Waited For Months To Seal Seat Sharing But Congress...: Abhishek Banerjee

Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee on Monday attributed the differences in opposition bloc INDIA in West Bengal to the Congress party's failure to finalise seat-sharing arrangements.

Mr Banerjee highlighted that despite repeated reminders over the last seven months, the Congress remained inactive in sealing the seat-sharing agreement.

The TMC national general secretary slammed West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for playing into the hands of the saffron camp and repeatedly attacking the TMC government in West Bengal, despite being an ally at the national level.

"According to alliance norms, the first thing you do is seal the seat-sharing. We had waited for seven months since July last year to seal the seat-sharing issue. But the Congress was sitting idle and nothing moved forward," he told reporters here.

TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had last week announced that the party would go alone in the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal.

"We held multiple discussions with senior Congress leadership. During the last meeting in Delhi, Mamata Banerjee had clarified that seat-sharing talks should be finalised by December 31. However, they did not do so and refrained from participating in any conversation," he said.

The TMC leader said the seat-sharing issue was also raised at meetings in Patna, Bengaluru, and even in the last meeting.

The Diamond Harbour MP, who is also the nephew of Mamata Banerjee, slammed Mr Chowdhury for "demanding President's Rule in the state," echoing the demands of the BJP.

"By demanding President's Rule, whose interest is the state Congress president trying to serve - the TMC, the Congress or the BJP? There is a limit to our patience," he said.

The TMC leader, however, iterated that the "party continues to be a part of the opposition bloc INDIA at the national level." Hitting out at the Congress for accusing Mamata Banerjee as the "Trojan horse of the saffron camp", Mr Banerjee wondered, "when the state Congress is speaking in the language of the BJP, then who the Trojan horse of the saffron camp is?" How many times has Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury condemned the financial deprivation of Bengal by the BJP? There is a limit to our patience. The woman who is fighting against BJP is being challenged by state Congress leadership," he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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2 Deputies From BJP, 6 Ministers Take Oath: Nitish Kumar's New Bihar Team

Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President and MLC Samrat Choudhary took oath as Bihar Deputy Chief Minister along with Vijay Kumar Sinha at Raj Bhavan in Patna on Sunday.

Samrat Choudhary was on Sunday chosen as the leader of the BJP's legislature party, paving the way for him to become the Bihar Deputy Chief Minister.

BJP's Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, and six other ministers including JDU's Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, JDU's Bijendra Prasad Yadav, BJP's Dr Prem Kumar, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) president Dr Santosh Kumar Suman, JDU's Shravan Kumar, Independent MLA from Chakai Sumit Kumar Singh took oath as ministers in the new Nitish Kumar-led government.

Meanwhile, the chants of "Modi-Modi" were raised inside the Raj Bhavan, in Patna.

Janata Dal-United chief Nitish Kumar took oath as Bihar Chief Minister for the ninth time at Raj Bhavan on Sunday after snapping ties with "Mahagathbandhan".

After days of speculation, JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar resigned as the Chief Minister of Bihar on Sunday, his second volte face in less than 18 months. Snapping ties with the RJD and Congress, Nitish Kumat formed a government with BJP's support.

Samrat Choudhary who always wears a turban on his head, is known as a bold state BJP leader. Earlier in 2023 when asked about the turban, he had said that the turban would go off the moment Nitish Kumar is removed from the Chief Minister's post.

54-year-old Samrat Choudhary took over as the state BJP chief in March 2023. He joined the BJP six years ago and has also been the BJP leader of Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Council.

Before joining BJP in 2018, he has remained associated with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) as well as Janata Dal (United).

In 2022, Samrat Choudhary was selected as the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Council.

Samrat Choudhary is an OBC leader who belongs to the Koeri community.

He has also served as Minister for Urban Development and Housing, Health in 2014 in Jitan Ram Manjhi Ministry and Minister of Metrology and Horticulture in 1999 in Rabri Devi Ministry.

He was elected for the second term as MLC in 2020 after his first term ended in 2019.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Trump Can't "Bully" His Way To Party's Nomination: Nikki Haley

Donald Trump wants to "bully" his way to the Republican presidential nomination, his sole remaining challenger Nikki Haley said Sunday, as she accused the party leadership of seeking to declare him the nominee prematurely.

Haley lost the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary but has vowed to stay in the contest, despite Trump's insistence -- backed by some top Republican Party leaders -- that the race is over.

"He can't bully his way through the nomination," Haley said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Haley noted that the nominating process was still in its earliest stages -- Republicans have voted only in Iowa and New Hampshire so far -- and suggested that Trump had pressured the Republican National Committee (RNC) to back him much too soon.

"You can't do that based on just two states," she said.

The former South Carolina governor took particular aim at the RNC for throwing the national party's support -- and resources -- behind Trump soon after the New Hampshire vote.

The voters' will was "very clear," RNC chair Ronna McDaniel told Fox News on Tuesday. "We need to unite around our eventual nominee, which is going to be Donald Trump."

But with 48 states yet to vote, Haley told NBC, "I don't think this is the place of the RNC... I think that Trump overstepped when he pushed them to do it."

Haley suggested that she expected to stay in the race at least until so-called Super Tuesday on March 5, when voters in 16 states and US territories cast ballots in what can be a decisive exercise.

The next Republican primary is in Haley's home state of South Carolina, on February 24. But most Republican legislators there have thrown their weight behind Trump, and polls suggest he could defeat the former governor by an overwhelming margin.

Haley intimated on NBC that even a loss there would not necessarily knock her out of the race, saying she simply needed to do better than she had in New Hampshire, where she lost to Trump by 11 points.

"We're going to keep on going and see where this gets us," she said. "I take it one state at a time."

Haley also brushed aside suggestions she might be staying in the race in hopes that Trump's many legal problems, or perhaps his health, might leave an opening for a challenger.

"I've never stayed in this race because of court cases," she said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Businessman Conspired With Lalu Yadav In Land-For-Jobs Case: Probe Agency

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has stated that businessman Amit Katyal, in connivance with RJD President Lalu Prasad Yadav, hatched a conspiracy to incorporate a company in ROC Delhi and buy land parcels situated in Bihar from prospective job seekers.

ED said that Amit Katyal hatched this conspiracy when Lalu Prasad Yadav was holding the Railways Ministry portfolio at the Centre.

Advocate Manish Jain appeared for the Enforcement Directorate and submitted before the Court that Amit Katyal knowingly aided and assisted Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members in the process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime--by way of the acquisition of the proceeds of crime, concealing the proceeds of crime and then projecting the proceeds of crime as untainted.

"In doing so, he concealed the proceeds of crime from their true origin. While doing so, he knowingly and consciously projected the receipt of Proceeds of Crime as a legitimate transaction by keeping the shareholding of AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd with himself to conceal the illegal gratification and later on transferring it to Tejashwi Yadav and Rabri Devi," Advocate Manish Jain added.

Amit Katyal shielded the real beneficiary of the PoC and then, while transferring the PoC to its real beneficiary, projected the transaction as a normal business transaction, thus indulging in the offence of money laundering, the ED lawyer said.

In the matter, ED, through its lawyer, alleged that Bihar's former Chief Minister Rabri Devi played an instrumental role in the acquisition of proceeds of crime and further usage of proceeds of crime to integrate proceeds of crime in the mainstream economy to project the acquisition of POC as untainted.

According to the Enforcement Directorate, Hema Yadav, daughter of Lalu Prasad Yadav, also acquired Proceeds of Crime under the garb of gifts received from relatives while concealing the real origin of proceeds of crime generated from the scheduled offence. She was actively involved in the process of money laundering as she was the recipient of sale proceeds generated from land parcels, i.e., an original form of POC and later transferred the sale proceeds to her family members through a maze of transactions. A firm controlled by her family members was the ultimate beneficiary of this POC, where P0C was used in day-to-day business activity.

On Saturday, after going through the recent prosecution complaint filed by ED and submissions made by ED Lawyer Manish Jain, Special Judge Vishal Gogne issued summons to all the accused named in the prosecution complaint, including Rabri Devi's two daughters, Misha Bharti and Hema Yadav and others.

Special Judge Vishal Gogne issued summons to the accused persons after taking the Cognizance of Chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The court issued a production warrant to produce Amit Katyal on the next date of hearing. Two firms, namely AK Infosystem and AB Export, have also been accused in this case.

The next date of hearing is February 9.

While taking cognizance of the chargesheet, the court said that there is sufficient material to take cognizance.

ED's had submitted that in 2006-07, A K Infosystem was formed by Amit Katyal and its business was IT data analysis. No real business was done. Instead, several land parcels were bought by the company. One land parcel pertains to the main predicate offence, which is land for a job.

Advocate Manish Jain, special public prosecutor (SPP) for ED, submitted that Amit Katyal is the only arrested accused. Other accused are Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti, Hema Yadav, A K Infosystem, A B export and Hridyanand Chaudhary. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a Prosecution Complaint (Chargesheet) in Land for job scam money laundering case.

ED has named Bihar's former CM Rabri Devi, her daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, Hridyanand Chaudhary and Amit Katyal. Two firms, AB Export and AK Infosystems, have also been accused.

Advocates Manish Jain and Ishan Baisla also submitted that A B Export was supposed to be in the business of export. It was incorporated in 1996. In 2007, Rs. five crore came through five companies and a property in the New Friends colony was purchased.

According to the ED, the PMLA investigation conducted so far has revealed that several pieces of land at prominent locations in Patna and other areas were illegally acquired by the family of the then Rail Mantri, Lalu Prasad Yadav, in lieu of jobs provided by the railways.

Further, investigation under PMLA revealed that the property situated at New Friends Colony, Delhi (independent 4-storey bungalow registered in the name of AB Exports Private Limited, a company owned and controlled by Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and family) was shown to have been acquired at a value of mere Rs 4 lakhs, the present market value of which is approximately Rs 150 Crore.

It is suspected that a huge amount of cash or proceeds from crime has been infused into purchasing this property and a few Mumbai-based entities dealing in the gems and jewellery sector were used to channel ill-gotten proceeds from crime in this regard. The property has been, on paper, declared the offices of AB Exports Private Limited and AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd.; it is being exclusively used as residential premises by Tejasvi Prasad Yadav, son of Lalu Prasad Yadav, a statement said.

During the searches, Tejasvi Prasad Yadav was found to be staying at this house and was found to be using this house as his residential property.

An ED investigation has found that four parcels of land acquired by the family of Lalu Yadav in just Rs 7.5 lakh from poor Group-D applicants were sold to Syed Abu Dojana, a former RJD MLA, by Rabri Devi with huge gains of Rs 3.5 crore in a collusive deal.

ED investigation further revealed that a major portion of the amount thus received was transferred to the account of Tejashwi Prasad Yadav. Investigations revealed that, in a similar fashion, lands were taken from several poor parents and candidates in lieu of Group D jobs in the railways. It has been revealed during the investigation that in many railway zones, more than 50 per cent of recruited candidates were from Lalu Yadav families' constituencies, ED said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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White House "Alarmed" After Taylor Swift, Joe Biden Deepfakes Surface

Deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence have proliferated on social media this month, claiming a string of high-profile victims and elevating the risks of manipulated media into the public conversation ahead of a looming US election cycle.

Pornographic images of singer Taylor Swift, robocalls of US President Joe Biden's voice, and videos of dead children and teenagers detailing their own deaths all have gone viral - but not one of them was real.

Misleading audio and visuals created using artificial intelligence aren't new, but recent advancements in AI technology have made them easier to create and harder to detect. The torrent of highly publicized incidents just weeks into 2024 has escalated concern about the technology among lawmakers and regular citizens.

"We are alarmed by the reports of the circulation of false images," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday. "We are going to do what we can to deal with this issue."

At the same time, the spread of AI-generated fake content on social networks has offered a stress test for platforms' ability to police them. On Wednesday, explicit AI-generated deepfaked images of Swift amassed tens of millions of views on X, the website formerly known as Twitter that is owned by Elon Musk.

Although sites like X have rules against sharing synthetic, manipulated content, the posts portraying Swift took hours to remove. One remained up for about 17 hours and had more than 45 million views, according to the Verge, a sign that these images can go viral long before action is taken to stop them.

Cracking Down

Companies and regulators have a responsibility in stopping the "perverse customer journey" of obscene manipulated content, said Henry Ajder, an AI expert and researcher who has advised governments on legislation against deepfake pornography. We need to be "identifying how different stakeholders, whether they are search engines, tool providers or social media platforms, can do a better job creating friction in the process from someone forming the idea to actually creating and sharing the content."

The Swift episode prompted fury from her legions of fans and others on X, causing the phrase "protect Taylor Swift" to trend on the social platform. It's not the first time the singer has been subjected to her image being used in explicit AI manipulation, though it's the first with this level of public outrage.

The top 10 deepfake websites hosted about 1,000 videos referencing "Taylor Swift" at the end of 2023, according to a Bloomberg review. Internet users graft her face onto the body of porn performers or offer paying customers the ability to "nudify" victims using AI technology.

Many of these videos are available through a quick Google search, which has been the primary traffic driver to deepfake websites, according to a 2023 Bloomberg report. While Google offers a form letting victims request removal of deepfake content, many complain the process resembles a game of whack-a-mole. At the time of Bloomberg's report last year, a spokesperson for Google said the Alphabet Inc. company designs its search ranking systems to avoid shocking people with unexpected harmful or explicit content they don't want to see.

Almost 500 videos referencing Swift were hosted on the top deepfake site, Mrdeepfakes.com. In December, the site received 12.3 million visits, according to data from Similarweb.

Targeting Women

"This case is horrific and no doubt extremely distressing for Swift, but it's sadly not as groundbreaking as some may think," Ajder said. "The ease of creating this content now is disturbing and affecting women and girls, regardless of where they in the world or their social status."

As of Friday afternoon, explicit AI-generated images of Swift were still on X. A spokesperson for the platform directed Bloomberg to the company's existing statement, which said non-consensual nudity is against its policy and the platform is actively trying to remove such images.

Users of popular AI image-maker Midjourney are already taking advantage of at least one of the fake visuals of Swift to come up with written prompts that can be used to make more explicit pictures with AI, according to requests in a Midjourney Discord channel reviewed by Bloomberg. Midjourney has a feature in which people can upload an existing image to its Discord chat channel - where prompts are input to tell the technology what to create - and it will generate text that can be used to make another image like it via Midjourney or another similar service.

The output of that feature is on a public channel for any of the more than 18 million members of Midjourney's Discord server to see, giving them the equivalent of tips and tricks for fine-tuning AI-generated pornographic imagery. On Friday afternoon, there were nearly 2 million people active on the server.

Midjourney and Discord didn't respond to requests for comment.

Surging Numbers

Amid the AI boom, the number of new pornographic deepfake videos has already surged more than ninefold since 2020, according to research from independent analyst Genevieve Oh. At the end of last year, the top 10 sites offering this content hosted 114,000 videos, among which Swift had already been a common target.

"Whether it's AI or real, it still damages people," said Heather Mahalik Barnhart, a digital forensics expert who develops curriculum for the SANS Institute, a cyber education organization. With the images of Swift, "even though it's fake, imagine the minds of her parents who had to see that - you know, when you see something, you can't make it go away."

Just days before the images of Swift created a firestorm, a deepfake audio message of Biden had been spread in advance of the New Hampshire presidential primary election. Global disinformation experts said that robocall, which sounded like Biden telling voters to skip the primary, was the most alarming deepfaked audio they had heard yet.

There are already concerns that deepfaked audio or video could play a role in upcoming elections, fueled by how fast things spread on social media. The fake Biden message was dialed directly into people's telephones, which provided fewer means for expects to scrutinize the call.

"The New Hampshire primary gives us the first taste of the situation we have to deal with," said Siwei Lyu, a professor at the University at Buffalo who specializes in deepfakes and digital media forensics.

Difficult to Detect

Even on social media, there are currently no reliable detection capabilities, which leaves a frustratingly roundabout process that depends on someone spotting a piece of content and doubting it enough to go to the source to confirm it. That's a presumably more likely scenario for a prominent public figure like Swift or Biden than a local official or private citizen. Even if companies identify and remove these videos, they spread so quickly that often the damage has already been done.

A viral deepfaked video of a victim of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, Shani Louk, has amassed more than 7.5 million views on ByteDance Ltd.'s TikTok app since it was posted more than three months ago, even after Bloomberg singled it out for the company in a December story about the platform's struggle to police AI-generated videos of dead victims, including children.

The video-sharing app has banned AI-generated content of private citizens or children, and says "gruesome" or "disturbing" video is also not allowed. As recently as this week, deepfaked videos of dead children voicing the details of abuse and their death were still popping into users' feeds and amassing thousands of views. TikTok removed the videos sent by Bloomberg for comment. As of Friday, dozens of videos and accounts that exclusively post this kind of disturbing fake content are still live.

TikTok has said it's investing in detection technologies and is working to educate users on the dangers of AI-generated content. Other social networks have voiced similar sentiments.

"You can't respond to something, you can't react to something - let alone regulate something - if you can't first detect it," said Nick Clegg, president of public affairs at Facebook and Instagram owner Meta Platforms Inc., at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this month.

Few Laws

There is currently no US federal law banning deepfakes, including those that are pornographic in nature. Some states have implemented laws regarding deepfake pornography, but their application is inconsistent across the country, making it difficult for victims to hold the creators to account. 

Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said Friday that the administration is working with AI companies on unilateral efforts that would watermark generated images to make them easier to identify as fakes. Biden has also appointed a task force to address online harassment and abuse, while the US Justice Department created a hotline for those victimized by image-based sexual abuse.

Congress has began discussing legislative steps to protect celebrities' and artists' voices from AI usage in some cases. Absent from those conversations are any protections for private citizens.

Swift has made no public comment on the issue, including whether she will take legal action. If she chooses to do so, she could be in a position to take on that sort of challenge, said Sam Gregory, executive director of Witness, a nonprofit organization that uses ethical technology to highlight human rights abuses.

"In absence of federal legislation, having a plaintiff like Swift who has the capability and willingness to go after this using all available means to make a point - even if the likelihood of success is low or long-term - is one next step," Gregory said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Trump Ordered To Pay $83 Million To Writer In Sex Assault Defamation Case

A jury in New York ordered former US president and 2024 candidate Donald Trump on Friday to pay $83.3 million to compensate the writer E. Jean Carroll whom he was found to have sexually assaulted and defamed.

The civil order, which prompted an audible gasp in the federal court, far exceeds the more than $10 million in damages for defamation that Carroll had sought.

Trump lashed out almost immediately calling the verdict "ridiculous" in a statement and promising to appeal.

The jury reached its decision after slightly less than three hours of deliberations.

Trump had been in court earlier, storming out at one point to subsequently return for closing arguments. He was not in court when the level of compensatory and punitive damages were read out by a court clerk.

Following the verdict, Trump's lawyer Alina Habba spoke only to thank court staff. A juror exchanged a smile with Carroll as the nine men and women left the courtroom after the judge encouraged them to protect their privacy.

"It's clear to me... you paid attention," Judge Lewis Kaplan told the jury following the verdict.

The order was comprised of $65 million punitive damages after the jury found Trump acted maliciously in his many public comments about Carroll, $7.3 million in compensatory damages, and $11 million for a reputational repair program.

Trump -- whom a jury found liable for sexual assault of Carroll in a separate federal civil case in New York -- used his Truth Social platform to fire off a spate of insulting messages attacking Carroll, the trial, and the judge, whom he called "an extremely abusive individual."

Trump, 77, briefly took the stand on Thursday to deny he instructed anyone to harm Carroll with his statements.

During Trump's testimony, Judge Lewis Kaplan limited him to three questions from his lawyers, to which he could only answer yes or no -- a precaution taken to prevent the Republican leader from returning to his custom of disparaging the court or Carroll in public.

"This is not America," Trump said as he left the courtroom following his short appearance.

He was not required to attend the trial or to testify. However, he has used the case, as well as others he faces, to generate heated media coverage and to fuel his claims of being victimized as he campaigns for a return to the White House in November's election.

Trump separately faces multiple criminal cases, including his alleged attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden, and a civil business fraud case.

- Courtroom tension -

Habba sought to have the case thrown out Thursday on the grounds that threatening messages targeting Carroll, which have been aired in the case, began on social media before Trump's 2019 comments. Her request was denied.

Jurors were shown Trump's October 2022 deposition during which he confused a picture of Carroll for his former wife Marla Maples, which threatened to cast doubt on his claim Carroll was not his "type."

Last year, another federal jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996 and subsequently defaming her in 2022, when he called her a "complete con job."

Trump had been in court while he campaigned ahead of the New Hampshire primary, which he won handily over his only remaining challenger Nikki Haley, as he closes in on becoming the Republican candidate in the November election against Biden.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Viral Video Shows 3,000 Engineers Queuing Up For Job Interview In Pune

In a viral video, over 3,000 engineers were seen queuing outside a Pune-based company for a recent walk-in drive targeting junior developer positions, typically sought by freshers. 

The event garnered immense interest, with more than 2,900 resumes submitted. Hinjawadi, known for attracting IT talent, witnessed long queues, each hopeful engineer holding their resume. 

The video, widely shared on social media, has sparked discussions about the evolving IT job market and challenges faced by young professionals.

Despite Pune's vibrant IT sector, the overwhelming response for around 100 positions raises concerns about skills training, automation impact, and the need for job market diversification in India. 

The incident highlights the intense competition affecting both recent graduates and experienced professionals.

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Following the viral spread of the video across various platforms, a lively discussion erupted in the comment section, attracting numerous social media users eager to share their perspectives.

"An IT company collecting CVs in an analog manner is the height of irony," commented a user.

A user pointed out, "If you think this queue is bad, try applying for a job at a Canadian grocery store; their lines are longer than this."

Adding a touch of humor to the conversation, a third user quipped, "Where's that uncle who said to complete your engineering, and after that, everything will be fine?"

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