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(Reuters) - British folk band Mumford & Sons' bassist Ted Dwane posted a message on Monday saying he was recovering after brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
Dwane posted a picture of himself with a shaved head on the band's official website with the caption, "Bear with a sore head! Thanks so much for all the well wishing, it seems to be working! I'm home."
The Grammy-winning London band was forced to cancel the final three U.S. dates of its "Summer Stampede" tour last week after doctors discovered a clot on the surface of Dwane's brain, which required immediate surgery.
Hawaiian folk musician Jack Johnson filled Mumford & Sons' headline slot on Saturday at the Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, Tennessee.
The four-member band, which formed in 2007, also includes Marcus Mumford, Winston Marshall and Ben Lovett. They won Album of the Year for "Babel" at the Grammy Awards in February.
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Eric Kelsey and Bill Trott)
By Belinda Goldsmith
LONDON (Reuters) - Art collector Charles Saatchi has been cautioned by police for assaulting his wife, the celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, after being photographed grabbing her by the throat in an incident that has fueled a debate in Britain about domestic violence.
Photographs of Saatchi, 70, a former advertising tycoon, grasping a tearful Lawson around the neck while the couple were having dinner outside a London restaurant about a week ago were published in a tabloid newspaper on Sunday.
On Monday he downplayed the images, saying it was just a "playful tiff" and he was holding her neck to make his point, sparking fury from women's rights group. He said the couple made up although Lawson had moved out while "the dust settled".
A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday that they were aware of the photographs that appeared in the Sunday People on June 16 and had carried out an investigation.
"Yesterday afternoon, Monday June 17, a 70-year-old man voluntarily attended a central London police station and accepted a caution for assault," the spokesman said. "That would normally be the end of the matter."
Under English law, a caution can be given to an adult who admits a minor offence and this is not a criminal conviction but can be used as evidence of bad character in court for another crime. The suspect can be arrested or charged if they do not agree to be cautioned.
Lawson, 53, dubbed the domestic goddess after the title of one of her cook books and known for her flirtatious kitchen manner, has made no public comment on the incident that happened outside a seafood restaurant in upmarket Mayfair on June 9.
Her publicist said she would not be commenting on Tuesday.
"TREATED TOO LENIENTLY"
Lawson, daughter of former Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) Nigel Lawson, married Saatchi in 2003 after her first husband, journalist John Diamond, died of throat cancer. She has two teenage children, Cosima and Bruno, from her first marriage.
Saatchi's comments on Monday downplaying the incident unleashed a storm of comments on Twitter and in the print media, describing his defence of his behavior as "bizarre" while others criticized the lack of action taken against him.
Saatchi told London's Evening Standard, for which he writes a column, that he recognized the impact of the pictures but said they conveyed the wrong impression.
"There was no grip. It was a playful tiff. The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place," said Saatchi, who ran the world's largest advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi with his brother in the 1980s.
"Nigella's tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt."
Saatchi, who opened the Saatchi Gallery in London in 1985, said he had made up with Lawson, his third wife, by the time they had reached home but acknowledged she had moved out, saying that was due to the paparazzi outside their house.
Polly Neate of the charity Women's Aid said perpetrators of domestic violence would often try to excuse or minimize their behavior and the caution given to Saatchi showed that these cases were often not dealt with severely enough.
"Often, women living with abuse at home do not speak out because they are worried they won't be believed or feel ashamed that their partner has been violent towards them," Neate said in a statement.
"We must take every case of domestic violence seriously, and ensure that the abusers receive appropriate sentences."
(Additional reporting by Michael Holden, Editing by Gareth Jones)
(Reuters) - British folk band Mumford & Sons' bassist Ted Dwane posted a message on Monday saying he was recovering after brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
Dwane posted a picture of himself with a shaved head on the band's official website with the caption, "Bear with a sore head! Thanks so much for all the well wishing, it seems to be working! I'm home."
The Grammy-winning London band was forced to cancel the final three U.S. dates of its "Summer Stampede" tour last week after doctors discovered a clot on the surface of Dwane's brain, which required immediate surgery.
Hawaiian folk musician Jack Johnson filled Mumford & Sons' headline slot on Saturday at the Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, Tennessee.
The four-member band, which formed in 2007, also includes Marcus Mumford, Winston Marshall and Ben Lovett. They won Album of the Year for "Babel" at the Grammy Awards in February.
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Eric Kelsey and Bill Trott)
By Belinda Goldsmith
LONDON (Reuters) - Art collector Charles Saatchi has been cautioned by police for assaulting his wife, the celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, after being photographed grabbing her by the throat in an incident that has fueled a debate in Britain about domestic violence.
Photographs of Saatchi, 70, a former advertising tycoon, grasping a tearful Lawson around the neck while the couple were having dinner outside a London restaurant about a week ago were published in a tabloid newspaper on Sunday.
On Monday he downplayed the images, saying it was just a "playful tiff" and he was holding her neck to make his point, sparking fury from women's rights group. He said the couple made up although Lawson had moved out while "the dust settled".
A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday that they were aware of the photographs that appeared in the Sunday People on June 16 and had carried out an investigation.
"Yesterday afternoon, Monday June 17, a 70-year-old man voluntarily attended a central London police station and accepted a caution for assault," the spokesman said. "That would normally be the end of the matter."
Under English law, a caution can be given to an adult who admits a minor offence and this is not a criminal conviction but can be used as evidence of bad character in court for another crime. The suspect can be arrested or charged if they do not agree to be cautioned.
Lawson, 53, dubbed the domestic goddess after the title of one of her cook books and known for her flirtatious kitchen manner, has made no public comment on the incident that happened outside a seafood restaurant in upmarket Mayfair on June 9.
Her publicist said she would not be commenting on Tuesday.
"TREATED TOO LENIENTLY"
Lawson, daughter of former Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) Nigel Lawson, married Saatchi in 2003 after her first husband, journalist John Diamond, died of throat cancer. She has two teenage children, Cosima and Bruno, from her first marriage.
Saatchi's comments on Monday downplaying the incident unleashed a storm of comments on Twitter and in the print media, describing his defence of his behavior as "bizarre" while others criticized the lack of action taken against him.
Saatchi told London's Evening Standard, for which he writes a column, that he recognized the impact of the pictures but said they conveyed the wrong impression.
"There was no grip. It was a playful tiff. The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place," said Saatchi, who ran the world's largest advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi with his brother in the 1980s.
"Nigella's tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt."
Saatchi, who opened the Saatchi Gallery in London in 1985, said he had made up with Lawson, his third wife, by the time they had reached home but acknowledged she had moved out, saying that was due to the paparazzi outside their house.
Polly Neate of the charity Women's Aid said perpetrators of domestic violence would often try to excuse or minimize their behavior and the caution given to Saatchi showed that these cases were often not dealt with severely enough.
"Often, women living with abuse at home do not speak out because they are worried they won't be believed or feel ashamed that their partner has been violent towards them," Neate said in a statement.
"We must take every case of domestic violence seriously, and ensure that the abusers receive appropriate sentences."
(Additional reporting by Michael Holden, Editing by Gareth Jones)
LONDON (Reuters) - A smiling Prince Philip, the 92-year-old husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, left hospital after 11 days on Monday, slightly earlier than expected, following an operation on his abdomen.
Looking sprightly and in good spirits, the prince walked unaided out of the London Clinic, shaking hands with the staff and waving to onlookers outside, before getting into his car to be driven to Windsor Castle, west of London.
Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, had been taken to hospital on June 6 for the planned operation, the fourth time he had been hospitalized in the last 18 months.
"The Duke has expressed his thanks and appreciation to the medical staff at the London clinic and to members of the public for their good wishes," a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said.
The prince, who was visited by his 87-year-old wife of more than 65 years and other senior members of the royal family during his stay, had been expected to remain at the clinic for two weeks after undergoing what the palace described as an "an exploratory operation following abdominal investigations".
The palace said the results of the operation would be analyzed, while Philip would take a period of convalescence of approximately two months. He is expected to resume engagements in the autumn.
The longest-serving consort of any British monarch and the oldest living great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria, Philip has had a number of health issues in recent years.
He was hospitalized for a bladder infection during the queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations last year, and spent Christmas 2011 in hospital where he underwent an operation to clear a blocked heart artery after suffering chest pains.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. entertainer Barbra Streisand on Monday took a swipe at Orthodox Jews in Israel who compel women to sit in the back of buses and assault them for following religious rituals traditionally reserved for men.
"It's distressing to read about women in Israel being forced to sit in the back of a bus or... having metal chairs hurled at them when they intend to peacefully and legally pray. Or women being banned from singing in public ceremonies," she said.
The Oscar and Emmy-winning actress and singer, who is Jewish, was speaking at a ceremony at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where she was awarded an honorary doctorate.
A public bus system operating in some Israeli cities forces gender segregation in deference to ultra-Orthodox rabbis who have long wielded political power in the Jewish state.
Some of these clerics are also battling against a women's prayer group seeking to liberalize worship at the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites. The women wear prayer shawls and read aloud from the Jewish scriptures there, defying a tradition that only men should do so.
Streisand starred in a 1983 film "Yentl" which explores the yearning of Jewish women for religious equality with men.
The Brooklyn-born Streisand, 71, also offered some criticism of her own country's failure to achieve full gender equality.
"I know that solutions don't come easy, and they don't in the United States, where women are still making 80 cents for every dollar that a man makes," she said.
During her visit to Israel, Streisand will also sing at a 90th birthday celebration for President Shimon Peres and will perform at two concerts in Tel Aviv.
(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, editing by Gareth Jones)
LONDON (Reuters) - A smiling Prince Philip, the 92-year-old husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, left hospital after 11 days on Monday, slightly earlier than expected, following an operation on his abdomen.
Looking sprightly and in good spirits, the prince walked unaided out of the London Clinic, shaking hands with the staff and waving to onlookers outside, before getting into his car to be driven to Windsor Castle, west of London.
Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, had been taken to hospital on June 6 for the planned operation, the fourth time he had been hospitalized in the last 18 months.
"The Duke has expressed his thanks and appreciation to the medical staff at the London clinic and to members of the public for their good wishes," a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said.
The prince, who was visited by his 87-year-old wife of more than 65 years and other senior members of the royal family during his stay, had been expected to remain at the clinic for two weeks after undergoing what the palace described as an "an exploratory operation following abdominal investigations".
The palace said the results of the operation would be analyzed, while Philip would take a period of convalescence of approximately two months. He is expected to resume engagements in the autumn.
The longest-serving consort of any British monarch and the oldest living great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria, Philip has had a number of health issues in recent years.
He was hospitalized for a bladder infection during the queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations last year, and spent Christmas 2011 in hospital where he underwent an operation to clear a blocked heart artery after suffering chest pains.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. entertainer Barbra Streisand on Monday took a swipe at Orthodox Jews in Israel who compel women to sit in the back of buses and assault them for following religious rituals traditionally reserved for men.
"It's distressing to read about women in Israel being forced to sit in the back of a bus or... having metal chairs hurled at them when they intend to peacefully and legally pray. Or women being banned from singing in public ceremonies," she said.
The Oscar and Emmy-winning actress and singer, who is Jewish, was speaking at a ceremony at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where she was awarded an honorary doctorate.
A public bus system operating in some Israeli cities forces gender segregation in deference to ultra-Orthodox rabbis who have long wielded political power in the Jewish state.
Some of these clerics are also battling against a women's prayer group seeking to liberalize worship at the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites. The women wear prayer shawls and read aloud from the Jewish scriptures there, defying a tradition that only men should do so.
Streisand starred in a 1983 film "Yentl" which explores the yearning of Jewish women for religious equality with men.
The Brooklyn-born Streisand, 71, also offered some criticism of her own country's failure to achieve full gender equality.
"I know that solutions don't come easy, and they don't in the United States, where women are still making 80 cents for every dollar that a man makes," she said.
During her visit to Israel, Streisand will also sing at a 90th birthday celebration for President Shimon Peres and will perform at two concerts in Tel Aviv.
(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, editing by Gareth Jones)
