Prosecution rests their case in Bill Cosby sexual assault trial
Prosecutors on Friday rested their case in Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial, five days after testimony began in Norristown, PA.
Though the comedian didn't testify, Cosby's own words were at the heart of the prosecution's presentation Friday -- specifically, his testimony in a 2005 deposition during which he admitted under oath that he'd obtained prescriptions for Quaaludes with the intention of giving them to women so he could have sex with them.
The prosecution says Cosby gave the same or a similar drug to Cosby's accuser, Andrea Constand, who maintains Cosby drugged her at his Philadelphia home in 2004, and then used his hand to sexually assault her, while also placing her hand on his genitals. Constand claims the drug she was given made her helpless to react. Cosby, 79, claims he gave Constand Benadryl and that the sex was consensual.
In his 2005 testimony, recounted in court Friday, Cosby also said he apologized to Constand's mother by phone for the sexual encounter, but did so because he didn't want her to think of him as a "dirty old man." He also admitted he feared that his reputation would suffer if Constand's accusations became public knowledge.
Constand, 44, testified earlier in the week. Cosby's sworn 2005 testimony was part of Constand's civil suit against him then, which was settled for an undisclosed sum and the deposition sealed. It was unsealed in 2015, just before the statue of limitations to criminally charge Cosby in the case expired.
If convicted of all three criminal charges against him, Cosby could be sentenced to 30 years in prison and up to $25,000 in fines.
Sixty women have accused Cosby of drugging them, sexually assaulting them, or both.
Source-ABC
DJ Khaled unveils star-studded Grateful track list
Earlier this week, DJ Khaled revealed the cover art to his forthcoming album, Grateful, along with his new single featuring Drake, titled "To the Max."
Now, the in-demand producer has unveiled the complete Grateful track list on Instagram, showing off a list jam-packed with superstars, including Beyoncé and hubby Jay Z, Rihanna, Bryson Tiller, Travis Scott, Chance the Rapper, Future and many more.
Khaled captions the Instagram photos, "#DJKHALED #GRATEFUL #TRACKLISTING #GRATEFUL #JUNE23RD FAN LUV PRE ORDER !!!! executive producer @asahdkhaled." Asahd is DJ Khaled's 7-month-old.
Grateful includes Khaled's smash hit single, "I'm the One," featuring Lil Wayne, Chance, Justin Bieber, and Quavo from rap trio Migos. The album is available to pre-order now and will be available everywhere to purchase June 23.
Here's the Grateful track list:
"(Intro) I'm So Grateful" -- ft. Sizzla
"Shining" -- ft. Beyoncé & Jay Z
"To the Max" -- ft. Drake
"Wild Thoughts" -- ft. Rihanna & Bryson Tiller
"I'm the One" -- ft. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper & Lil Wayne
"On Everything" -- ft. Travis Scott, Rick Ross & Big Sean
"It's Secured" -- ft. Nas & Travis Scott
"Interlude (Hallelujah)" -- Betty Wright
"Nobody" -- ft. Alicia Keys & Nicki Minaj
"I Love You So Much" -- ft. Chance the Rapper
"Don't Quit" -- ft. DJ Khaled & Calvin Harris ft. Travis Scott & Jeremih
"I Can't Even Lie" -- ft. Future & Nicki Minaj
"Down for Life" -- ft. PARTYNEXTFOOR, Future, Travis Scott, Rick Ross & Kodak Black
"Major Bag Alert" -- ft. Migos
"Good Man" -- ft. Pusha T & Jadakiss
"Billy Ocean" -- ft. Fat Joe & Raekwon
"Pull a Caper" -- ft. Kodak Black, Gucci Mane & Rick Ross
"That Range Rover Came with Steps" -- ft. Future & Yo Gotti
"Iced Out My Arms" -- ft. Future, Migos, 21 Savage & T.I.
"Whatever" -- ft. Future, Young Thug, Rick Ross & 2 Chainz
"Interlude" -- Belly
"Unchanging Love" -- Mavado
"Asahd Talk (Thank You Asahd)
Source-ABC
Despicable Me 3 soundtrack featuring new Pharrell Williams tracks
The Despicable Me 3 soundtrack is chock full of five new songs by Pharrell Williams, including his newly-released track, "Yellow Light."
The video-game inspired music video for the tune is also available to view now. It features Pharrell taking a stroll with some of the Minion characters from the movie franchise.
Superstar Pharrell is more than happy to work in the Despicable Me universe once again, especially since he earned an Oscar nod and a Grammy for his 2013 #1 hit, "Happy," from the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack.
You can pre-order your copy of the Despicable Me 3 soundtrack today. It arrives everywhere June 23.
Here's the track list:
"Yellow Light" -- Pharrell Williams
"Hug Me" -- Pharrell Williams feat. Trey Parker
"Bad" -- Michael Jackson
"Take On Me" -- a-ha
"Papa Mama Loca Pipa" -- The Minions
"There’s Something Special" -- Pharrell Williams
"Tiki Tiki Babeloo" -- The Minions
"Freedom" -- Pharrell Williams
"Doowit" -- Pharrell Williams
"99 Luftballoons" -- Nena
"Into The Groove" -- Madonna
"Chuck Berry" -- Pharrell Williams
"Fun, Fun, Fun" -- Pharrell Williams
"Despicable Me" -- Pharrell Williams
"Despicable Me 3 Score Suite" -- Heitor Pereira
"Malatikalano Polatina" -- The Minions
Source-ABC
Lecrae teams up with Tori Kelly on new motivational track, "I'll Find You"
Lecrae's latest offering, "I'll Find You," is one of the rapper's most inspiring tracks to date, and features vocals from Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Tori Kelly.
On the song, and its accompanying lyric video, the Lecrae raps, "I'm hanging on by a thread/And all I'm clinging to is prayers/And every breath is like a battle/I feel like I ain't come prepared," while Tori assures him and anyone listening that all of life's struggle are "all worth it in the end."
Lecrae says in a statement, "Pain can be [a] haunting reminder to appreciate every waking moment. So we wrote a song to share our hope in the midst of their pain. A the time of this song[']s composition some of our loved ones were battling cancer. We wanted to encourage them to hold on, and tell them we are here waiting, hoping, praying, and fighting with them."
Lecrae is expected to perform at this summer's Bonnaroo Festival. You can purchase "I'll Find You" now via the usual digital platforms.
Apple CEO to speaks to MIT Grads
Science is worthless if it isn't motivated by basic human values and the desire to help people, Apple CEO Tim Cook told graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Friday, urging them to use their powers for good.
In a commencement address, Cook — who as Apple's chief executive since 2011 has overseen the rollout of the iPhone 7 and the Apple Watch — said the company is constantly looking for ways to combine tech with a sense of humanity and compassion.
"Whatever you do in your life, and whatever we do at Apple, we must infuse it with the humanity that we are born with,'' said Cook, who previously served as chief operating officer and headed the Macintosh division.
"That responsibility is immense. But so is the opportunity,'' he said.
Cook said Apple wants to make products that help people. As examples, he cited iPhone technology that can help a blind athlete run a marathon and an iPad that connects an autistic child to the world around them.
"When you keep people at the center of what you do, it can impact,'' he said.
Cook said he isn't worried about artificial intelligence giving computers the ability to think like humans.
"I'm more concerned about people thinking like computers without values or compassion or concern for the consequences,'' he said. "That is what we need you to help us guard against. Because if science is a search in the darkness, then the humanities are a candle that shows us where we have been and the danger that lies ahead.''
Cook also urged graduates to resist becoming cynical.
"The internet enabled so much and empowered so many, but it can also be a place where basic rules of decency are suspended and pettiness and negativity thrive,'' he said.
"Don't let that noise knock you off course. Don't get caught up in the trivial aspects of life. Don't listen to trolls, and don't become one. Measure impact in humanity; not in the likes, but the lives you touch and the people you serve.''
Source-VOA
Exciting Playoff between the church’s in Softball
Who would had thought that the 2017 Playoff would be this exciting!!
In the first game of the night between the second place Global United Vs the Champs Jericho Baptist, it was all about defense.
In the bottom second, Global scored one (1) run, in the top of the fourth Jericho scored three (3); in the bottom of fourth, Global scored two (2) - tying the game.
Both teams scoreless in the fifth inning, sending the game into overtime. Jericho went up one (1) in the top of sixth inning, but Global came storming in the bottom, scoring three (3) to beat the Champs to take the first game of the playoff. (Best out of three (3).
In the second game of the night - the first place Roman Catholic Vs Prophecy, this was also about defense. Roman score two (2) with a home run in the first inning, but in the third, prophecy got on the board, scoring one (1). In the fourth, Prophecy scored two, (2), going up three (3); but the Romans came back, scoring one (1) to tie game. In fifth innings, Prophecy scored one (1) to go up one.
The first place team tried to make a come-back in the bottom of the fifth, but Prophecy give them a 1,2,3 all out, to take game one, beating the first place team.
The second game of the playoff will be held on Monday night and RTC will of course have highlights.
Liberia's former leader's ex-wife charged with torture
The ex-wife of Liberia's former president has been charged with torture, the Metropolitan Police said.
Agnes Reeves Taylor, who was married to Charles Taylor, is to appear in court in London on Saturday.
Ms Reeves Taylor, 51, faces charges related to alleged crimes committed during the first Liberian civil war, between 1989 and 1991.
Some 250,000 people are believed to have been killed in the wars, which ended in 2003.
Ms Reeves Taylor, of east London, has not commented on the charges, three of which relate to alleged torture which is said to have taken place at Gbarnga, Liberia - the headquarters of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front during the conflict.
Taylor became president of Liberia following a peace agreement in 1997.
A second civil war broke out in 1999 and Taylor was forced into exile in 2003.
Taylor is currently serving a 50-year sentence in a British prison for supporting rebels who committed atrocities in Sierra Leone.
An act of parliament was passed to allow for Taylor to serve his sentence in the UK, at the cost of the British government, following his conviction in a UN-backed court.
Child-killer Karla Homolka volunteered at Montreal school
One of Canada's most notorious child-killers has been told she can no longer volunteer at a primary school, amid nationwide uproar at news of her role.
Karla Homolka served a 12-year sentence for the rape and murder of two schoolgirls in a case that horrified the country.
It emerged this week that she was helping out at her children's private school in Montreal.
Homolka, 47, was freed from a maximum security prison in Quebec in 2005.
CityNews reported this week that she had been helping supervise kindergarten students at Greaves Adventist Academy.
The Christian school has received a flood of complaints from parents and the public.
Homolka and her ex-husband, Paul Bernardo, killed Ontario schoolgirls Kristen French, 15, and Leslie Mahaffy, 14, in the early 1990s.
Homolka also played a part in the 1990 rape and murder of her 15-year-old sister Tammy.
But she was given a relatively light sentence in 1993 after agreeing to testify against Bernardo.
He received a life sentence for murder, kidnapping, forcible confinement and aggravated sexual assault, and remains in jail in Ontario.
After her release from prison, Homolka married her lawyer's brother and they have three children together.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church, which runs the Montreal school, announced on Thursday it had changed its policy on volunteers to exclude anyone with a criminal record.
"We have heard and listened to the concerns of parents and members of the community uncomfortable with recent reports in the media," the church said in a statement.
Earlier in the week, a spokesman for the church said they had been aware of Homolka's crimes.
A centre-left political leader, Thomas Mulcair of the New Democrats, was lambasted in the press for even daring to raise the question of whether Homolka deserved forgiveness.
Relatives of the victims do not believe she has paid her debt to society.
Tim Danson, a lawyer for the French and Mahaffy families, said on Friday that Homolka has not shown a "scintilla of remorse or contrition".
He said the school had neglected its responsibility to inform parents of her presence.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church operates 43 schools in Canada with 4,362 students in Canada.
After No-Confidence Motion Passes, T&T’s Lawyers Call on Chief Justice to Resign
All eyes are on Trinidad and Tobago’s Chief Justice Ivor Archie after the country’s law association strongly endorsed several no-confidence motions against him and the Judicial and legal Services Commission (JLSC).
More than 500 members of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) called on Archie and the JLSC to resign following a meeting at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain yesterday.
At that meeting, five motions passed:
• To resolve that the LATT express its loss of confidence in the honourable Chief Justice Ivor Archie as the Chief Justice of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
• To resolve that the LATT express its loss of confidence in the honourable Chief Justice Ivor Archie as Chairman of the JLSC.
• To resolve that the LATT express its loss of confidence in the Justice Hamel Smith , Ms Maureen Manchouch, Justice Humphrey Stollmeyer as members of the JLSC
• The LATT do call upon the Chief Justice Ivor Archie to resign forthwith as Chief Justice of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
• The LATT do call upon Justice Hamel Smith, Ms Maureen Man-chouch, Justice Humphrey Stoll-meyer, to resign as members of the Judicial and legal Services Commission – the JLSC.
The vote has no binding effect on Archie and the JLSC, but the association maintains they should do the “honourable thing” and resign.
Archie lost favour with the legal fraternity over his handling of the appointment of former Chief Magistrate Ayers-Caesar.
Back in April, after serving only two weeks as a High Court judge, Ayers-Caesar resigned amid concerns over her backlog of unfinished cases in the lower court.
In a statement, she admitted she never informed JLSC of the full state of her list and requested further time to bring matters to completion before confirming her readiness to assume duties as a Judge of the Supreme Court.
Ayers-Caesar said upon “mature reflection” she realized it would have been “preferable” to advise the JLSC of her list.
Senior Counsel Martin Daly said the vote was a victory for accountability in public office and that both the Chief Justice and the JLSC should resign.
“If people lose confidence in you, it does not mean that you have committed a constitutional wrong, but rather that you have conducted yourself in such a way that you’ve destroyed people’s confidence in you and you cannot continue to preside,” he contended.
WEATHER FORECAST 09th, 2017
Partly cloudy to cloudy, hot and humid with scattered showers or isolated thunderstorms mainly across the NW Bahamas through nightfall.
Maximum temperature 90°F and minimum temperature 77°F. Winds S to SW at 10 to 15 knots with stronger gusts near 20 knots in the NW Bahamas and ESE to SSE at 10 to 15 knots, falling light and variable in the Central and SE Bahamas.
Seas 2 to 4 feet over the entire Bahamas but building up to 6 feet in gusts across the NW Bahamas.