A Muslim woman has accused Oxford University professor and Islamic studies scholar Tariq Ramadan of rape and abuse. The unnamed Swiss woman claims that Ramadan “penetrated [her] with blows to the head and insults” whilst she was in fear of her life, before almost suffocating her during oral sex. Ramadan has been on leave since he was charged with rape in France, and has repeatedly denied all the allegations.
Taiwanese same-sex couples have been given joint adoption rights under the 2019 same-sex marriage legislation. An amendment to the legislation, which had its third reading in the Legislative Yuan, means the adoption process is the same for same-sex couples as it is for heterosexual couples under the island's civil code. The move comes after a landmark court ruling earlier this year in Kaohsiung that allowed a man to become the legal guardian of his husband's adopted daughter. Taiwan remains the only jurisdiction in Asia to have legalised same-sex marriage.
Blade Silvano is on trial accused of pretending to be a man during a two-year, ostensibly heterosexual relationship with a woman who only discovered her true gender after they had sexual intercourse twice and had planned to get married. Prosecutors allege in Cambridge Crown Court that Silvano's deception was sophisticated, with Silvano using an "unknown item" during sex and keeping T-shirt and boxers on. Silvano denies the charges.
A recent study in Japan found that men who expressed a strong sexual interest had a lower mortality risk than those who reported a lack of sexual interest. Sexual activity has been linked to a number of other health benefits, such as an enhanced immune system and memory, a reduction of migraines and arthritis pain, a lower likelihood of heart problems, and potentially even a reduced risk of prostate cancer. Intimacy in general can also have positive effects on hormone levels, such as increased production of oxytocin and decreased levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
A reader of The Toronto Star has expressed uncertainty over how to react to a work friend's physical attentions. Awkwardness ensued after their friend put her hand on their leg during a committee meeting. They have considered speaking with their husband or close friends but don't want to damage any relationships. The column author suggested that the reader carry on as usual, but if it happens again, say something as simple as "I'm happily married, monogamous, and hope we can just be friends."
R&B superstar R. Kelly has had sex abuse charges against him dropped by prosecutors in Minnesota over allegations he invited a 17-year-old girl to his hotel room in 2001 and paid her $200 to dance naked with him. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office commented that while it believes the survivor and that Kelly would likely be convicted if tried, prosecuting him on charges on which had been dormant since being filed in 2019 would not make any difference now, as Kelly's federal convictions could keep him in prison for the remainder of his life.
Two sex videos, one with a 17-year-old and another of an ex-partner, filmed without her consent has landed a Singaporean with a two-month jail sentence. Nicholas Koh Wei Xuan had made 69 other obscene films. Koh had shared the video that he had made with his ex-girlfriend with her as part of an attempt to restart their relationship; however, she refused, and Koh insisted he would not destroy the video unless she had sex with him again. He also threatened to send the video to her then-boyfriend.
Deutsche Bank is to pay $75m to Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse victims in order to settle a case against the bank in New York. The settlement awaits approval from a federal judge and is intended to bring closure to a class-action suit in which the bank was accused of either ignoring or overlooking clear warning signals in Epstein's accounts which showed he was part of a sex trafficking ring. Lawyers for the victims of Epstein have previously sued JP Morgan, while the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands have also taken legal action against the bank.
Mexico is to introduce travel documents that recognise different gender identities with a new system that allows people to avoid checking either male or female on passport applications. Mexicans will be able to select "X" to counter the need to specify gender, with the foreign ministry touting the decision as "historic progress". However, some non-binary activists criticised the policy as confusing gender and sex. Alex Orue of the LGBTQ+ rights non-profit It Gets Better said, "it's stigmatizing for non-binary people and it becomes a matter of inspection of genitalia, since gender identities do not always match bodily attributes of biological sex".
Deutsche Bank has settled a proposed class-action lawsuit for $75 million alleging it facilitated Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking ring. The lawsuit was filed in New York last year by an anonymous woman on behalf of herself and other accusers, alleging the bank did business with Epstein for five years knowing he was engaged in sex-trafficking activity. Deutsche Bank has not yet commented on the settlement.
Deutsche Bank is to pay $75m to settle a lawsuit by women who say they were sexually abused by the late financier, Jeffrey Epstein. One of the firms representing women in the case called it the biggest sex trafficking settlement with a bank in US history. The lawsuit alleged that the bank knowingly benefited from Epstein's sex trafficking. Deutsche Bank has acknowledged that it was a mistake to take Epstein on as a client, but the bank had thitherto joined JPMorgan Chase, which is also being sued over links to Epstein, in fighting the claims brought by victims. Deutsche Bank said that from 2013 to 2018 it provided "routine banking services" to Epstein, and claimed the lawsuit did not prove it was "was part of Epstein’s criminal sex trafficking ring".
Deutsche Bank will pay $75m to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that the bank helped enable the sex trafficking of young women by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to lawyers representing the victims. If approved by a federal judge, the settlement will resolve the lawsuit filed in New York last year. Deutsche Bank denied comment on the proposed settlement but said that it had taken strides to amend past issues while investing in bolstering its internal controls. This is not the first time Deutsche Bank has been involved in legal action relating to Epstein. In 2020, the bank agreed to pay $150m to New York regulators after it was claimed it repeatedly overlooked suspicious transactions involving Epstein.
The Royal College of Nursing has banned alcohol at its annual congress following internal reports of a culture of harassment at the event, including frequent extra-marital affairs. Delegates at the conference in Brighton were instead greeted by fruit juice cocktails. In a report published earlier this year, Bruce Carr found that the event was “seen as a place at which there is, for at least some attendees, an expectation of, or an opportunity for, sex to take place… There is also the opportunity for alcohol and power-related exploitation of the vulnerable”.
Deutsche Bank agrees to $75M US settlement with Jeffrey Epstein victims
CBC
23-05-18 14:08
Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75 million in a settlement over allegations that it should have seen evidence of sexual exploitation by American financier Jeffrey Epstein when he was a client. The lawsuit was launched by a woman only identified as Jane Doe and claimed the bank had profited from Epstein’s sex trafficking. Deutsche Bank was said to have chosen “profit over following the law” to earn millions of dollars from the businessman. The bank has previously acknowledged it made mistakes in taking on Epstein as a client, and has since invested over €4bn ($5.9bn) to bolster anti-financial crime processes.
A commentator has described Channel 4's Open House: The Great Sex Experiment as "horrible" following one segment of the show which featured newly married couple Kirstie and Connor exploring the concept of an open relationship by having threesomes. Connor is reportedly "not wholly on board" with the idea and was seen becoming jealous when Kirstie became too friendly with another man. Health experts conducted the sex experiments to encourage couples to communicate their desires more openly.
Rachel Bilson has said she lost a job after revealing she likes to be "manhandled" during an appearance on the Women on Top podcast. Bilson called the decision to lose her job "discrimination", saying that her professional life was being damaged because she was hitting certain red lines for some companies. "I basically got a job, that I already had, pulled from me because I was speaking openly about sex,” said Bilson. "A single mom, a woman, lost her job because they were being candid and honest and the subject was sex," she said.
Some US states have proposed legislative definitions of biological sex that distinguish it from gender, in an effort to counter the increasing influence of gender ideology over institutions and law. These vague definitions, for instance, bill SB 458, being considered for Montana's law in 2023, attach adjectives like "biological" to the definition as a qualifier to tie sex to biology and distinguish it from gender. However, they do little to satisfactorily explain the difference between the sexes. The core of gender ideology, which people like the Ontario Human Rights Commission espouse, seeks to disengage gender identity from biological sex. Ambiguities and hasty definitions provide terrains of openings for gender ideology to advance its goals of disorientating public perception and destabilizing the biological basis of the sexes. To counter this, precise definitions that account for developments and disorders, while defining what normal development entails, are imperative. Normal and abnormal development is not a prejudicial or dogmatic concept, but an observation of biological phenomena at different stages of life.
Almost 75% of the 2,532 supposedly banned books identified by advocacy group PEN America in its report of censorship in US public schools during the 2021-22 school year are in fact available in school online catalogues, according to a Wall Street Journal review. The report included many classic works of literature that are openly available. A quarter of the books listed were not found when examined. The group claims that 40% of banned books have protagonists or prominent secondary characters of colour, and 21% address race and racism. Almost a dozen schools are said to have banned The Hate U Give.
As seen at the G7 summit in Hiroshima last weekend, LGBTQ rights are being increasingly recognised by governments as an important issue. Although there was little said during the Weekend as to LGBTQ concerns, it was notable that the G7 communique stressed the need to “work toward creating a ‘world free from violence and discrimination regardless of gender identity or expression or sexual orientation,’” with a commitment to work with all parts of society, to bring about “ full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in all their diversity as well as LGBTQIA+ persons in politics, economics, education and all other spheres of society.” However, given host nation Japan is the only nation of the seven that does not recognise same-sex marriage, actual change in the short term is likely to be slow. The Japanese government has not made legalisation of same-sex marriage a priority with the public remaining split: 44% of respondents saying in an NHK poll released in May that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry; 15% saying they should not; while 37% were undecided.
Author Martin Amis has died aged 73 and since being in the epitome of literary chic is said to now have since fallen out of fashion. Amis, whose exuberant works and humour didn't align with the taste for immersive "realism", had expressed controversial views around the time of 9/11. Despite the criticism, Amis who had been hailed as a great comedian and a literary comic, had the ability to construct a sentence so that it produced a harmony. The author, who always wanted to be taken seriously and tackle non-rib-tickling matters, wrote his final novel: fictional autobiography ‘Inside Story’, which he considered his last work.
