LOS ANGELES – A model who claims Bill Cosby sexually abused her at the Playboy Mansion in 2008 has filed a new lawsuit against the comedian and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.
Chloe Goins sued Monday, claiming Hefner knew or should have known that Cosby had drugged and sexually abused women and enabled his behavior.
Goins claims Cosby spiked her drink when she attended a party at the Playboy Mansion sometime in 2008 and then assaulted her in a bedroom. Goins’ suit says she doesn’t know the exact date of the incident.
WASHINGTON – Buckling under conservative pressure, House Republicans pulled a legislative sleight of hand Tuesday and stripped a provision from the annual defense policy bill that would have required young women to sign up for a military draft.
The decision triggered an outcry from Democrats, who cast the move as a GOP attempt to avoid a contentious vote on equality for women. But GOP lawmakers argued much more study is required before reversing the longstanding prohibition on including women in the Selective Service. They also questioned whether the Selective Service, which needs $23 million annually to operate, should be abolished altogether with an all-volunteer force.
CAIRO – President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said Tuesday that Egypt’s relations with Israel, rooted in a landmark 1979 peace treaty, can only be “warmer” if his country’s former enemy reached a settlement with the Palestinians and pledged that Cairo would “make every effort” toward a solution.
The Egyptian leader also declared his support for a French proposal to hold a Mideast peace conference, an idea already rejected by Israel, citing it along with U.S. efforts, a 2002 Arab peace plan and the international Mideast peace quartet as possible avenues to such a settlement.
BAGHDAD – A wave of bombings struck outdoor markets and a restaurant in Shiite-dominated neighborhoods of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 69 people, officials said – the latest in deadly militant attacks far from the front lines in the country’s north and west where Iraqi forces are battling the Islamic State group.
In an online statement, ISIS claimed responsibility only for the deadliest bombing of the day, which took place in Baghdad’s northeastern Shaab neighborhood and where at least 34 people were killed and 75 others were wounded.
In that attack, a roadside bomb first exploded outside the concrete blast walls surrounding the open-air market, followed by a suicide bomber who blew himself up as people gathered to help the victims of the first explosion, a police officer said.
MEXICO CITY – President Enrique Pena Nieto proposed Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage in Mexico, a move that would enshrine on a national level a Supreme Court ruling last year that it was unconstitutional for states to bar such couples from wedding.
Speaking at an event on the International Day Against Homophobia, Pena Nieto said he signed initiatives that would seek to add same-sex marriage provisions to Mexico’s constitution and the national civil code.
Pena Nieto said he would seek to reform Article 4 of the constitution.
Associated Press
