Shehnaaz Gill praises Hania, Bilal and Pakistani dramas

Women’s safety campaigners are urging organisers to cancel Thirty Seconds to Mars’ upcoming UK concerts. The calls follow serious allegations of criminal sexual conduct against frontman Jared Leto. A BBC investigation published last week featured accounts from four women accusing the musician and actor of sexual assault and grooming. The alleged incidents reportedly took place across the 2000s and 2010s. At the time, the women were teenagers while Leto was in his 30s and 40s. He is now 54 years old and strongly denies all the allegations against him. Leto’s band is currently set to perform at two major UK arenas next April, in London and Manchester. Both the End Violence Against Women coalition and domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid have voiced concern over the shows going ahead. A Women’s Aid spokesperson told BBC Newsbeat it was troubling that concerts platforming an alleged abuser were still being planned. The charity urged organisers to prioritise safety over profit rather than continue giving such figures a stage. Janaya Walker, interim director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, echoed that sentiment. She said the issue ultimately comes down to prioritising people, particularly women and girls, over commercial interests. Walker described the continued sale of tickets for the London and Manchester shows as deeply worrying. She warned it could cause real distress among survivors of gender-based violence, who may see coverage of the allegations followed by business proceeding as usual. Thirty Seconds to Mars, known for hits like “The Kill” and “This Is War,” was formed by Leto and his brother in the late 1990s. The band has since grown into a major international touring act. A related BBC documentary features former band associates describing discomfort around how Leto interacted with teenage girls backstage. One alleges young girls were regularly invited to meet him after concerts and at private residences. Among the accusers is a former model who says she felt compelled to lie about her age when meeting Leto at 19. She alleges a disturbing comment from Leto during a private encounter that followed. In total, ten women spoke to the BBC documentary, with nine sharing their accounts publicly for the first time. Leto did not respond to the BBC’s initial questions but later issued a firm denial, calling the accusations completely false.

Cher has been ordered to bear more than $1 million in her own legal expenses despite previously winning a long-running legal battle over music royalties linked to her former husband and musical partner, Sonny Bono. The legal dispute began in October 2021 when the legendary singer and actress filed a lawsuit against Sonny Bono’s widow, Mary Bono. Cher sought to protect her right to receive royalties from songs recorded during the successful Sonny & Cher partnership and claimed she was entitled to damages after her royalty payments were challenged. According to the lawsuit, Cher argued that her 1978 divorce settlement with Sonny Bono guaranteed her a 50% share of the royalties generated by their music catalogue. She alleged that Mary Bono had attempted to terminate those royalty rights under U.S. copyright law, depriving her of income she was legally entitled to receive. The dispute centred on whether Cher’s contractual rights established through the divorce agreement could continue despite copyright termination provisions. Cher maintained that the divorce settlement remained valid and enforceable, while Mary Bono challenged those claims. In May 2024, the court ruled in Cher’s favour on the central issue. The judge found that she was entitled to unpaid royalty payments and awarded her more than $418,000 in damages for royalties that had been withheld. Following that victory, Cher sought to recover the legal costs she had accumulated while pursuing the case. In January 2026, she filed a request asking the court to award her $1,023,605.30 in attorney’s fees. Her legal team argued that the case involved a common set of facts across multiple claims and counterclaims, making it unnecessary to separate the legal costs for each issue individually. They also contended that any work related to Mary Bono’s partially successful counterclaim represented only a minimal portion of the overall litigation. However, the judge rejected Cher’s request for attorney’s fees in a ruling issued on July 17. The court concluded that the case was fundamentally a contract dispute rather than one arising under federal copyright law. Because of that distinction, the judge determined that Cher was not entitled to recover her legal expenses from the opposing side. As a result of the ruling, Cher will have to cover more than $1 million in attorney’s fees herself, despite winning the underlying royalties dispute. Court filings also indicated that approximately $10,000 in additional legal costs was expected to be incurred for her representation. The case marks the latest chapter in a years-long legal battle involving the financial legacy of Sonny & Cher, one of the most influential entertainment duos of the 1960s and 1970s. Cher and Sonny Bono rose to international fame with a string of hit songs before expanding into television with The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, which became one of the era’s most popular variety shows. Following their divorce and the end of their professional partnership, both continued with separate careers. Sonny Bono later entered politics, serving as mayor of Palm Springs before being elected to the U.S. Congress, where he remained until his death in 1998.