JUDGE DECLARES BILL COSBY ‘SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATOR’, SENTENCE AWAITED
NORRISTOWN: A judge declared Bill Cosby a “sexually violent predator” on Tuesday as he prepared to sentence the 81-year-old comedian for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman over a decade ago. The classification means that Cosby must undergo monthly counselling for the rest of his life and report quarterly to authorities. His name will appear on a sex-offender registry sent to neighbours, schools and victims. The comic, who was once known as America’s Dad for his role as wise and understanding Dr Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show in the 1980s faced anywhere from probation to 10 years in prison after being convicted in April in the first celebrity trial of the #Metoo era. AP
Exfrench PM Valls to run for Barcelona mayor
BARCELONA: Former French PM Manuel Valls announced on Tuesday that he will run for mayor of Barcelona, an unprecedented bid for political power in another European country. “After a period of serious reflection, I have taken the following decision: I want to be the next mayor of Barcelona,” he said in Catalan in Barcelona, the Spanish city where he was born. He grew up in Paris with his Catalan father and Swiss-italian mother.
Philippines: Duterte critic arrested, out on bail
MANILA: President Rodrigo Duterte’s fiercest critic in Congress was arrested on Tuesday after the Philippines revoked his 2011 amnesty for a failed coup attempt and revived rebellion charges against him. Antonio Trillanes walked out of the
Senate, where he sought refuge for weeks, and was taken by police to their headquarters. After being booked, he was escorted to court and posted bail. AP
Cholera death toll climbs to 45 in Zimbabwe
HARARE: At least 45 people have been killed by cholera in Zimbabwe in the past three weeks, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. It said that an oral vaccine campaign was due to begin shortly with 450,000 people targeted in the worst-affected suburbs of Harare. About 500,000 doses were to arrive in the country on Wednesday for Zimbabwe’s first oral vaccine campaign.
Afghan photographer slain in IS bombing gets mural
KABUL: Amnesty International and an Afghan art collective unveiled on Tuesday a mural in Kabul in the memory of AFP’S slain chief Afghanistan photographer, Shah Marai, who was killed in April along with eight other reporters in a double suicide bombing by the Islamic State. It’s the first in a series of murals to highlight the work of Afghan activists, teachers, lawyers, students, trade unionists and others.
AP