Judge tosses part of a lawsuit against UK band The 1975 for same-sex kiss at Malaysia’s Good Vibes Festival

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A London judge ruled on Monday ( Feb 24 ) that members of the British band The 1975 cannot be held personally responsible for the losses of a Malaysian music festival caused by lead singer Matty Healy kissing a male bandmate on stage.

The organizer of the Good Vibes Festival is seeking 1.9 million pounds ( S$ 3.2 million ) in losses after Healy criticised the country’s anti-homosexuality laws&nbsp, and then kissed bassist Ross MacDonald at the Kuala Lumpur show in July 2023.

The clip of the love sparked a reaction in the mainly Muslim nation, where homosexuality is a crime&nbsp, punished by 20 years in prison and punishment. Some LGBTQ organizations also criticized the group for putting its area at risk and stifling activists ‘ efforts to change.

The 1975 Productions LLP’s four individuals allegedly owed a duty of care in a lawsuit brought by Future Sound Asia in the High Court. But the singer’s lawyer argued that the fit should just target the business &nbsp, – not the players.

Judge William Hansen argued that the allegations against the group members were “bad as a matter of laws” and that there is no compelling argument for the case to go to trial. He allowed the situation to proceed against the business, but ordered FSA to give 100, 000 weight in legal fees.

Band lawyer Edmund Cullen had argued the state was an “illegitimate, arbitrary and incoherent” test” to button duty on individuals” because FSA just had a contract with the band’s company.

Authorities initially refused to let the group perform, according to FSA’s prosecutor Andrew Burns, citing reports about Healy’s drug use and subsequent recovery. They gave in after the group promised to follow the band’s instructions and rules, he said.

When the band played the same event in 2016, they had agreed not to bet, smoke, drink, take off clothing or talk about religion and elections on level, Burns said.

Burns said the group deliberately provoked Indonesian authorities in 2023 by smuggling a bottle of wine on stage, and through Healy’s “obscene statement” and the love. He said the group also performed a” second-rate established of music” to upset the audience.

They could be argued that they were acting on their own rather than just by themselves as LLP people, according to Burns.

The band was supposed to be paid US$ 350, 000 ( S$ 468, 700 ) for a one-hour set, Burns said.

The present wasn’t the first day Healy made a political speech in the name of LGBTQ rights: he kissed a female fan at a 2019 music in the United Arab Emirates, which outlaws same-sex physical activity.

After the show in the Malaysian capital, The 1975 cancelled its concerts in Taiwan and Jakarta, Indonesia.

The band has been placed on a blacklist by the Malaysian government.

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India police detain second suspect in Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan stabbing incident

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A second person was detained by police in the state of Chhattisgarh, in central India, on Saturday ( January 18 ), and is suspected of being involved in a knife-related attack where Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan was hurt.

An attacker stabbed Khan, 54, six times during a Thursday morning crime attempt at his apartment in Mumbai. He had procedure after sustaining stab wounds to his back, neck and hands, and is out of danger, specialists said.

A representative of the Railway Protection Force, Sanjeev Sinha, who owns a majority stake in Reuters, informed ANI information company,” We received information from Mumbai Police that a believe is traveling by Jnaneswari Express train.”

“… Mumbai Police officers were contacted through movie phone and the suspect’s personality was confirmed. He has been detained”, Sinha said.

Another significant suspect in the knife attack was detained by Mumbai’s police on Friday, according to the economic capital of India.

The assault on Khan, one of Bollywood’s most bankable and well-known players, shocked the movie business and Mumbai people, with many asking for better surveillance and protection.

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Taiwan celebrates linguistic diversity at annual music awards

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“My friend asked me, why don’t you sing good songs in Chinese?”, Peng said upon receiving the prize in Taipei. “I don’t think there should be language restrictions on singing.”

Cheng, speaking in Mandarin, thanked the Taiwanese language for “teaching me how to bow my head and slow down”.

In the indigenous language category, the Paiwan singers Kasiwa and Matzka rapped and sang in their native tongue, with Kasiwa getting the prestigious jury award.

While Taiwan has only 23 million people, its music scene has an outsized influence in the Chinese-speaking world, in part due to creativity unhindered by censorship.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen wrote on her Facebook and Instagram pages that at the show the love of music had “eliminated language boundaries between different ethnic groups”.

“Here, no matter what language everyone uses – Taiwanese, Hakka, indigenous languages, Mandarin, English and Japanese – they can all sing freely, which also brings us together.”

Disco queen Ouyang Fei Fei, one of two special contribution award winners and as famous for her big hair as her big voice, broke through in Japan in the 1970s singing in Japanese.

“Singing and performing have always been my dream. If I can, I will continue to sing and never give up,” Ouyang, now 73, told the audience.

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Jeremy Clarkson column on Meghan was sexist, UK press regulator rules

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A column by TV personality Jeremy Clarkson in the Sun newspaper in which he wrote he hoped Prince Harry’s wife Meghan would one day be forced to parade naked through the streets was sexist, Britain’s press regulator said on Friday (Jun 30).

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) ruled the column contained a pejorative and prejudicial reference to Meghan’s sex, in breach of the Editors’ Code of Practice.

The opinion piece, published in December 2022 and since withdrawn by the Sun, drew widespread condemnation from members of the public, politicians, Clarkson’s employers and even his own daughter after he wrote that he hated Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, on a “cellular level”.

The column became the most complained-about article for IPSO, who said it generated over 25,000 complaints from members of the public.

Clarkson and the Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, apologised but IPSO launched an investigation based on complaints from two women’s charities – the Fawcett Society and the WILDE Foundation.

IPSO has instructed the Sun to publish a summary of the findings against it – written by IPSO – on the same page as the column usually appears, which will be flagged on the paper’s front page in print and on the sun.co.uk website.

“We found that the imagery employed by the columnist in this article was humiliating and degrading toward the Duchess,” IPSO chair Edward Faulks said.

IPSO did not uphold separate elements of the complaint that the article was inaccurate, harassed Meghan, and included discriminatory references to her on the grounds of race.

Harry and Meghan have been the regular subject of derision in British tabloids, particularly since they stepped back from their royal roles in 2020 and moved to California.

The prince is currently suing MGN, the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, over allegations of phone-hacking dating back to 2011 and earlier. MGN says there is no evidence Harry’s phone was hacked.

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