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US comedian Bill Cosby’s release from prison after his sexual assault conviction was overturned has led to an outpouring of anger and shock. His 2018 conviction for drugging and molesting ex-basketball player Andrea Constand was overturned on Wednesday. Judges said there had been a “process violation” by the prosecution. Upon his release, Mr Cosby tweeted: “I have never changed my stance nor my story. I have always maintained my innocence.”
President Xi Jinping on Thursday marked his Communist Party’s 100th anniversary from Tiananmen Square and struck a bellicose tone, reconfirming China’s ‘historic mission’ to control Taiwan while warning other countries not to interfere. Bloomberg reported that Xi said that no foreign forces will ever “coerce and enslave us.” “Whoever attempts to do that, will surely break their heads on the steel Great Wall built with the blood and flesh of 1.4 billion of Chinese people,” he said.
The Trump Organization’s chief financial officer surrendered to authorities on Thursday, as he and Donald Trump’s namesake company prepare to face the first criminal charges from a probe that has hovered over the former president for years. Allen Weisselberg, a longtime Trump business lieutenant who helped run Trump’s real estate empire during his presidency, and the Trump Organization are expected to be arraigned later in the day in the probe by the district attorney.
The European Union will work to phase out caged animal farming across the bloc, after a petition calling for an end to the practice gathered more than a million signatures. The European Commission has outlined plans to propose legislation which would phase out — and ultimately ban — cages for farm animals, including rabbits, young hens, quails, ducks and geese. The changes would be suggested by 2023 and introduced by 2027.
Tour de France officials have withdrawn a lawsuit against a spectator who caused a mass crash during the opening stage of the race. The spectator, a 30-year-old French woman, was in custody at a police station in Landerneau, Brittany, the northwest French region where the world’s biggest cycling event held its first four stages. She was holding a cardboard sign and facing away from the cyclists towards a television camera as they passed.