Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has called on Muslim nations to unite and mobilise the international community against what he described as Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City.

Speaking on Saturday in the Egyptian coastal city of El Alamein after talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Fidan told a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart that the situation in Gaza required a coordinated and urgent response.

He said the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) had been called to an emergency meeting to discuss collective action, stressing that Muslim countries must present a united front to prevent further escalation and protect the rights of Palestinians.

Turkey and Egypt, both key regional players, have stepped up diplomatic engagement in recent months amid intensifying international concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Written by Were Kelly

Elon Musk’s AI video generator, Grok Imagine, is facing backlash after allegations it produced sexually explicit deepfake videos of Taylor Swift without users requesting such content. Experts say the case highlights systemic misogyny in AI design and the urgent need for stronger safeguards.

Clare McGlynn, a Durham University law professor who has helped draft UK legislation to criminalize pornographic deepfakes, told the BBC:

“This is not misogyny by accident, it is by design. Platforms like X could have prevented this if they had chosen to, but they have made a deliberate choice not to.”

According to a report by The Verge, the AI tool’s new “spicy” mode “didn’t hesitate to spit out fully uncensored topless videos” of the pop star — without any explicit prompt from the user. The report also said the platform lacked proper age verification, despite UK laws introduced in July requiring such checks for explicit content.

Grok Imagine is operated by XAI, a company founded by Musk. Its own acceptable use policy prohibits “depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner.” The allegations suggest these rules are not being enforced. XAI has been approached for comment but has yet to respond.

The controversy comes just months after sexually explicit Taylor Swift deepfakes went viral in January 2024, garnering millions of views on X and Telegram before being removed.

Deepfakes are AI-generated images or videos that replace one person’s face with another’s. When used for sexual purposes without consent, they are increasingly being recognized as a form of abuse.

Testing Grok Imagine’s safety filters, The Verge journalist Jess Weatherbed entered the innocent prompt: “Taylor Swift celebrating Coachella with the boys.” The AI generated still images of Swift in a dress with men in the background, then offered options to animate the scene in “normal,” “fun,” “custom,” or “spicy” modes.

After selecting “spicy,” Weatherbed said the output escalated instantly.

“She ripped [the dress] off immediately, had nothing but a tasselled thong underneath, and started dancing — completely uncensored, completely exposed. I in no way asked it to remove her clothing.”

Similar testing by Gizmodo reportedly produced explicit depictions of other famous women. Some searches, however, returned blurred or moderated videos. The BBC has not independently verified the AI’s output.

Weatherbed accessed the tool’s paid version, costing £30, using a new Apple account. The only age check was entering a date of birth — a far cry from the “technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair” verification methods now required by UK law.

Under the new regulations, sites offering explicit content — including those with generative AI tools — must confirm users’ ages with stricter methods, such as ID checks. Ofcom, the UK media regulator, told the BBC it is “aware of the increasing and fast-developing risk GenAI tools may pose… especially to children” and is working to ensure platforms have “appropriate safeguards.”

Currently, UK law criminalizes creating pornographic deepfakes when they depict children or are used in “revenge porn.” But these protections do not yet cover all non-consensual explicit deepfakes.

Professor McGlynn helped draft an amendment that would make it illegal to create or request any non-consensual pornographic deepfake. The government has committed to passing it, but the change is not yet in effect.

Baroness Owen, who proposed the amendment in the House of Lords, said:

“Every woman should have the right to choose who owns intimate images of her. It is essential that these models are not used in such a way that violates a woman’s right to consent, whether she be a celebrity or not. This case is a clear example of why the Government must not delay.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson added:

“Sexually explicit deepfakes created without consent are degrading and harmful. We refuse to tolerate the violence against women and girls that stains our society, which is why we have passed legislation to ban their creation as quickly as possible.”

When explicit Taylor Swift deepfakes went viral in early 2024, X temporarily blocked searches for her name and claimed to be “actively removing” the images and taking “appropriate actions” against accounts sharing them.

Weatherbed told the BBC her team chose Swift to test Grok Imagine’s limits because of that incident.

“We assumed — wrongly now — that if they had put any kind of safeguards in place to prevent them from emulating the likeness of celebrities, she would be first on the list.”

Swift’s representatives have been contacted for comment but have not yet responded.

The incident raises fresh questions about AI companies’ responsibilities to prevent harm, particularly when it comes to protecting women from image-based abuse — and whether profit and speed-to-market are being prioritized over safety.

SOURCE: REUTERS

By Michelle Ndaga.

A police officer has been shot dead while responding to a gunman outside the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, near Emory University.

Officer David Rose, 33, a father of two with another child on the way, was hit during Friday’s incident and later died in hospital. No civilians were injured.

Police say the “single shooter” was found dead inside a nearby pharmacy. US media report the suspect’s father had earlier called authorities, fearing his son was suicidal, and that the man believed he was sick from a COVID-19 vaccine. CDC Director Susan Monarez said several of the agency’s buildings were struck by gunfire but credited officers for preventing further harm. The incident prompted a campus lockdown, later lifted, with CDC staff told to work remotely on Monday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday reaffirmed that his country will not surrender any of its territory, insisting that Ukraine’s constitution prohibits making concessions on sovereign land.

“Ukrainians will not give their land to occupiers,” Zelenskyy said in a statement, underscoring his government’s firm stance amid Russia’s ongoing invasion.

His remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15. Zelenskyy said Ukraine remained open to “real solutions” that could bring peace but warned against agreements made without Kyiv’s participation.

The planned Trump–Putin meeting is expected to draw significant international attention as the war in Ukraine enters its third year, with battles continuing along multiple frontlines and diplomatic efforts stalled.

Written By Rodney Mbua

American astronaut James “Jim” Lovell, best known as the commander of NASA’s near-disastrous Apollo 13 mission, has died at the age of 97, NASA announced on Friday.

Lovell, a veteran of four spaceflights, never walked on the moon but became a symbol of courage and ingenuity after guiding his crew through one of the most dramatic survival stories in space history. The 1970 Apollo 13 mission, intended to be the third lunar landing, was derailed by an onboard oxygen tank explosion 200,000 miles from Earth.

The accident forced Lovell and fellow astronauts Jack Swigert and Fred Haise to abandon their moon landing and endure frigid temperatures, dehydration, and scarce resources during a tense 3½-day journey back to Earth.

Their safe return on April 17, 1970, was hailed as a “successful failure”, a mission that failed in its goal but triumphed in human ingenuity and teamwork. The drama captured global attention and was later immortalized in the 1995 Ron Howard film Apollo 13, in which Tom Hanks portrayed Lovell.

Although the famous line “Houston, we have a problem” was spoken by Swigert, the movie attributed it to Lovell for dramatic effect.

Lovell’s career began with the Gemini 7 and Gemini 12 missions, followed by Apollo 8, the first crewed spacecraft to orbit the moon in 1968. He retired from NASA in 1973, later co-authoring Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, which inspired the Oscar-winning film.

Born in Cleveland in 1928, Lovell was a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and former test pilot. He is survived by his wife Marilyn and their four children. Actor Tom Hanks paid tribute on Friday, calling Lovell “a man who dared, dreamed, and led others to places we would not go on our own.”

Lovell’s legacy lives on in the history of space exploration, a testament to resilience in the face of near-certain disaster.

Written By Rodney Mbua

Haiti’s transitional government on Friday appointed Vladimir Paraison, the country’s former national palace security chief, as the new head of the national police in a bid to stem rampant gang violence that has displaced over 1.3 million people.

Paraison, widely regarded as a seasoned and determined professional, pledged an uncompromising approach to restoring order. “We the police will not sleep. We will provide security across every corner of the country,” he declared during his inauguration at Villa d’Acceuil, the temporary seat of government.

He replaces Rameau Normil, whose year-long tenure was marked by tensions with members of the presidential council, particularly Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime, who also oversaw a task force coordinating drone strikes against gangs.

Most of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, remains under the control of powerful gangs, many allied under the Viv Ansanm coalition, designated by Washington as a terrorist organization responsible for mass killings, kidnappings, rapes, and extortion.

Despite limited U.N.-backed support, Haiti’s cash-strapped police and small army have struggled to contain the violence, which claimed more than 3,100 lives in the first half of this year.

Paraison, who walked to the podium with a cane after being wounded in a recent gun battle, was met with applause from attendees.

Council President Laurent Saint-Cyr, who assumed the final six-month leadership rotation a day earlier, said the leadership change was necessary to inject “new breath” into the force, stressing that “everything rests on one thing: security.”

Written By Rodney Mbua