Yusuf Islam, you know, he formerly known as Cat Stevens and all that, has won libel damages from news agency World Entertainment News Network over a report that claimed the singer - who famously converted to Islam in 1977 - would not talk to a woman because she was not wearing a veil. It also claimed Islam would only speak to women, other than his wife, through a third party.
The singer's lawyer, Adam Tudor, told the High Court in London last week: "Mr Islam has never had difficulties working with women, in his normal life, women feature among some of the most influential people in Mr Islam's team", while adding the stories had "created an utterly false impression of [his client's] attitude to women" while casting "serious aspersions, quite wrongly, on his religious faith, which is of the utmost importance to him".
Both WENN and Contactmusic.com, which syndicated the story, accepted the stories were completely untrue, and agreed to pay both damages and Islam's legal costs. The damages will be donated to the singer's charity Small Kindness.