Judge rules Cosby case can proceed

NORRISTOWN, Pa. – A judge refused to throw out the sexual assault case against Bill Cosby on Wednesday, sweeping aside claims that a previous district attorney had granted the comedian immunity from prosecution a decade ago.

Common Pleas Judge Steven O’Neill issued the ruling after a hard-fought two-day hearing.

The case now moves to a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to try the 78-year-old Cosby on charges he drugged and violated former Temple University athletic department employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. The TV star could get up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

In 2005, then-District Attorney Bruce Castor decided the case was too flawed to prosecute. But Castor’s successors reopened the case last year.

South Korea warns North about launch

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea warned on Wednesday of “searing” consequences if North Korea doesn’t abandon plans to launch a long-range rocket that critics call a banned test of ballistic missile technology.

The South’s rhetoric about unspecified harsh consequences comes less than a month after North Korea’s defiant fourth nuclear test and as diplomats at the UN work on strong new sanctions against the North.

North Korea on Tuesday informed international organizations of its plans to launch an Earth observation satellite on a rocket between Feb. 8 and 25, and if North Korea’s past patterns are any clue, angry warnings by its neighbors and Washington probably won’t dissuade a coming launch.

South Korean and U.S. officials said the launch would threaten regional security and violate UN Security Council resolutions that ban the country from engaging in any ballistic activities.

Associated Press