David Furnish, Elton John sex scandal: British media forbidden from covering couple

A controversial injunction in the U.K. has the power to put English journalists in jail if they report on David Furnish's alleged longtime affair.

The alleged story goes something like this: Elton John‘s partner and now-husband of 23 years, Canadian David Furnish, has been having a longtime affair with British businessman Daniel Laurence.

According to multiple salacious reports from sources like the tabloid National Enquirer, Furnish had unprotected sex on numerous occasions with Laurence, and Furnish joined Laurence and his husband Pieter Van den Bergh for a Dec. 2011 threesome in a kiddie pool filled with olive oil. (For the record, this might not be an “affair” at all, since John has been clear that his marriage to Furnish is “open,” meaning each of them can have relationships of a sexual nature with other people.)

Sensational, right? Absolutely. Unfortunately for British media, which could very easily seize on this story and blow it up on an immense scale, a controversial injunction in the U.K., brought by John himself, has the power to put English journalists in jail if they report on the story.

“This is an absolute farce,” British MP Philip Davies, a member of the Commons’ justice select committee, told British media.

Before the sordid tale could take off in the U.K., John, 69, secured the court-ordered injunction, which bars any mention of his or Furnish’s names in English (or Welsh) media. Before the Court of Appeal, lawyers for John argued that he and Furnish, 53, always wanted their private life private, having never courted publicity, and that releasing any details about their private sex life would be “devastating.”

Of course, English media have found a workaround (of sorts), attributing story details to a “well-known celebrity couple.” Since there’s no ban in any other country — or on the internet, excluding social media — the identity of the couple is merely a click away.

The story has caused a major ripple in the U.K. about free speech. Free-speech advocates and a number of British members of Parliament, along with the general public, have criticized the injunction. These types of bans have traditionally been frowned upon by the British people, who see them as tools that can be utilized by the rich and powerful to hide their transgressions from the public.

“It is not about the stories they are trying to stop but the absurdity of trying to prevent a free press identifying them when the whole world already knows who they are,” said an editorial in Scotland’s Daily Record.

Indeed, injunctions often defeat the purpose, since in many cases they just attract more attention to the event at hand.

“Should press freedom be curtailed by the rich on the grounds that they don’t want their children to be embarrassed?” asked blogger Paul Staines.

If the injunction is broken by a British media outlet, they could be charged with criminal contempt of court, which could potentially mean jail time. Even citizens who refer to John or Furnish by name on social media are subject to prosecution.

Sex scandal rocks presidency

Abuja - A sex scandal is rocking the Presidency following  allegations that some members of a cabal in the All Progressives Congress are demanding for sex before appointments are made into the presidency.and other key government establishments, reports ashawo reporters

A source within the party who blew the lid on the sex scandal revealed that the cabal has hijacked the nomination and appointment of aides in the presidency for personal gains.

According to the source, the cabal did not follow the list of political appointments drawn by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Also read: Sex scandal: Lawyers want reps to resign or be recalled

The source claimed that majority of those whose names appeared on the cabal’s list and were subsequently approved have not met with the President since they resumed office, adding that the cabal have been collecting cuts from the salaries of the special assistants.

The source noted that some female appointees were allegedly denied  their original positions because they refused to sleep with members of the cabal.

One prominent female appointee that was allegedly denied  her original position of Special Adviser to the President because she  would not sleep with members of the cabal is Lauretta Onochie.

She was allegedly offered Personal Assistant to the President , a position she rejected.

Onochie was in the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential media campaign team.

Indian filmmaker jailed for raping US woman researcher

A New Delhi court has sentenced an Indian filmmaker to seven years in prison in the rape of an American graduate student last year.

Judge Sanjiv Jain issued the punishment Thursday for Mahmood Farooqui, a Bollywood director, writer and theater performer. Farooqui can appeal the verdict within 30 days.

Farooqui was convicted last week after the woman complained that he was drunk and raped her at his house in the Indian capital where she had gone for help with her thesis research. Farooqui denied the allegation.

The case highlights the persistence of violence against women in India despite an outcry following the December 2012 death of a woman who was brutally gang raped on a bus in New Delhi, leading to stronger laws against sexual assault.

Tokyo turmoil: race to rule world's largest city mired in sex scandal and misogyny

Japan’s capital is electing a new governor – but the battle for the job has brought criticism over mudslinging tactics

It is a race to take charge of the world’s largest city - a metropolis with a population more than half the size of the United Kingdom and with a GDP greater than all but 10 countries.

But the election for the post of governor of Tokyo has piqued interest not only because of the size of the task which falls to its victor, but also for the mud slinging and misogyny which has characterised the fight between the candidates.

Voters in Tokyo will go to the polls on Sunday amid a campaign marred by events that some say highlights the worst of Japan’s male-dominated politics.

The winner will take over after the two previous incumbents resigned in disgrace, and is tasked with overseeing the 2020 Olympics, coming up with ways to offset problems caused by the capital’s rapidly ageing population, and providing better child care services.

It is a weighty job serving approximately 37 million people in the Tokyo metro area and a record 21 candidates are running.

The race has boiled down to three major candidates, including Yuriko Koike, a graduate of Cairo University, and former government minister. If elected Koike would be the first female governor of Tokyo, and only the seventh woman to run one of Japan’s 47 prefectural areas.

Koike broke ranks with the Liberal Democratic party to run as an independent, against the establishment candidate Hiroya Masuda, a one-time cabinet minister.

And she has since faced sexist attacks. Earlier this week a former Tokyo governor, Shintaro Ishihara, referred to the 64-year-old Koike and her make up in terms that translate as “a caked-up old woman well past her prime”.

Women remain under-represented in the halls of power, occupying only 45 of the 475 seats in the lower house of parliament.

The sexist nature of Japanese society also appears to condone a gender prejudice that would not be tolerated in other advanced nations.

In June 2014, Ayaka Shiomura, an elected member of the Tokyo metropolitan government made a speech in support of working mothers but was heckled by male members with jibes including “you…should get married!”.

The remark was followed by peels of male laughter. It took five days and pressure from the assembly before the identity of the perpetrator was revealed.

Among the public there is support for Koike, with some seeing a glass ceiling waiting to be smashed.

Kumiko Watanabe, a Tokyo woman, supports Koike. “Japanese male politicians are too proud to accept a female candidate. Their overall level as human beings is pretty low,” she says.

“South Korea has a female president, the UK has a female prime minister, and it looks as though Hillary [Clinton] will be elected in the US. Isn’t it about time we had a female governor of Tokyo?”

Meanwhile one of Koike’s rivals, Shuntaro Torigoe, a respected journalist running as a left wing candidate, has seen his campaign plagued by a sex scandal more than 10 years old, where he is alleged to have seduced a 20-year old university student. The married Torigoe was more than twice the student’s age at the time of the supposed incident.

The latest edition of the weekly magazine, Shukan Shincho, repeated the allegations, and quoted the alleged victim,and her boyfriend of the time, saying she was blinded by Torigoe’s celebrity, as a TV-based commentator. She later married the boyfriend.

Torigoe has called the allegations groundless, issued a letter of protest, and has said he will sue the publication.

Some see a deliberate smear campaign under way.

“The art of political assassination has been honed well by this political establishment, and they rarely fail,” says Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at the Japan campus of Philadelphia’s Temple University. “But, the timing just before the polls is suspicious because the last thing the establishment wants is a progressive reformer like Torigoe.”

Even if the allegations prove false, some of the mud is likely to stick, he adds.

Independent voters may help swing the election on Sunday when many are likely to absent themselves from the capital in favour of the beach or the mountains. Koike needs such voters to help break down the establishment vote machine and may have done enough to swing the vote in her favour.

“The election is basically a popularity or name recognition contest, and with Torigoe hobbled by unproven allegations [Koike] is sitting pretty,” Kingston says.

Gay-sex scandal hits Irish seminary

The head of Ireland's biggest Catholic diocese said Tuesday he had moved trainee priests from the country's leading seminary over allegations of homosexual activity among students and staff, including the use of the Grindr dating app.

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said the "poisonous" atmosphere caused by the claims at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth – also known as the National Seminary for Ireland – had led him to transfer students to the Irish College in Rome.

An anonymous letter emerged in May, alleging homosexual activity among some students and teachers. Authorities issued a statement promising to "thoroughly deal" with such behavior.

"A culture of anonymous letters is poisonous and until that is cleared up I would be happier to send my students elsewhere," the archbishop told RTE, Ireland's national broadcaster.

The archbishop said the use of Grindr would be inappropriate for seminarians "not just because they are training to be celibate priests but because an app like that is something that would be fostering promiscuous sexuality which is certainly not in any way the mature vision of sexuality that one would expect priests to understand."

Thanks to GPS technology, users of the Grindr app, generally gay men seeking sex, are able to locate and view photos and brief profiles of other users in their immediate vicinity and arrange to meet them.

The archbishop said he had tried to communicate with the author or authors of the anonymous online letters and blogs, offering to appoint a confidential expert to help verify the claims.

However, his initiative has been met only by more anonymous letters.

It is believed whistleblowers are reluctant to come forward because others have been expelled for making such allegations.

"The authorities at Maynooth feel we have to find ways in which people will come forward with solid, hard evidence which can be used to follow up allegations," Archbishop Martin said.

Hugh Connolly, the President of St. Patrick's College, told RTE he was aware of the allegations and was "very worried" about the alleged use of Grindr in particular.

But "natural justice" demanded the production of strong evidence before any action could be taken, he added.

Archbishop Martin also appeared to question if Maynooth was still fit to train modern-day clergy, suggesting it could be better done outside the "closed, strange world of seminaries."

St. Patrick's College, situated at Maynooth, Co Kildare, is a university town 24 kilometers (15 miles) from Dublin.

The seminary was formed in 1795 and at the height of Catholic Church power in Ireland trained around 500 young men for the priesthood.

This number has dwindled to around 55 and there are now concerns that it could face closure if bishops believe priest could be trained better elsewhere.