Before you start freaking out over the headline, you need to calm down.

Andrew Tate, the controversial former kickboxing world champion turned social media influencer, has been released from house arrest in Romania after mounting a successful appeal as he awaits trial on human trafficking charges. The Bucharest Court of Appeals said in a written ruling that it would be replacing its earlier “house arrest measure with that of judicial control for a period of 60 days from August 4 until October 2”, a lighter restriction that will nevertheless require him to seek permission before leaving the municipality. The influencer, his brother Tristan Tate and two Romanian women were arrested in December 2022 and charged in June with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, with seven women alleged to have been targeted. The quartet deny the charges. Mr Tate has amassed millions of followers across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok over the past decade. But he has also seen his accounts banned over inflammatory statements he has made, often appearing to advocate violence against women, which the platforms ruled violated their policies. Frequently accused of embodying toxic masculinity and misogyny, having claimed that women cannot drive, belong in the home and are a man’s property, Mr Tate has made inconsistent statements on the subject. He told the Anything Goes with James English podcast in June 2021 that he was “absolutely sexist” and “absolutely a misogynist”, only to then claim on Piers Morgan Uncensored more recently that he was “absolutely not”. He has also claimed that his remarks, viewed by millions online, are made in the persona of a “comic character” and have been unfairly taken out of context. “I play an online character and am brash and bravado but my views are pure and simply say to find the highest value men and women you can with good hearts,” he told The Independent in response to criticism from the domestic violence organisation White Ribbon. Mr Tate has also made claims about the extent of his personal wealth and his online popularity that have not been substantiated. But he has found an eager audience online for his messages of male empowerment, with teachers increasingly coming forward to express concern about his potentially radicalising influence on impressionable teenage boys, fearing they could take the wrong lessons from pronouncements like the “41 Tenets” on his website. “I believe that men have the divine imperative to become as capable, powerful, and competent as possible in this life,” states the first. Here is a brief introduction to the life and times of Andrew Tate. 1986 Emory Andrew Tate III was born in Washington, DC, on 1 December to Emory Tate Jr, a sergeant of the US Air Force and a chess International Master, and his English wife Eileen, a catering assistant. Initially raising their children in Chicago, Illinois, the couple divorced in 1997, at which point Eileen Tate relocates to a council estate in Luton, Bedfordshire, with her young family, where she reportedly still lives. Tate has described his mother as “my hero” but says they were “broke as a joke” during his childhood. Of his father, he told The Times last September he would be away from home for extended periods while serving but would say to his son upon returning: “Look, your mother has to do the day-to-day stuff. I’m a man. I have to make sure you’re protected.” 2005 The young Andrew Tate starts boxing and martial arts training while reportedly also working as a TV producer. 2009 Earns his first kickboxing championship when he wins the British ISKA Full Contact Cruiserweight Championship in Derby, going by the name King Cobra. 2011 Wins his first ISKA world title by beating Jean-Luc Benoit via knockout. As his celebrity begins to grow, Tate joins Twitter, initially as @Cobratate. 2012 Tate and his brother Tristan begin their first adult webcam business employing lingerie-clad models to engage in chat sessions with men. In a later interview with The Mirror in March 2022, the brothers joke that their webcam ventures, which charge customers $4 (£3.30) an hour, are “a total scam” because the models featured often tell lonely male callers “fake sob stories” to elicit sympathy and earn larger tips. Tristan Tate tells the newspaper the brothers are protected by two lines in their terms and conditions: “One is broadcasting is ‘for entertainment purposes only’. That means if a model says she has a sick dog or a sick grandma it doesn’t have to be true. “The next is that all cash given to models is ‘a voluntary sign of gratitude for their time broadcasting’.” 2013 Wins his second ISKA world title in a 12-round match against Vincent Petitjean. 2016 Invited onto the 17th season of the reality TV show Big Brother, Tate quickly attracts scrutiny over his track record of controversial statements. He is removed from the house after just six days when a video surfaces showing him hitting a woman with a belt. In a statement, both he and the woman featured in the clip say they are friends and that the actions depicted were consensual. 2017 Moves to Bucharest, Romania, with Tristan, setting up home in a heavily-fortified suburban compound and claiming the UK has “gone downhill”. He said the prospect of avoiding rape charges more easily was “probably 40 per cent of the reason” for moving to Central Europe, adding: “I’m not a f***ing rapist, but I like the idea of just being able to do what I want. I like being free. “If you’re a man living in England or Germany or America or any of the Western world right now you’ve decided to live in a country where any woman … at any point in the future can destroy your life.” He later tells The Times this was intended as an attack on litigation culture, commenting: “A dying empire adopts laws like a sick man adopts medicine.” Having already stirred controversy on Twitter by claiming depression “isn’t real”, Tate is permanently suspended from the platform after saying on 18 October that women should “bear some responsibility” for being sexually assaulted, part of a thread commenting on the Harvey Weinstein affair. “I don’t agree with being banned, people get banned from Twitter all the time and make new profiles,” he said subsequently. “I’m not inciting violence, promoting terrorism or harassing anyone. This is censorship of free speech. I’ve never had specific tweets banned or been cautioned.” The controversy boosts his profile among far-right conservatives, bringing him into the company of Alex Jones, Paul Joseph Watson and Donald Trump Jr in America and Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson in the UK August 2022 Having continued to build his following on social media and in right-wing media, a campaign to de-platform Tate resulted in his being banned from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. In a “final” video, Tate claims that many of the criticisms levied at him are based on clips that have been misrepresented. “I have some responsibility to bear. I still blame myself, because my rise has been so meteoric and I became so famous so quickly,” he said. “My responsibility is that any negative connotations in my videos are removed. The way you say things in a video that gets 500 views is very different from the way you say things in a video that gets 50 million views – the more people you reach, the more important it is that people don’t take things out of context. “If there was as many people cutting up videos like they did mine and those people had a negative agenda, they could make Mickey Mouse look evil, you could make anyone look bad.” His message is dismissed by Hope Not Hate’s research director, Joe Mulhall, who tells The Independent the clip attempts “to completely rewrite his behaviour, justify the unjustifiable, and … takes no responsibility”. That same month, financial services company Stripe pulls out of processing subscriptions for Hustler’s University, another Tate business billed as an online “academy” where members pay a monthly membership fee in exchange for advice on how to make a passive income from online industries such as cryptocurrency. The venture reportedly has around 100,000 paying subscribers who are charged around $49 (£40) per month but Stripe’s decision prompts it to shut its affiliate marketing programme, which had encouraged the spread of Tate videos across social networks. October 2022 After a video of Tate praying at a mosque in Dubai with MMA fighter Tam Khan goes viral, he announces he has converted to Islam in a post on Gettr. November 2022 Tate is reinstated on Twitter by new owner Elon Musk, along with other previously banned right-wing figures including Donald Trump, Kanye West and Jordan Peterson. 28 December 2022 Shortly after Christmas, Tate posts his now-infamous tweet to Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, boasting about his Bugatti and Ferraris and asking for her email address so he can “send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions”. “Yes, please do enlighten me,” she responded. “Email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com.” The internet duly erupts, prompting Tate to respond initially rather weakly by asking “How dare you?!”. He then returned with a video of himself sporting a dressing gown and smoking a cigar claiming to believe the joke has backfired on Thunberg and accusing the “global matrix” of deploying a “bot farm” to send her tweet viral. 29 December A day later, Tate and his brother are detained in Romania for 30 days, along with two women, on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group. Prosecutors say they have found six women who claim to have been sexually exploited by the suspects for the purpose of creating internet pornography. An investigation has reportedly been underway since April. 30 December As excitable social media rumours suggest that a Jerry’s Pizza box featured in Tate’s video inadvertently revealed his location to the authorities, Thunberg tweets about him again, declaring: “This is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes.” 3 January 2023 Tate’s valuable luxury car collection is seized by the Romanian authorities. 8 January One of the two Tate brothers is allegedly hospitalised after a medical check-up in jail, according to Antena 3, a CNN-partnered Romania news site. A cryptic tweet follows from Tate’s account, although it is unclear if he wrote it himself, which states: “The Matrix has attacked me. But they misunderstand, you cannot kill an idea. Hard to Kill.” 10 January Tate appears in court in Bucharest to appeal his detention, arriving wearing handcuffs and bearing a copy of the Quran. His lawyers insist there is “no evidence” against him but the judge rules against him. 31 March Tate wins an appeal to replace his detention with house arrest after the Bucharest Court of Appeal rules against a judge’s decision to extend his incarceration for a fourth time for another 30 days. 20 June Andrew and Tristan Tate formally charged with human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. The pair are accused, along with the two Romanian women, of tricking seven alleged victims with false declarations of love and transporting them to take part in pornography. The women were allegedly controlled by “intimidation, constant surveillance” and claims they were in debt, the prosecution says. 13 July The Tates launch a $5m lawsuit against a Florida woman whom they claim falsely accused them of imprisoning her in Romania, leading to their arrest there on human trafficking charges. 4 August Andrew Tate’s appeal against house arrest succeeds. Speaking to reporters outside court two days earlier, the influencer had promised: “The truth will be known very soon.” Read More Andrew Tate released from house arrest over sex trafficking charges Andrew Tate claims ‘truth will be known very soon’ as he arrives at Court of Appeal Who is Tristan Tate? All we know about Andrew Tate’s brother arrested in human trafficking raid Influencer Andrew Tate released from house arrest while he awaits human trafficking and rape trial Andrew Tate released from house arrest over sex trafficking charges Andrew Tate claims ‘truth will be known very soon’ as he arrives at Court of Appeal

A senior politician says that the ruling Dutch coalition has collapsed after tense talks among the four parties in Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s ruling bloc failed to broker a deal over ways to rein in migration

By John Kruzel and Andrew Chung WASHINGTON Senate Democrats are set on Thursday to vote on authorizing subpoenas

Megyn Kelly became the target of a troll who questioned her outfit choice for her podcast with husband Douglas Brunt

Maine mass shooting suspect Robert Card actively interacted with posts from politicians and media networks like CNBC on his now-suspended X account

Dillon Danis aims to become UFC champion after his much-awaited fight with Logan Paul

WASHINGTON Twenty or more Americans are missing following Palestinian Islamist group Hamas' attack on Israel over the weekend

Members of the United Auto Workers union moved closer to approving a contract agreement with Stellantis on Friday as two large factories in Detroit voted overwhelmingly for the deal

By Sarah Marsh and Andreas Rinke BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany's cabinet passed a contentious bill on Wednesday to legalize recreational marijuana

It all comes down to this: Malmo v Elfsborg, separated by three points, meeting in the last game of the season with the Allsvenskan title on the line. It has been dubbed “the final” by Swedish media. Malmo will deploy more security guards than at any game in the club’s history. Elfsborg’s fans will be “caged” in one corner of the Stadion Malmo, in an effort to stop celebrations or fury spilling on to the pitch. Malmo shouldn’t even be alive in this race. Henrik Rydstrom’s free-flowing team lost 4-2 at third-place Hacken last weekend and thought they were done. But somehow Elfsborg only mustered a draw at home to relegation-threatened Degerfors, scoring a 95th-minute equaliser but failing to add their Aguero moment at the death. The pressure got to both teams, and so it goes to the wire. Malmo and Elfsborg are wildly contrasting clubs. While Elfsborg hail from a small town, Malmo is Sweden’s third city, the literal and metaphorical birthplace of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and its football team is the most successful in the country’s history with 22 league titles. Their style of play is unique in Swedish football, and eight or nine players can often be found filling the same side of the pitch to progress the ball upfield, or to quickly win it back in hunting packs. They play with a positional freedom that looks off the cuff, but contains patterns of passing and movement drilled on the training pitch by the innovative Rydstrom. Rydstrom is an unusual character in football, with a masters degree in literary studies and a past writing music reviews in magazines. He is known for his strong socialist principles and his outspoken comments have drawn criticism from right-wing politicians. The manager has been described in the Swedish media as “methodical, process-driven and sophisticated” in his approach, and his methods extend to giving players tactical homework. The coach demands utter dominance of the ball – Malmo’s average possession this season is 64.8 per cent, a long way clear of the rest and higher even than Manchester City in the Premier League (63.2). But he is no disciple of Pep Guardiola. Rydstrom’s style has been likened to the fluid Brazilian football of Fluminense coach Fernando Diniz, who recently led his team to the Copa Libertadores and whose “anti-positional” tactics – dubbed Dinizismo – are in stark contrast to Guardiola’s more rigid structure so popular in Europe. Elfsborg are a more typical Swedish team, defensively stable, with the most clean sheets this season. They don’t sit deep, but possession is not of high importance to head coach Jimmy Thelin, whose team are dogged and difficult to play against. Elfsborg have committed more fouls than any other side in the league. But there are no prizes for aesthetics, as the Swedish daily newspaper Expressen stressed this week. “Style plays a role only if it culminates in glory,” writes Noah Bachner. “Defeats can be erased from memory if ultimately they don’t affect the final table. But only one thing counts. You can drag up statistics on short passes, shots taken, how many Swedish Krona per point and every expected goal. You can moan about Elfsborg’s way of playing … But only the trophy matters.” Elfsborg are based in a town called Boras, not far from Gothenburg (the name Elfsborg refers to the region). They have won six Swedish titles in their 120-year history, the most recent in 2012, and their home ground is nicknamed ‘Elfsborg Fortress’ – a riff on an actual fortification off the coast of Gothenburg – in appreciation of what a notoriously hard place Boras is to go and win. What plays in Elfsborg’s favour is that Malmo have consistently been found wanting in the biggest moments under Rydstrom. “If you want to take charge of the title race, which Malmo had and lost several times, you have to take points from the teams you’re fighting against,” writes Bachner. He has a point: Malmo have not won any of their five games this season against key rivals Djurgarden, Hacken or Elfsborg, who thrashed Malmo at the Fortress in May. Malmo had 73 per cent possession, took 19 shots and scored no goals. Elfsborg committed 26 fouls and scored three. Rydstrom’s reputation as more than just a coach who paints pretty pictures depends on this result. “My conviction is that Rydstrom is right for Malmo, regardless of how it goes on Sunday,” adds Bachner. “But I am equally convinced that nothing is going to stop him from being branded as something other than a winner [should Malmo lose]. Another missed opportunity, after slipping again like last Sunday, will take time to scrub away.” But this time it is Malmo with home advantage. Elfsborg do not have a Fortress to defend. They are the visitors, and they must travel 150 miles south into the lion’s den to claim the prize that narrowly eluded them last weekend. For Elfsborg, a point will do. Malmo must win. It all comes down to this. Read More Pochettino learnt lessons from infamous ‘Battle of the Bridge’ to mature as manager Jeremy Doku’s brilliance shows Man City’s edge and Chelsea’s key problem Chelsea will be fighting for titles sooner rather than later – Pep Guardiola Pochettino learnt lessons from infamous ‘Battle of the Bridge’ to mature as manager Jeremy Doku’s brilliance shows Man City’s edge and Chelsea’s key problem Chelsea will be fighting for titles sooner rather than later – Pep Guardiola

The Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to Norwegian author Jon Fosse