Actor Bruce Willis diagnosed with a form of dementia, says family

NEW YORK: Nearly a year after Bruce Willis’ family announced that he would step away from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, his family says his “condition has progressed.”

In a statement posted on Thursday, the 67-year-old actor’s family said Willis has a more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia.

“While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis,” the statement read. “FTD is a cruel disease that many of us have never heard of and can strike anyone.”

Last March, Willis’ family said his aphasia had affected his cognitive abilities. The condition causes loss of the ability to understand or express speech.

In Thursday’s statement, his family said communication challenges were just one symptom of frontotemporal dementia.

The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration describes FTD as a group of brain disorders caused by degeneration of the frontal and/or temporal lobes of the brain that affects behaviour, language and movement. The association describes frontotemporal degeneration as “an inevitable decline in functioning,” with an average life expectancy of seven to 13 years after the onset of symptoms.

“Today there are no treatments for the disease, a reality that we hope can change in the years ahead,” the family’s statement read, adding it can take years to get a proper diagnosis.

“As Bruce’s condition advances, we hope that any media attention can be focused on shining a light on this disease that needs far more awareness and research.” The statement was posted on the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration’s website and signed by Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, his ex-wife Demi Moore, and five children, Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel and Evelyn.

Taliban attack police chief’s office in Karachi, 7 dead

KARACHI: Militants launched a deadly suicide attack on the police headquarters of Pakistan’s largest city on Friday, as the sound of gunfire and explosions rocked the heart of Karachi for several hours. Two police officers and a civilian were killed and 18 security force members wounded, according to government officials and Ghulam Nabi Memon, police chief for the southern Sindh province where Karachi is located. Two suicide bombers were killed and at least one blew himself up after entering the building, officials said. Pakistani Taliban in a brief statement claimed responsibility.

Japan weighs lifting age of consent from 13 to 16

TOKYO: A Japanese justice ministry panel on Friday proposed raising the country’s age of consent, currently among the world’s lowest at just 13, as part of an overhaul of sex crime legislation. The move to raise the age of consent to 16 is part of reforms that would also clarify rape prosecution requirements and criminalise voyeurism. Under current law, children at least 13 years old are considered capable of consent, meaning sexual activity with them is not considered statutory rape, so even teen rape survivors face the same high bars to prosecuting perpetrators that adults do.

AFP Bruce Willis.