DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Romanian police seize Andrew Tate's luxury cars and assets
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Romanian authorities descended on a compound near Bucharest on Saturday to tow away a fleet of luxury cars and other assets worth an estimated $3.9 million in the case investigating Andrew Tate, the divisive social media personality who is detained in the country on charges of human trafficking. Romania’s National Agency for the Administration of Unavailable Assets said in a statement that it removed a total of 15 luxury cars, 14 designer watches and cash in several currencies. About a half-dozen masked law enforcement officers and other officials descended on the compound Saturday to take away the goods. A man waits to load onto a flatbed truck a luxury vehicle which was seized in a case against Andrew Tate, on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania on Saturday. A day later, Tate lost another appeal that challenged assets seized by prosecutors in the case so far.

☆ Romanian authorities seize $4 million of assets in Andrew Tate case
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan are escorted by police officers outside the headquarters of the Bucharest Court of Appeal, in Bucharest, Romania, January 10, 2023. Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via REUTERSBUCHAREST, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Romanian authorities said they have seized goods and money worth 18 million lei ($3.95 million) as a part of a criminal inquiry into alleged human trafficking that led to the arrest of divisive internet personality Andrew Tate. Andrew Tate, his brother and two Romanian female suspects were detained on Dec. 29 on charges of forming a criminal gang to exploit six women sexually. Andrew Tate, a former contestant on the UK reality show Big Brother, gained notoriety for misogynistic remarks and hate speech. Tate, who holds U.S. and British nationality, has said women are partially responsible for being raped and that they belong to men.

☆ Romanian prosecutors take away luxury cars seized in Andrew Tate case
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Romanian officials transport the cars seized from Andrew Tate's compound to a storage location in Pipera, Ilfov, Romania, January 14, 2023. Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via REUTERSVOLUNTARI, Romania, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Romanian authorities started on Saturday to take away luxury cars seized as part of criminal inquiry into alleged human trafficking that led to the arrest of divisive internet personality Andrew Tate. Romanian anti-organised crime prosecutors detained Tate, his brother Tristan and two Romanian female suspects on Dec. 29 on charges of forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit six women. Tate, a former contestant on the UK reality show Big Brother, gained notoriety for misogynistic remarks and hate speech. Tate, who holds U.S. and British nationality, has said women are partially responsible for being raped and that they belong to men.

☆ Seven of Andrew Tate's houses were searched by Romanian authorities amid rape and trafficking investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s anti-organized crime agency has carried out seven additional house searches in its investigation into divisive social media influencer Andrew Tate, an official said Thursday. His brother, Tristan, and two Romanian women were also arrested. On Tuesday, a court upheld a judge’s Dec. 30 move to extend their arrest from 24 hours to 30 days. More than 10 properties and land owned by companies registered to the Tate brothers have also been seized so far. DIICOT says it has identified six victims in the human trafficking case who were subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion” and were sexually exploited by the members of the alleged crime group.

☆ Andrew Tate to remain detained in Romania on charges of human trafficking and rape, judge rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

BUCHAREST, Romania — A court in Romania’s capital Bucharest has upheld the 30-day arrest of divisive social media personality and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate on charges of organized crime, human trafficking and rape, an official said late Tuesday. Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romanian anti-organized crime agency DIICOT, said the court rejected an appeal by Tate against a judge’s earlier decision to extend his arrest from 24 hours to 30 days. Tate, 36, a British-U.S. citizen who has 4.5 million followers on Twitter, was initially detained on Dec. 29 for 24 hours along with his brother Tristan, who was charged in the same case. The court late Tuesday rejected all four appeals against a judge’s Dec. 30 decision to grant prosecutors’ request to extend the arrest period. The week of his arrest, he traded insults on Twitter with teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg.

☆ Andrew Tate in Romanian court to appeal detention
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The divisive social media personality Andrew Tate arrived at a court in Romania in handcuffs on Tuesday morning to appeal against a judge’s earlier decision to extend his arrest period from 24 hours to 30 days on charges of being part of an organized crime group, human trafficking and rape. All four of them immediately challenged the arrest extension that was granted to prosecutors on Dec. 30. If the court overturns the extension, the defendants could be put under house arrest or similar conditions such as being banned from leaving Romania. Since Tate’s arrest, a series of ambiguous posts have appeared on his Twitter account, each of which garners widespread media attention. One, posted on Sunday and accompanied by a local report suggesting he or his brother have required medical care since their detention, reads: “The Matrix has attacked me.

☆ Romanian court to rule on ex-kickboxer Tate's challenge to detention
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BUCHAREST, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A Romanian court is due to rule on Tuesday on a challenge filed by Andrew Tate, an internet personality notorious for hate speech, against his 30-day arrest for alleged human trafficking and formation of an organised crime group to exploit six women. Tate, his brother Tristan and two Romanian female suspects were detained by Romanian anti-organised crime prosecutors on Dec. 29 pending a criminal investigation. Prosecutors have said the Tate brothers recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely claiming to want a relationship. Should the court uphold the arrest warrant and the investigation need more time, prosecutors can seek approval for further extensions of up to 180 days of detention under Romanian law. Tate said, adding his business started with two girlfriends and peaked with 75 women working for him and earning $600,000 a month.

The Romanian central bank said slower economic growth and cheaper energy would help bring inflation down to single digits this year from over 16% now, earlier than previously forecast. "So the main question is when inflation in the region will fall enough that central banks will be willing to start normalising monetary conditions." Inflation is still expected to rise in early 2023 in some central European countries, based on central bank forecasts, before returning to single-digit territory by year-end. "This will help to improve external positions and lower inflation pressures in Central and Eastern Europe." "Given the dovish bias around the growth-inflation trade-off at Poland's central bank, we think the risk of premature policy easing is greatest there."

☆ Former kickboxer Tate to remain in custody pending probe -Romanian court
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BUCHAREST, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Divisive internet personality Andrew Tate will remain in police custody for the full 30 days he was remanded to alongside his brother and two other suspects pending a criminal investigation for human trafficking, a Romanian court ruled late on Tuesday. Tate, his brother Tristan and two Romanian female suspects were detained by Romanian anti-organised crime prosecutors on Dec. 29 on charges of forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit six women. They have denied wrongdoing through an attorney and have challenged the arrest warrant. On Tuesday, the Bucharest court of appeals said it rejected the challenge. Reporting by Luiza Ilie and Octav Ganea; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

While Budapest and Warsaw are haggling with the bloc over rule-of-law strings attached to billions worth of pandemic recovery funds, Romania has already drawn down over 6 billion euros in grants and cheap loans. Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca has said the government aims to tap more than 10 billion euros a year, equivalent to about 4% of GDP, of about 90 billion euros of EU funding available to Bucharest through to 2027. RESHORINGCompanies reshoring from Russia and Ukraine to nearby low-cost manufacturing hubs partially helped push foreign direct investment to 9.39 billion euros in January-October, the largest 10-month figure since Romania joined the EU. "We are optimistic that investment will rise in coming years, also encouraged by EU funds," said Alex Milcev, head of Tax and Legal at E&Y Romania. And relations with the EU are not always smooth: in December, Austrian opposition over unauthorised immigration kept Romania out of Europe's borderless Schengen area.

☆ Ukraine War Spurs NATO to Improve Transport of Military Equipment
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Daniel Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BUCHAREST—When France wanted to send Leclerc tanks to bolster the defenses of NATO ally Romania in September, fellow alliance member Germany opposed trucking them across its highways. The problem wasn’t peace protesters or political opposition. It was the heavy French tank-transporters. The flatbeds’ weight on each axle exceeded the legal limits for most German roads, said government authorities, who proposed a route that Paris deemed unacceptable. Instead, France sent the tanks by rail, delaying the shipment.

☆ Fact Check-Claims that pizza boxes in Andrew Tate video led to his December arrest unsupported by evidence
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Claims that the pizza boxes in a video posted by ex-kickboxer Andrew Tate led to his and his brother arrest in December have been widely shared online. Social media users claimed the divisive internet character “gave away his location” with the pizza boxes in his clip. For roughly half of the rest of the clip, the brand, and a website address for a Romanian pizza restaurant printed on the boxes were viewable in the shot. However, there is no publicly-available evidence that Tate’s arrest was made as a result of the pizza boxes. There is no publicly-available evidence that the pizza boxes in a video published by Andrew Tate revealed his location to the Romanian police.

On Tuesday, Tate tweeted at Thunberg, referring to his “33 cars” and their “enormous emissions.”Thunberg responded on Wednesday, making a joke about Tate’s genitals. After Tate’s arrest, posts quickly went viral, speculating that the pizza boxes in the video had been an important factor in locating Tate. But Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for DIICOT, refuted that the pizza boxes had anything to do with Tate’s arrest. On Twitter, many responded to Tate’s days-old Twitter feud with Thunberg with jokes about the interaction and Tate’s arrest. In the video, Afualo said she saw the news about Tate’s arrest.

☆ Fact Check-Footage of Tate brothers leaving Romanian anti-organized crime unit predates their December arrest
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Video showing Andrew and Tristan Tate walking out of the headquarters of Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) dates back to at least April 12, 2022. Pointing to a recent report by Romanian outlet Digi 24 about the brothers’ arrest on Dec. 29, which included undated b-roll footage, social media users falsely claimed that the ex-kickboxer and his brother were no longer detained. Examples of users misrepresenting the footage in the newscast are viewable on Twitter (here) and Facebook (here). “Andrew and Tristan Tate were NOT released tonight,” Constantin wrote via email on Dec. 30. Reuters previously addressed another months-old video being circulated as recent in relation to the Tate brothers’ arrest (here)VERDICTMissing context.

☆ Andrew Tate and his brother detained in Romania in trafficking case
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romanian prosecutors said Thursday they have detained divisive internet personality and former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized crime group. Tate, banned from many social media platforms for misogynistic comments and hate speech, and his brother Tristan will be detained for 24 hours alongside two Romanian suspects, prosecutors from the anti-organized-crime unit said in a statement after raiding their properties in Bucharest. A lawyer for the Tate brothers confirmed they had been detained. “They would have gained important sums of money.”Prosecutors said they had found six women who had been sexually exploited by the suspects. Tate has said women are partially responsible for being raped and that they belong to men.

☆ Romanian prosecutors want Andrew Tate's arrest to be extended
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BUCHAREST, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Romanian prosecutors asked a Bucharest court on Friday to extend by 30 days the arrest of ex-kickboxer and internet personality Andrew Tate, prosecutors from the anti organised crime unit said in a statement. Tate was detained on Thursday on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group. He has declined to comment but his lawyer has confirmed he has been detained. Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Writing by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Andrew HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Romania detains ex-kickboxer Andrew Tate in human trafficking case
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate are escorted by police officers outside the headquarters of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism in Bucharest (DIICOT) after being detained for 24 hours, in Bucharest, Romania, December 29, 2022. Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via REUTERSBUCHAREST, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Romanian prosecutors said on Thursday they have detained divisive internet personality and former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group. Prosecutors said they had found six women who had been sexually exploited by the suspects. Tate has said women are partially responsible for being raped and that they belong to men. Reporting by Luiza Ilie and Octav Ganea; Editing by Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Four leaders sign agreement to bring green Azeri energy to Europe
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Expert Analysis | Reuters Professional | Calls Grow For Companies To Disclose Impacts On Nature In Bid To Plug Finance Gap | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BUCHAREST, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The leaders of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary signed an agreement on Saturday on an underwater electric cable under the Black Sea to carry green Azeri energy to Europe. "Given the current security context marked by the military aggression against Ukraine we need to cooperate better and show more solidarity to mitigate common challenges," Romanian President Klaus Iohannis told the meeting, also attended by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Luiza Ilie, Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ukraine Can Win the War. But the Cost May Be Too High for the West.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Daniel Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BUCHAREST—Ukrainian leaders have vowed to retake all territory occupied by Russia, prompting a debate over what would be necessary for Ukraine to win and evict Moscow’s forces. The answer is primarily military because Russia is only going to abandon its hard-won gains if its troops suffer catastrophic losses, military strategists say. Behind those talks about weapons and ammunition is a deeper political question as Ukraine’s battlefield fortunes rely heavily on the willingness of Western governments to continue their multibillion-dollar military assistance to Kyiv.

☆ U.S. and Allies Confront Cost of Aid Assuring Ukraine Victory Over Russia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Daniel Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Romania defuses mine drifting near its Black Sea shore
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUCHAREST, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Romania's navy carried out a controlled explosion on Saturday of a naval mine that had drifted close to the country's Black Sea shore, the defence ministry said. Mines began floating in the Black Sea after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, and Romanian, Bulgarian and Turkish military diving teams have been defusing those drifting in their waters. The ministry said the navy was alerted by a Turkish cargo ship about a mine drifting some 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km) north of the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta. The Black Sea is crucial for shipment of grain, oil and oil products. Since the war started, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine have destroyed roughly 40 mines in western waters of the Black Sea.

☆ Europe's free-travel zone set to welcome Croatia but bar Romania and Bulgaria
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Gabriela Baczynska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Opposition led by Austria is set to prevent Bulgaria and Romania from winning approval on Thursday to join Europe's control-free travel zone, though its 26 member countries are expected to admit Croatia. The so-called Schengen zone - a pact between countries to abolish border checks for those travelling between their territories - is among the top achievements of European integration. The Netherlands sides with Austria in opposing the granting of access to Bulgaria, with the Hague citing concerns over governance and migration. Since all member countries must agree for a candidate country to be able to join Schengen, Romania and Bulgaria were in for a disappointment on Thursday. "Croatia can expect a positive decision but Romania, and especially Buglaria will not be able to join Schengen yet," said an EU diplomat.

"Oh FFS (for fuck's sake)," former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves said on Twitter, encapsulating the general feeling among many of France's eastern allies. The annoyance among eastern allies has undermined Macron's own policy agenda to beef up European "strategic autonomy" separate from the U.S.-led NATO umbrella, with eastern allies now trusting the United States more for their defence. An eastern European diplomat said Macron had "misread" Russia once and the fear was he would do so again. The backbone of Macron's foreign policy since 2017 has been to launch initiatives and go against the grain. However, an increasing number of critics and allies see his thrust on Russia as his major foreign policy mistake.

☆ Heaviest Ukraine fighting rages in the east, NATO seeks to sustain support against Russia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

This brutalization of Ukraine’s people is barbaric,” Blinken told a news conference in Bucharest following a two-day NATO meeting. At the NATO foreign ministers meeting, allies Wednesday pledged to help Moldova, Georgia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as they face pressure from Russia, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and ministers said. Russia invaded Ukraine in February in what it calls a “special military operation” to rid Ukraine of nationalists it considers dangerous. “We are analyzing the intentions of the occupiers and preparing countermeasures — tougher countermeasures than is now the case,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address Wednesday evening. “We haven’t seen these Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles for about two weeks ... the first batch has probably already run out,” he told Ukraine’s main television network.

[1/4] U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron walk next to a vehicle as they meet for dinner at Fiola Mare restaurant in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, U.S., November 30, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinWASHINGTON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron will celebrate more than 200 years of U.S.-French relations on Thursday but simmering in the background is a dispute over new American subsidies that has riled Europe. Biden is hosting Macron at the first state visit since the U.S. leader took office in early 2021. Macron and his wife, Brigitte, arrived in Washington on Tuesday for his second state visit to the United States since taking office in 2017. Macron is the first foreign leader to be given a state dinner at the Biden White House, a sign of his importance to Washington despite some differences with the Biden administration.

Search resuls for: "Bucharest"

25 mentions found