THRISSUR l FRIday l February 20, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION uk Police arrest King Charles’s brother in ‘misconduct’ probe accused of forwarding govt reports Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (in pic) was arrested by UK police on Thursday for misconduct in public office following revelations from Epstein files no one is above the law, says British PM According to the Epstein emails release, Andrew was accused of forwarding government reports from official visits to the American sex offender and financier, who died in a New York prison in August 2019. As Duke of York, Andrew, 66, had served as UK’s trade envoy between 2001 and 2011, travelling globally and having privileged access to government ■ ■ British Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued a statement after Andrew’s arrest stating that there is no individual who is placed above the law Once a high-flyer, Andrew had been stripped of all his royal titles of Prince and Duke of York by the King last year. In several news bytes to press, he has consistently denied any wrongdoing | P11 2011 when andew was jailed for 11 months over epstein links CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Need democratised, human-centric AI: PM Modi says India does not fear AI but sees future and fortune in it RAKE S H KUMAR @ New Delhi Artificial intelligence (AI) must be democratised and should serve as a medium of inclusion and empowerment, especially in the Global South, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday . Speaking at the for mal opening ceremony of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 here, Modi said some countries think AI should be developed in a confidential manner but India believes the codes should be shared for the common good. As for the potential job disruptions, Modi said AI will also create new employment avenues, though it is difficult to predict what kinds of jobs will emerge. He observed that there are two kinds of people—those who fear AI and those who see future in it. Stressing that India does not fear AI, Modi unveiled the MANAV vision for AI, where M stands for moral and ethical systems, A for accountable governance, N for national sovereignty A for accessible , and inclusive, and V for valid RIL to invest L10L cr in AI over seven yrs Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani announced a I10 lakh crore investment in AI over the next seven years to connect every Indian citizen, business, and government service to AI and legitimate. He further said that AI will open higher-value, creative, and meaningful roles for more people, creating opportunities for innovation, entrepreneurship, and new industries. “AI will make work Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others during the India AI Impact Summit 2026 | pti smarter, more efficient, and more impactful, enabling better design, faster building, and improved decision-making,” said Modi. The event was attended by AI leaders including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Microsoft’s Brad Smith, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Accenture CEO Julie Sweet, and Meta’s Alexandr Wang, among others. Not an ‘iota of evidence’ against thantri: Court S h a n A S @T’Puram In a big blow to the special investigation team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold theft case, the Kollam Vigilance Court has ruled that investigators failed to produce “an iota of evidence” to establish a prima facie case against thantri Kandararu Rajeevaru. The court had granted bail to the thantri on Wednesday, 41 days after he was arrested by the SIT in the cases registered for theft of gold from the door frames as well as dwarapalaka sheets from the door frames and idols. dwarapalaka idols were reThe court, in its bail order, moved and handed over to Unsaid the SIT was unable to nikrishnan Potti, the establish “any prima facie prime accused. materials to link the petiThough the thantri had tioner in the alleged consigned another mahazar spiracy by any means”. on July 19 regarding the It stated that the act of handing over of the gildthe thantri in not signing ed sheets from dwarapalKandararu the mahazars on May 18, aka idols, the mahazar Rajeevaru 2019, and July 20, 2019, was prepared in accordwould destroy the entire ance with the Travancore case of the SIT regarding crimi- Devaswom Board’s official decinal conspiracy. The mahazars sion to hand over the artefacts were prepared after the gilded to Potti, the order said. India set to join US-led Pax Silica alliance today J AYAN T H J A C O B @ New Delhi INDIA is set to join US-led strategic alliance Pax Silica on Friday, marking a major step in New Delhi’s evolving technology and economic partnership with Washington. Sources said India’s entry into the initiative, which is aimed at building resilient supply chains for critical minerals and AI, is expected to be formalised at the India AI Impact Summit. Launched in December 2025, Pax Silica seeks to establish a secure, innovation-driven ecosystem from raw materials and critical minerals to semiconductors and AI infrastructure. US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg is currently in India and is expected to attend the formalisation event on Friday alongside senior Indian officials and US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor. As a member of the BRICS grouping, India’s decision to align with a USled economic security framework is strategically significant. Current members of Pax Silica include Australia, Greece, Israel, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, Singapore, UAE, and UK. This, the court said, in the absence of any other incriminating circumstances, was also not a ground to implicate the thantri in the case. The court also accepted the contention of the thantri that he had no authority over administrative aspects of the board and “cannot sit in judgment over the decision of the TDB”. The SIT had argued that the thantri did not question the move to shift the artefacts out of the temple premises, as it was against the ● More on P4 TDB manual.  SC slams freebie culture, says it hampers country’s growth s u c h i t r a k a lya n m o h a n ty @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Thursday slammed the freebies and subsidies culture ahead of elections and said it was “high time” to revisit such policies that hamper the country’s economic development. Observing that the ultimate financial burden of such populist measures falls on taxpayers, a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant said, “But this money which the State says it will pay now... Who will pay for it? This is taxpayers’ money The observations were .” made during the hearing of a petition filed by the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited which proposed to give free electricity to all irrespective of consumers paying capacity “It is understandable . when some people cannot afford, you have to provide. But the persons who ... are affluent ... is it not high time to revisit these policy frameworks?” the CJI asked. The bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, said state governments should generate employment, make roads and hospitals instead of freebies.