman-Fried, testifying that her former paramour directed her to commit crimes. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Ellison’s release is an epilogue to one of the largest financial-fraud investigations in US history. The collapse of FTX, once among the world’s biggest crypto firms, attracted immense media attention, rattled markets and for a time led to increased regulatory scrutiny of the crypto industry.

Guardian analysis shows images are the same, with Nekima Levy Armstrong looking composed in original but sobbing after alteration

The White House posted a digitally altered image of a woman who was arrested on Thursday in a case touted by attorney general Pam Bondi, to make it seem as if she was dramatically crying, a Guardian analysis of the image has found.

The woman, Nekima Levy Armstrong, also appears to have darker skin in the altered image. Armstrong was one of three people arrested on Thursday in connection to a demonstration that disrupted church services in St Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday. Demonstrators alleged that one of the pastors, David Easterwood, was the acting field director of the St Paul ICE office. Bondi announced the arrests on social media Thursday morning.

Speculation has spread over whether Burnham will attempt to return to pursue a Labour leadership bid

Keir Starmer’s allies have launched a “Stop Andy Burnham” campaign to prevent the Labour mayor from returning to parliament after the resignation of a Manchester MP triggered a byelection.

Multiple members of the party’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) predicted it would be impossible for Burnham to make it through the selection process given the number of Starmer loyalists on the body desperate to avoid a leadership challenge.

The first landslide hit a house in the community of Welcome Bay on New Zealand’s North Island, police say

Landslides hit a house and a campground in New Zealand on Thursday, leaving at least two dead while emergency crews were trying to rescue others buried in rubble, officials said.

The first hit a house in the community of Welcome Bay on New Zealand’s North Island at 4:50am, police said. Two people escaped the house, and the bodies of two who were trapped inside were recovered hours later, the emergency management minister, Mark Mitchell, said.

Refusal to approve charges against Lemon in connection with Minnesota protest reportedly ‘enraged’ Pam Bondi

A federal magistrate judge declined to sign off on charges against Don Lemon, the former CNN anchor, in connection with a protest at a Minnesota church over the weekend, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The magistrate’s decision “enraged” the attorney general, Pam Bondi, according to NBC News and CNN.

Emmanuel Macron says the oil tanker was boarded and searched ‘subject to international sanctions’

The French navy has intercepted a Russian tanker in the Mediterranean suspected to be part of the “shadow fleet” that enables Russia to export oil despite sanctions.

“This morning, the French navy boarded and searched an oil tanker from Russia, subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag,” President Emmanuel Macron said on X.

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Fenerbahce have equalised against Aston Villa, with Kerem Aktürkoğlu getting it. It’s 1-1 in Turkey.

It’s now 2-2 in Bologna, the Englishman Jonathan Rowe has got the goal, cutting across the Celtic defence to score.

• Fifa chief says he has been ‘hammered’ for 2026 prices

• Fans’ group tells Infantino to focus on cheap tickets

Gianni Infantino made a joke about British football fans’ behaviour and defended ticket prices for this summer’s World Cup in North America during a speech to world leaders on Thursday.

Fifa’s president addressed concerns around the staging of this summer’s finals in the US amid rising domestic tensions there, telling the World Economic Forum in Switzerland how there had been “a lot of critics” before Qatar 2022.

US president alleges JPMorgan stopped offering him banking services in wake of January 6 Capitol riot

Donald Trump has sued JPMorgan Chase and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, for at least $5bn after accusing America’s largest bank of “debanking” him.

The US president alleged that JPMorgan stopped offering him banking services in the wake of the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Earlier this month, he claimed that it had “incorrectly and inappropriately” discriminated against him.

Liam Ramos, a preschooler, is just one of a number of kids caught up in dystopian ICE surges in Minnesota and beyond

As symbols of the indiscriminate disproportionality of the Trump administration’s militant anti-immigrant crusade in Minneapolis, the images are hard to surpass.

One recent image shows the innocent figure of Liam Ramos, a five-year-old preschooler wearing a blue bobbled winter hat, standing next to a black vehicle with a dark-clad adult figure standing behind him, whose hand is proprietorially placed on his backpack.

Decision marks dramatic expansion of ‘Mexico City policy’, which abortion rights supporters call ‘global gag rule’

• US politics live – latest updates

The Trump administration will block organizations that receive US foreign aid from subsidizing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and what the administration calls “gender ideology”. The new policy will affect about $30bn in foreign assistance.

The decision, confirmed to the Guardian by a state department spokesperson on Thursday morning, marks a dramatic expansion of the so-called “Mexico City policy”, which blocks non-US non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from receiving some forms of US funding if they provide abortion-related services or advocate for abortion rights overseas. Now, that policy – which abortion rights supporters call the “global gag rule” – will also apply to international organizations and US-based NGOs operating abroad.

I was surprised by the dormant ringlets springing to life as I hunched over the basin, squishing in conditioner to define each tendril

• Read more summer essentials

My housemate has a special phrase for some of my old photos: “Ima’s whiteface era” – hair seared straight down the middle with brassy blond highlights.

Where I grew up, in a regional coastal town, the gold standard was sandy blond beach babe.

Misinformation technology could be deployed at scale to disrupt 2028 US presidential election, AI researchers say

Political leaders could soon launch swarms of human-imitating AI agents to reshape public opinion in a way that threatens to undermine democracy, a high profile group of experts in AI and online misinformation has warned.

The Nobel peace prize-winning free-speech activist Maria Ressa, and leading AI and social science researchers from Berkeley, Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge and Yale are among a global consortium flagging the new “disruptive threat” posed by hard-to-detect, malicious “AI swarms” infesting social media and messaging channels.

It was supposed to give Gaza a future, but the US president is using it to attack the UN, international law and multilateralism

One glance at the logo of the Board of Peace tells you all you need to know. It is the globe and laurels of the UN – only gold, because this is Donald Trump’s initiative, and showing little of the world beyond North America.

The charter of the board, formally launched in Davos on Thursday, suggests that this is less America First than Trump Always. It is not “the US president” but Mr Trump himself who is named as chair, for as long as he wishes. He can pick his successor, decide the agenda and axe whomever he chooses – even if they have coughed up the $1bn demanded for permanent membership. It is the institutional expression of his belief that he is bound not by law but “my own morality, my own mind”.

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Growing concerns about the impact of smartphones on the youngest children must be addressed

The first UK government guidance on young children’s use of tablets, smartphones and other screens, expected in April, cannot come soon enough. The laissez-faire approach to the boom in social media, handheld devices and other digital technology was arguably nowhere less suitable than when such machines were placed in front of babies. The Department for Education’s ongoing Children of the 2020s study has found that 98% of two-year-olds watch screens on a typical day for more than two hours. Those who spent the most time had smaller vocabularies, and were twice as likely as other children to show signs of emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Correlation must not be mistaken for causation. This is still a relatively new area of research, and much remains uncertain. But the findings of a recent survey by the charity Kindred Squared, combined with observations by teachers, are highly concerning. Answers from 1,000 primary-school staff revealed that 37% of four-year-olds arrived without basic life skills such as dressing and eating in 2025 – up from 33% two years earlier.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Dallas Pokornik accused of using fake ID to fool airlines in case likened to Hollywood thriller Catch Me If You Can

A Toronto man posed as a pilot for years in order to fool airlines into giving him hundreds of free flights, prosecutors have alleged, in a case that has prompted comparisons to the Hollywood thriller Catch Me If You Can.

Authorities in Hawaii announced this week that Dallas Pokornik, 33, had been charged with wire fraud after he allegedly fooled three major US carriers into giving him free tickets over a span of four years.

Controversial gifted jetliner described as a ‘flying palace’ is anticipated to be used as new Air Force One plane

The Boeing 747-8 jetliner gifted to the Donald Trump administration by the Qatari royal family is set to be delivered to Trump by this summer.

Confirming the anticipated use of the aircraft as the new Air Force One jet, an air force spokesperson told the Guardian: “The Air Force remains committed to expediting delivery of the VC-25 bridge aircraft in support of the Presidential airlift mission, with an anticipated delivery no later than summer 2026.”

After a bombastic speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump backed away from his threat to impose tariffs on European countries

In the past few days, Donald Trump turned the US presidency into a tool for his personal glory and vengeance. On Saturday, he threatened to impose tariffs of up to 25% on a bloc of European countries until Denmark agrees to sell Greenland to the US. The next day, Trump texted Norway’s prime minister, saying his failure to win the Nobel peace prize was one of the reasons he’s intent on seizing control of Greenland. After being snubbed for last year’s award, Trump said he no longer felt the need “to think purely of peace”.

By Tuesday morning, as European leaders continued to absorb the shock of Trump’s threats and insults, the president posted an AI-generated meme that showed him planting a US flag on the island, flanked by his vice-president and secretary of state. “Greenland. US Territory. Est. 2026,” the image said. (Trump shared another image, also apparently edited by AI, that showed him sitting alongside a map of the US that includes Canada, Greenland and Venezuela, as he spoke with European leaders assembled at the White House.) Later on Tuesday, when he was asked at a press conference how far he was willing to go to acquire Greenland, Trump responded tersely: “You’ll find out.”

Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor, at New York University

Fourteen-year-old was found dead in a storm drain in June 2020 six days after setting off from home on his bike

Six years after Noah Donohoe’s bike ride across Belfast ended in a tragedy that mystified Northern Ireland, an inquest is seeking answers.

Opening statements at Belfast coroner’s court on Thursday marked the formal start of an attempt to fathom what happened to the 14-year-old schoolboy, who left his home on 21 June 2020 and was found six days later dead in a storm drain.

Duchess of Sussex’s lifestyle programme will reportedly not return for third series

The Duchess of Sussex’s latest Netflix lifestyle show failed to crack the top 1,000 most watched programmes on the platform, figures suggest, amid reports that it will not return for a third series.

The second series of With Love, Meghan ranked 1,124th most watched shows between July and December 2025, with 2m views, according to data, coming below the second season of Miraculous: Tales Of Ladybug & Cat Noir, as well as programmes several years older including Downton Abbey.

The US president has backed down in the row over Greenland after threatening Europe with tariffs and the potential use of military force. After talks with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, Donald Trump said the 'framework of a future deal' had been agreed for the territory to allow the US to build its military presence there. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian's Europe correspondent Jon Henley 

High court ruling marks first time a foreign state has been held liable for domestic servitude by its envoy on UK soil

The United Arab Emirates must pay more than £260,000 to a victim of human trafficking who was exploited by one of its diplomats in London, the high court has ruled.

Lawyers representing the woman said it was unprecedented for a court to order a foreign state to pay for domestic servitude by a diplomat on UK soil.

Coogler’s vampire thriller swept the Oscar nominations over Chloé Zhao’s tearjerker and Paul Thomas Anderson’s counterculture thriller. This genre-defying drama about the black experience could now rule awards season
• Full list of nominees
• Sinners becomes first film in history to earn 16 Oscar nominations

Agree with them or not, these Oscar nominations deliver a pert slap to the accepted assumptions of awards season. The industry had been expecting landslides for classy upmarket fare such as Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, and also for Josh Safdie’s delirious comedy Marty Supreme. And that’s what they got.

But perhaps no one expected these titles to get quite as colossal a smackdown as they got from Ryan Coogler’s vampire drama thriller Sinners: a violent, high-energy fantasia about racism, music and the black experience, which has soared ahead with 16 nominations – the most for any film in 97 years of the Academy Awards. Whatever happens on the night itself, Ryan Coogler has made Oscar history.