BERLIN (AP) — The eldest son of Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit is to be released from custody after his arrest last week on rape allegations, Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported Wednesday.
At the same time, however, Oslo police began an investigation into a new alleged sexual offense for which he has not been charged, NRK reported. Details about the new allegations were not immediately available.
Marius Borg Høiby is the stepson of the heir to the Norwegian throne, Crown Prince Haakon, and the son of Mette-Marit from a previous relationship. He has no royal title or official duties.
Borg Høiby was arrested last week in Oslo on a preliminary charge of having had “sexual intercourse with someone who is unconscious or for other reasons unable to resist the act.” A preliminary charge comes before a formal charge and allows authorities to detain suspects during an investigation.
At the time, police did not say when the alleged rape occurred, but only that “the victim must have been unable to resist the act.” Norwegian media reported that Borg Høiby has denied the accusation.
The royal palace had no comment regarding the allegations, the news agency NTB said.
On Wednesday, police said they would not seek further detention of Borg Høiby because there was no indication that important evidence would be removed, NRK reported.
“This was not surprising. He shouldn’t have been imprisoned at all,” Øyvind Bratlien, Høiby’s defense attorney, told NRK. He said Borg Høiby would likely be released later Wednesday.
On Aug. 4, police officers responded to a disturbance in downtown Oslo and briefly detained Borg Høiby. He faced preliminary charges of bodily harm and criminal damage and was released. Details were unclear but police said there was “a relationship between the suspect and the victim.”
More preliminary charges have since been filed against Borg Høiby, including violating several restraining orders and driving without a valid driver’s license. In all, the cases involve four women and one man.
The case was top news in Norway, where the royals are popular.
Borg Høiby, 27, lives with the royal couple and their two children, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus.
Norway’s future queen made headlines in 2001 when she married Haakon because she was a single mother who had lived a freewheeling life with a companion who had been convicted on drug charges.
FILE - Norway's Marius Borg Hoiby and Crown Princess Mette-Marit in Oslo, June 16, 2022. (Lise Aserud/NTB via AP, File)
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican and Microsoft on Monday unveiled a digital twin of St. Peter’s Basilica that uses artificial intelligence to explore one of the world’s most important monument’s while helping the Holy See manage visitor flows and identify conservation problems.
Using 400,000 high-resolution digital photographs, taken with drones, cameras and lasers over four weeks when no one was in the basilica, the digital replica is going online alongside two new on-site exhibits to provide visitors -- real and virtual -- with an interactive experience.
“It is literally one of the most technologically advanced and sophisticated projects of its kind that has ever been pursued,” Microsoft's president Brad Smith told a Vatican press conference.
The project has been launched ahead of the Vatican's 2025 Jubilee, a holy year in which more than 30 million pilgrims are expected to pass through the basilica’s Holy Door, on top of the 50,000 who visit on a normal day.
“Everyone, really everyone should feel welcome in this great house,” Pope Francis told Smith and members of the project's development teams at an audience Monday.
The digital platform allows visitors to reserve entry times to the basilica, a novelty for one of the world’s most visited monuments that regularly has an hours-long line of tourists waiting to get in.
But the heart of the project is the creation of a digital twin of St. Peter’s Basilica through advanced photogrammetry and artificial intelligence that allows anyone to “visit” the church and learn about its history.
The ultra-precise 3D replica, developed in collaboration with digital preservation company Iconem, incorporates 22 terabytes of data, Smith said.
The images have already identified structural damage and signs of deterioration, such as missing mosaic pieces, cracks and fissures invisible to the naked eye, with a speed and precision far beyond human capabilities.
Francis has called for the ethical use of AI and used his annual World Message of Peace this year to urge an international treaty to regulate it, arguing that technology lacking human values of compassion, mercy, morality and forgiveness were too great.
On Monday, he thanked the Microsoft team and basilica workers responsible for the project and marveled at how modern technology was helping spread an ancient faith and preserve a piece of world patrimony, which celebrates the 400th anniversary of its consecration in 2026.
“This house of prayer for all peoples has been entrusted to us by those who have preceded us in faith and apostolic ministry,” he told Smith and the delegation. “Therefore, it is a gift and a task to care for it, in both a spiritual and material sense, even through the latest technologies.”
Smith declined to give a price tag for Microsoft’s investment in the project, saying only it was “substantial” and was borne of Francis’ initiative in 2018 to bring tech companies together to promote ethnically minded AI.
He said Microsoft had done similar AI projects at Mont Saint-Michel in France and Ancient Olympia, in Greece.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
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This story has been updated to correct the amount of data used in the project. Microsoft’s media relations agency, WE Communications, said Microsoft President Brad Smith misspoke at the press conference and that the project incorporated 22 terabytes of data, not 22 petabytes.
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, right, and Microsoft's vice-Chairman and President Brad Smith unveil the project "St. Peter's Basilica: AI-Enhanced Experience" during a press conference. at the Vatican, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, right, and Microsoft's vice-Chairman and President Brad Smith unveil the project "St. Peter's Basilica: AI-Enhanced Experience" during a press conference at the Vatican, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Images of St. Peter's Basilca are projected on a screen during the preview to the press of the exhibition 'Petros eni', which is part of the project "St. Peter's Basilica: AI-Enhanced Experience" at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Images of St. Peter's Basilca are projected on a screen during the preview to the press of the exhibition 'Petros eni', which is part of the project "St. Peter's Basilica: AI-Enhanced Experience" at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A model St. Peter's basilica is displayed during the preview to the press of the exhibition 'Petros eni', which is part of the project "St. Peter's Basilica: AI-Enhanced Experience" at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
An image of St. Peter is projected on a screen during the preview to the press of the exhibition 'Petros eni', which is part of the project "St. Peter's Basilica: AI-Enhanced Experience" at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Images of St. Peter's Basilca are projected on a screen during the preview to the press of the exhibition 'Petros eni', which is part of the project "St. Peter's Basilica: AI-Enhanced Experience" at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A photographer takes pictures during the preview to the press of the exhibition 'Petros eni', which is part of the project "St. Peter's Basilica: AI-Enhanced Experience" at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Images of St. Peter's Basilca are projected on a screen during the preview to the press of the exhibition 'Petros eni', which is part of the project "St. Peter's Basilica: AI-Enhanced Experience" at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, right, and Microsoft's vice-Chairman and President Brad Smith unveil the project "St. Peter's Basilica: AI-Enhanced Experience" during a press conerence. at the Vatican, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A view of St. Peter's basilica during the preview to the press of the exhibition 'Petros eni', which is part of the project "St. Peter's Basilica: AI-Enhanced Experience" at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
