NORRISTOWN, Pennsylvania:

Bill Cosby was

sentenced to between three and 10 years in prison on Tuesday for sexually assaulting a woman, capping the once-beloved comedian’s downfall from “America’s Dad” to convicted felon.

Cosby, 81, was found guilty in April of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for the drugging and sexual assault of his one-time friend Andrea Constand, a former Temple University administrator, at his Philadelphia home in 2004. (RTRS)

JEDDAH:

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Tuesday inaugurated a 6.7 billion euro ($7.87 billion) high-speed rail linking the two holiest cities in Islam, part of efforts to boost tourism revenues as the country seeks to shed dependence on oil exports.

The 450-km (280-mile) Haramain Railway connecting Makkah and Madinah with the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah is one of the largest transport projects in the Middle East, targeting nearly 60 million passengers annually. Commercial operations are set to begin next week. (RTRS)

RIYADH:

Saudi Arabia has rejected Iranian allegations that the kingdom backed the gunmen who killed 25 people at a military parade in Iran, almost half of them Revolutionary Guards, the Saudi state news agency reported on Tuesday.

“Saudi Arabia rejects and condemns the false accusations that Iranian officials have made about Saudi Arabia supporting the events that took place in Iran last Saturday,” the agency quoted a foreign ministry official as saying. (RTRS)

BAGHDAD:

The Iraqi Council of Representatives decided on Tuesday to set a deadline for the election of the Iraq presidency, which is set for next Tuesday, Oct 2.

A source in the House of Representatives told KUNA that the Head of the Council Mohamed Halabousi decided the presidential election deadline. (KUNA)

BEIRUT:

Lebanon’s parliament has ratified the international Arms Trade Treaty, angering Hezbollah legislators, some of whom walked out in protest.

The 2014 treaty seeks to regulate international trade in conventional arms and prevent illicit trade. Hezbollah legislator Ali Ammar walked out of the parliament Tuesday, saying it “infringes on the weapons of the resistance.” (AP)