In a verdict that seemed destined to stand as a major milestone in the #MeToo movement against sexual assault, the once beloved actor and comedian Bill Cosby was convicted by a Pennsylvania jury on Thursday of drugging and molesting an acquaintance in 2004. The jury announced its verdict after fewer than two days of deliberation. Cosby, 80, faces a possible maximum prison sentence of 15 to 30 years.

Cosby stood up and erupted after jurors left the courtroom, the Associated Press reported. He used an expletive to refer to district attorney Kevin Steele, who was arguing to revoke Cosby’s bail, and shouted: “I’m sick of him!” The verdict came as vindication for dozens of women who have publicly accused Cosby of sexual abuse, harassment or attempted abuse. A trial on the same charges last summer ended in a mistrial with a hung jury.

A request by prosecutors to revoke Cosby’s bail was denied. The court ordered Cosby to remain living in Montgomery county until his sentencing. Cosby was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former basketball player who was 30 years old at the time of the alleged incident. Cosby said the two had a consensual relationship.(theguardian)…[+]

Defying reports of an incapacitating stroke and even his death, the Libyan strongman General Khalifa Haftar has returned to Libya from hospital in Paris and ordered a fresh military assault on Islamist-controlled areas. Numerous sources has reported that Haftar, 75, had either died or suffered a stroke of such severity that his public career was at an end, prompting speculation that his chief backers, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and France, were locked in secret discussions over a successor likely to play a decisive role in Libya’s future.

But Haftar’s return to Benghazi via Cairo to a triumphant reception on Thursday, and a televised statement in which he declared he was well, scotched those reports, which emanated from Paris and were largely promoted by Islamist sources. There had also been reports that lung cancer had spread to his brain. One of Haftar’s allies said: “He was ill. He is 75, but we played along with the idea he was as ill as reported since the frenzy was to our advantage.” Some have speculated Haftar’s allies did not do more to quash the rumours because he wanted to use the vacuum to flush out those disloyal to him inside his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA). His absence in Paris coincided with a car bombing on 18 April intended to kill Abdulrazzak Al-Nazuri, the LNA’s chief of staff.(theguardian)…[+]

More than 10 million Syrians who have fled the country’s raging war have been told to lay claim to their homes by early May or risk forfeiting them to the state.

A property law announced this month has raised widespread fears that Syrian citizens who have opposed Bashar al-Assad face permanent exile and that other people considered loyalists may be given access to their communities. With the majority of internally displaced and overseas refugees unable or unwilling to return to prove ownership of properties, analysts and exiles say the law, known as article 10, and the tight timeframe surrounding it could serve as an instrument of demographic change and social engineering.

It has drawn parallels with laws enacted in Lebanon after the civil war to seize land in central Beirut, and the absentee property law in Israel in 1950 that legalised seizures from Palestinians driven from their lands. The Syrian law empowers local administrations to re-register property ownership within their areas, a move that requires landowners to be present. Syrian legal experts say the law focuses on war-damaged areas around Damascus and does not include areas unscathed by the fighting. However, critics and exiled landowners say the regulation has a clear political dimension and carries implications that extend well beyond selective re-zoning.(theguardian)…[+]

Latin America has suffered more than 2.5m murders since the start of this century and is facing an acute public security crisis that demands urgent and innovative solutions, a new report warns. “The sheer dimensions of homicidal violence are breathtaking,” says the report by the Igarapé Institute, a Brazil-based thinktank focused on security and development issues.

The publication, released on Thursday, paints a bleak portrait of what it calls the world’s most homicidal continent. Latin America suffers 33% of the world’s homicides despite having only 8% of its population. One-quarter of all global homicides are concentrated in four countries – Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela – all of which are gearing up for presidential elections in which security is a dominant theme.

“The overall trend right now in Latin America is one of increasing homicides and deteriorating security,” said Robert Muggah, one of the report’s authors. “Latin America is a large area and there are lots of variations. But as a region – including Mexico down to Central America and South America – the rate of homicide is set to continue increasing up until 2030. The only other places we are seeing similar kinds of increases are in parts of southern and central Africa and some war zones.”

The report lays bare how young Latin Americans are disproportionately affected, with nearly half of all homicide victims aged 15–29. It also denounces the “astonishingly” large role of guns. Muggah said: “In addition to having these exceedingly high, epidemic levels of homicide, the vast majority of these homicides are committed with firearms. Over 75% of homicides are gun-related.” The global average is about 40%.(theguardian)…[+]