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Influencer Andrew Tate can be extradited to the UK after Romanian trial

Influencer Andrew Tate can be extradited to the UK after Romanian trial

Tate and his brother Tristan were detained on Monday night on allegations of sexual aggression dating back to 2012-2015. A Romanian court has approved a request from the United Kingdom to extradite controversial influencer Andrew Tate but said it would postpone the extradition until his criminal trial in Romania had come to an end. The court said on Tuesday it had also ruled that Tate and his brother Tristan should be released from police custody immediately. The Tates had been detained for 24 hours pending a ruling on the UK arrest warrant. The court of appeals said in a statement that it “rules to execute the arrest warrant and… to postpone handing over the requested person until the final verdict in the criminal case argued at the Bucharest court”. Tate and his brother Tristan were detained on Monday night on allegations of sexual aggression dating back to 2012-2015. The warrant was issued by Westminster Magistrates Court in London. The brothers’ PR team said they “categorically” deny the allegations against them. “We are innocent men, we are very innocent men and in time everyone is going to see that and we are very excited to finish this judicial process and clear our names,” Tate said as he was released from police custody. UK police told the Reuters news agency the Tates were part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of rape and human trafficking, adding that officers were working with Romanian authorities. “We appreciate the Bucharest Court of Appeal’s decision to postpone the extradition of Andrew and Tristan Tate,” Eugen Vidineac, the legal counsel for the defendants, said in a statement. “This ruling provides an opportunity for the brothers to participate fully in their defence and for the legal process to proceed in a transparent manner.” Tate’s brother Tristan was also detained on Monday night on allegations of sexual aggression [Daniel Mihailescu/AFP] Ultra-masculine lifestyle Tate, who gained millions of fans by promoting an ultra-masculine lifestyle that critics described as “toxic”, was indicted in June in Romania along with his brother and two Romanian women for human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. They have denied the charges. The case has since been with the Bucharest court’s preliminary chamber, which needs to decide whether the trial can start. A decision has yet to be made, with Romanian courts backlogged. The Tate brothers were held in police custody pending the criminal investigation from late December 2022 until April last year, to prevent them from fleeing the country or tampering with evidence. They were placed under house arrest until August and have since been under judicial control, a lighter preventive measure meaning they can move freely providing they check in regularly with the police. They are not allowed to leave the country. In 2022, the words “Andrew Tate” were among the most searched on Google. But many adults only learned of his existence in 2023. Tate went viral after he launched a bizarre Twitter attack on climate change activist Greta Thunberg. “Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions”, he wrote to her in December, posting a photo of him filling a Bugatti with petrol. Thunberg’s crushing reply referencing his “smalldickenergy” was retweeted more than 570,000 times. Giving tips on how to be successful, along with misogynist and sometimes violent maxims, Tate’s videos made him one of the world’s best-known influencers. Adblock test (Why?)

India’s Modi government rushes to regulate AI ahead of national elections

India’s Modi government rushes to regulate AI ahead of national elections

New Delhi, India — The Indian government has asked tech companies to seek its explicit nod before publicly launching “unreliable” or “under-tested” generative AI models or tools. It has also warned companies that their AI products should not generate responses that “threaten the integrity of the electoral process” as the country gears up for a national vote. The Indian government’s efforts to regulate artificial intelligence represent a walk-back from its earlier stance of a hands-off approach when it informed Parliament in April 2023 that it was not eyeing any legislation to regulate AI. The advisory was issued last week by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) briefly after Google’s Gemini faced a right-wing backlash for its response over a query: ‘Is Modi a fascist?’ It responded that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “accused of implementing policies some experts have characterised as fascist”, citing his government’s “crackdown on dissent and its use of violence against religious minorities”. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, junior information technology minister, responded by accusing Google’s Gemini of violating India’s laws. “‘Sorry ‘unreliable’ does not exempt from the law,” he added. Chandrashekar claimed Google had apologised for the response, saying it was a result of an “unreliable” algorithm. The company responded by saying it was addressing the problem and working to improve the system. In the West, major tech companies have often faced accusations of a liberal bias. Those allegations of bias have trickled down to generative AI products, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. In India, meanwhile, the government’s advisory has raised concerns among AI entrepreneurs that their nascent industry could be suffocated by too much regulation. Others worry that with the national election set to be announced soon, the advisory could reflect an attempt by the Modi government to choose which AI applications to allow, and which to bar, effectively giving it control over online spaces where these tools are influential. ‘Feels of licence raj’ The advisory is not legislation that is automatically binding on companies. However, noncompliance can attract prosecution under India’s Information Technology Act, lawyers told Al Jazeera. “This nonbinding advisory seems more political posturing than serious policymaking,” said Mishi Choudhary, founder of India’s Software Freedom Law Center. “We will see much more serious engagement post-elections. This gives us a peek into the thinking of the policymakers.” Yet already, the advisory sends a signal that could prove stifling for innovation, especially at startups, said Harsh Choudhry, co-founder of Sentra World, a Bengaluru-based AI solutions company. “If every AI product needs approval – it looks like an impossible task for the government as well,” he said. “They might need another GenAI (generative AI) bot to test these models,” he added, laughing. Several other leaders in the generative AI industry have also criticised the advisory as an example of regulatory overreach. Martin Casado, general partner at the US-based investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, wrote on social media platform X that the move was a “travesty”, was “anti-innovation” and “anti-public”. Bindu Reddy, CEO of Abacus AI, wrote that, with the new advisory, “India just kissed its future goodbye!” Amid that backlash, Chandrashekar issued a clarification on X adding that the government would exempt start-ups from seeking prior permission for deployment of generative AI tools on “the Indian internet” and that the advisory only applies to “significant platforms”. But a cloud of uncertainty remains. “The advisory is full of ambiguous terms like ‘unreliable’, ‘untested’, [and] ‘Indian Internet’. The fact that several clarifications were required to explain scope, application, and intent are tell-tale signs of a rushed job,” said Mishi Choudhary. “The ministers are capable folks but do not have the necessary wherewithal to assess models to issue permissions to operate.” “No wonder it [has] invoked the 80s feelings of a licence raj,” she added, referring to the bureaucratic system of requiring government permits for business activities, prevalent until the early 1990s, which stifled economic growth and innovation in India. At the same time, exemptions from the advisory just for handpicked start-ups could come with their problems — they too are vulnerable to producing politically biased responses, and hallucinations, when AI generates erroneous or fabricated outputs. As a result, the exemption “raises more questions than it answers”, said Mishi. Harsh Choudhry said he believes that the government’s intention behind the regulation was to hold companies that are monetising AI tools accountable for incorrect responses. “But a permission-first approach might not be the best way to do it,” he added. Shadows of deepfake India’s move to regulate AI content will also have geopolitical ramifications, argued Shruti Shreya, senior programme manager for platform regulation at The Dialogue, a tech policy think tank. “With a rapidly growing internet user base, India’s policies can set a precedent for how other nations, especially in the developing world, approach AI content regulation and data governance,” she said. For the Indian government, dealing with AI regulations is a difficult balancing act, said analysts. Millions of Indians are scheduled to cast their vote in the national polls likely to be held in April and May. With the rise of easily available, and often free, generative AI tools, India has already become a playground for manipulated media, a scenario that has cast a shadow over election integrity. India’s major political parties continue to deploy deepfakes in campaigns. Kamesh Shekar, senior programme manager with a focus on data governance and AI at The Dialogue think tank, said the recent advisory should also be seen as a part of the ongoing efforts by the government to now draft comprehensive generative AI regulations. Earlier, in November and December 2023, the Indian government asked Big Tech firms to take down deep fake items within 24 hours of a complaint, label manipulated media, and make proactive efforts to tackle the misinformation — though it did not mention any explicit penalties for not adhering to the directive. But Shekar too said a policy under which companies must seek government approvals before launching a product would inhibit innovation. “The government could consider constituting a

Locking it up: Trump clinches 2024 Republican presidential nomination during Tuesday’s primaries

Locking it up: Trump clinches 2024 Republican presidential nomination during Tuesday’s primaries

Former President Trump is officially the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Trump clinched his party’s 2024 nomination Tuesday when Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state held primaries. With no major challengers left, both Trump and President Biden, who locked up his party’s nomination earlier in the evening, were on course to collect all or nearly all the delegates up for grabs in Tuesday’s contests, putting each of them over the top and making them the Democratic and Republican presumptive presidential nominees. WHERE THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACES STAND Trump and his successor in the White House will formally become the two major party nominees this summer, as the Republicans and Democrats host their national nominating conventions in July and August, respectively. Trump had 1,078 delegates at the start of the day. He needed 1,215 to lock up the nomination. BIDEN, TRUMP, SWEEP SUPER TUESDAY CONTESTS AS THEY MOVE CLOSER TO CLINCHING NOMINATIONS Fifty-nine GOP delegates were up for grabs in Georgia, with 40 at stake in Mississippi and 43 in Washington state. Nineteen more delegates are up for grabs in Hawaii, which holds a Republican presidential caucus later in the evening.  Trump swept 14 of the 15 GOP Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses last week, which moved him closer to officially locking up the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. And Trump’s last rival for the nomination, Nikki Haley, dropped out of the race the day after Super Tuesday. The November rematch between Biden and Trump is the first in the race for the White House since 1956, when Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated former Democratic Gov. Adlai Stevenson of Illinois when they faced off a second time. Trump, a businessman, real estate mogul and reality TV star, won the White House in 2016 by upsetting Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. But he was defeated by Biden four years later when he ran for re-election. Trump launched his third White House bid in November 2022. Trump last year made history as the first president or former president to face criminal charges. The former president faces four major criminal trials and a total of 91 indictments, as well as a $355 million civil fraud judgment that Trump is appealing. But Trump’s legal entanglements over the past year have only fueled his support among Republican voters, boosting him far ahead of his one-time rivals for the nomination. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub

Former Alabama Republican US Rep. Robert Terry Everett dies at 87

Former Alabama Republican US Rep. Robert Terry Everett dies at 87

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Former Alabama Republican U.S. Rep. Robert Terry Everett, who represented the state’s 2nd District from 1993 to 2009, died Tuesday, the governor’s office confirmed. He was 87. Everett died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Rehobeth, a suburb of Dothan, Gov. Kay Ivey’s office said. ALABAMA STATE LAWMAKER ROGERS TO PLEAD GUILTY TO FEDERAL CHARGES “Terry tirelessly served the people of southeast Alabama and his native Wiregrass with distinction for eight terms in Congress,” Ivey said in a written statement. “During his time on Capitol Hill, he was one of the strongest voices for Alabama’s military bases, active duty personnel, and veterans. He was also a stalwart advocate for Alabama farmers and small businesses. Alabama greatly benefitted from his leadership and his devotion to public service.” Ivey directed flags to be lowered to half-staff on the grounds of the Alabama State Capitol Complex and in the district until his interment. Former Rep. Martha Roby expressed condolences to Everett’s family, thanking him for his service. “I was honored to get to know him and to benefit from his counsel when I first began my journey to Congress,” Roby told WSFA-TV. “He knew the people of his district well, and he set the bar for representing his constituents by his long service on both the Armed Services and Agriculture committees in the House of Representatives, which gave Southeast Alabama a seat at the table on issues that mattered most. He was a fine man and he will be greatly missed.” Troy University Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins Jr. called Everett “one of the greatest Alabamians that I have been blessed to know.” Hawkins noted that the school named a building on the Dothan campus in his honor and that it also is home to the R. Terry Everett Congressional Library, which has many of his papers from his 16 years in Congress. “Congressman Everett was a wonderful public servant who made a tremendous impact on the Wiregrass, the State of Alabama, and our nation,” Hawkins said. “He didn’t need the office — the office needed him. He was concerned about America and dedicated himself to protecting the ideals which made this country great.” Prior to serving in Congress, Everett worked as a journalist and was a newspaper owner and publisher. He was also a veteran of the United States Air Force. Funeral arrangements are pending.