Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday that fake images of her generated by artificial intelligence were circulating online, warning that such false photos could deceive the public and target people unable to defend themselves.

Meloni said in a statement that several fake photos of her had been created with AI and passed off as real by political opponents.

She posted one such image appearing to show her sitting on a bed wearing underwear. The original post included an outraged comment that the photo was shameful and unworthy of an Italian prime minister.

“I must admit that whoever created them, at least in the attached case, has also improved me quite a bit,” Meloni said, adding that the episode showed how “anything at all” was now being used to attack people and spread falsehoods.

“The point, however, goes beyond me,” she said. “Deepfakes are a dangerous tool because they can deceive, manipulate, and strike anyone. I can defend myself. Many others cannot.”

Meloni urged people to check the authenticity of online content before accepting or sharing it.

“One rule should always apply: verify before believing, and think before sharing,” she said.

Meloni launched a libel suit two years ago against a man from Sardinia who is accused of making deepfake pornographic images using her face and posting them online. The case continues.

• CM accuses election commission of bias.
• Banerjee’s term as CM set to end on Thursday.
• Commission calls CM’s allegations ‘baseless’.
  

An Indian chief minister who was swept from power by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in state elections said on Tuesday that she had “not been defeated” and would not resign, in an unprecedented political twist.

Modi’s BJP defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC), which has been in power in West Bengal state since 2011, securing more than two-thirds of the 294 seats when votes were counted on Monday.

BJP has never ruled West Bengal, a populous eastern state that borders Bangladesh, and its victory is considered a political milestone as the party now controls almost all states in eastern India.

The TMC tally fell to 80 seats from its earlier 215, with Banerjee herself losing her seat.

Banerjee said about 100 seats were “forcibly taken” from her party, which also had to contend with a “biased” Election Commission. She did not back her accusation with evidence.

“I will not resign, I did not lose… officially, through the Election Commission, they (the BJP) can defeat us, but morally, we won the election,” she told a news briefing.

West Bengal’s Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal termed the allegations “baseless”. The BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated Banerjee, said “everything is mentioned in the constitution”.

Banerjee can appeal result in court

According to the Indian constitution, the state’s governor can demand Banerjee’s resignation or wait for her term to expire, after which newly elected lawmakers would be sworn in and the process of forming a new government would begin.

Banerjee’s term is set to end on Thursday.

A defeated candidate in an Indian state election can challenge the result in court on grounds including corrupt practices, improper acceptance or rejection of nominations or votes, candidate disqualification, or non-compliance with election laws that affected the outcome.

Banerjee did not say if she would go to court.

Modi, his closest aide and Home Minister Amit Shah, and several senior BJP leaders campaigned for weeks in the state, focusing on what they called illegal immigration from Bangladesh and the weak local economy under Banerjee.

• US successfully secures path through Hormuz: Hegseth
• Pentagon chief says Iran “doesn’t” control Hormuz.
• Iran attacked US forces over 10 times: General Caine.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that the ceasefire with Iran was not over, even as the US and Iran exchanged fire in the Gulf as they wrestled for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Hegseth said the US had successfully secured a path through the critical waterway and that hundreds of commercial ships were lining up to pass through, as Washington seeks to break a chokehold Iran has asserted on the Strait of Hormuz since the conflict began on February 28.

“We know the Iranians are embarrassed by this fact. They said they control the strait. They do not,” Hegseth told a Pentagon news conference.

The US military says it sank six Iranian small boats and intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones, after President Donald Trump sent the navy to escort stranded tankers through the Strait of Hormuz in a campaign he called “Project Freedom.”

Several merchant ships in the Gulf reported explosions or fires on Monday, and an oil port in the United Arab Emirates, which hosts a large US military base, was set ablaze by Iranian missiles.

General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that since the ceasefire was announced on April 7, Iran had fired at commercial vessels nine times and seized two container ships.

He said Iran has attacked US forces more than 10 times.

However, the attacks fell “below the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this point,” Caine told reporters.

Asked whether the ceasefire with Iran still held, Hegseth said: “The ceasefire is not over.”

“We said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have. Iran knows that, and ultimately, the president can make a decision whether anything were to escalate into a violation of a ceasefire,” he said.

The operation is Trump’s latest effort to force an end to the disruption of international energy supplies caused by Iran’s blockade of the strait, which carried a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas before the war.

The US Navy is also enforcing a maritime blockade of Iran, which prevents ships from going to Iran or departing Iranian territory.