A New York man has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to a bitcoin theft dubbed the cryptocurrency “heist of the century”, US officials said on Thursday.Court documents said Ilya Lichtenstein, 35, hacked into the Bitfinex crypto exchange in 2016, and made more than 2,000 transactions to…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldRepublicans have won a majority in the House of Representatives, giving Donald Trump’s party full control of both chambers of the US Congress and wide latitude to push a radical…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldDonald Trump has named Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a “department of government efficiency”, giving the two private-sector entrepreneurs charge of a promised effort to slash rules, bureaucracy…

Herbert Smith Freehills is to combine with US-based Kramer Levin to form one of the top 20 global law firms by headcount, in a further sign of consolidation among mid-sized firms on either side of the Atlantic.The new firm, which is to be known as Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, abbreviated…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldDonald Trump’s allies have backed Florida senator Rick Scott’s bid to be the party’s new leader in the upper chamber, seeking a loyalist to help push the president-elect’s agenda through…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldDonald Trump has ruled out naming Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state, to his second administration, as he moves to build out his cabinet after winning the US presidential…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldQatar has told the leaders of Hamas to leave the country following pressure from Washington, in a significant shift in policy by the Gulf state. The request was made around…

A Pennsylvania judge has declined to immediately halt Elon Musk’s $1mn giveaway to voters who sign a pro-Trump petition in the state.Philadelphia district attorney Lawrence Krasner had sued to stop the practice, claiming it amounted to an “illegal lottery scheme”. Lawyers for Musk countered at a hearing on Monday that…

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was evacuated from Spain’s flood disaster zone on Sunday as furious locals pelted mud at political leaders and the Spanish king over a string of failures that left them helplessly exposed to a deadly deluge.The anger erupted after Sánchez, King Felipe and the head of the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Pharmaceutical and a host of other companies will be expected to voluntarily pay into a new fund covering their use of genetic data, the UN COP16 biodiversity summit agreed, but countries failed…