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(CNN) Bill Cosby has been accused by more than 50 women of sexual assault -- and the sheer weight of that number has led to crushing condemnation in the court of public opinion.

 But when he faces a court of law Monday, Cosby's fate will hang on testimony from just two of his accusers. "There is a big contrast," said James Cohen, a criminal law professor at Fordham.

 "What Cosby is hoping for is that the jury forgets about the other 48."

 Cosby, 79, faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault for allegedlydrugging and assaulting Andrea Constand, a Temple University employee, in 2004. He has denied the accusations since 2005, when Constand first went to the police.

 The district attorney at that time declined to press charges -- and in 2006 Cosby settled a civil suit with Constand that remained sealed for almost a decade.

 'Google Bill Cosby rape'

 Bill Cosby arrives at the Montgomery County courthouse in November.

 The legal landscape began to change unexpectedly for Cosby in October 2014, when video of a routine by comedian Hannibal Buress went viral. The performance focused sharply on Cosby and the allegations against him.

 "When you leave here, google 'Bill Cosby rape,'" the comedian told an audience at a comedy club in Cosby's hometown of Philadelphia.

 "It's not funny. That s*** has more results than 'Hannibal Buress.'"

 In the months that followed, dozens of women came forward with more claims against Cosby. Many told similar stories ; they said Cosby had drugged and then assaulted them.

 In a statement to CNN in November 2014 Cosby's attorney, Martin D. Singer, denied what he called "unsubstantiated, fantastical stories," which were becoming "increasingly ridiculous."

 The growing number of accusers and heightened public interest in the case would be instrumental in a judge's subsequent decision to unseal Cosby's deposition in Constand's civil suit.

 Cosby's public persona also played a part in that ruling . Even as the number of accusations against him rose, Cosby had continued to make statements about what he saw as the flaws and failings of many African-American families. As a much-loved family entertainer and "America's dad," he chose to cast himself as a conservative role model and moral compass for that community.

 That will be on full display when Cosby walks into court: He'll be escorted into the courthouse by Keisha Knight Pulliam, who played his daughter, Rudy Huxtable, on "The Cosby Show," according to Andrew Wyatt, Cosby's media representative.

 In explaining his decision to unseal the deposition, US District Judge Eduardo Robreno cited the "stark contrast" between "Bill Cosby, the public moralist," and "Bill Cosby, the subject of serious allegations."

 In the deposition, Cosby said he had engaged in consensual sexual activity with Constand -- and that he had obtained Quaaludes in order to give them to women with whom he wanted to have sex. The unsealed deposition was central to Cosby's arrest in December 2015.

 Cosby has no plans to testify

 Bill Cosby solidified his stardom as Dr. Cliff Huxtable in "The Cosby Show."

 Despite the volume of compelling accounts from dozens of accusers, only Constand's story will be the focus of the upcoming trial.

 The jury will hear testimony from just one other accuser at trial as prosecutors seek to establish that Cosby's alleged actions toward Constand were part of a pattern of behavior. Prosecutors had sought to include testimony from 13 other accusers, but Judge Steven O'Neill ruled that would be too prejudicial.

 Cosby has said he does not plan to testify. His deposition from the civil suit will stand as his explanation of what happened -- which means the trial likely will hinge on a classic case of "he said, she said."

 "It's going to be basically two people in the room and they're going to have very different versions of the event," said Barry Coburn, a defense lawyer based in Washington.

 "And the jury is going to have to decide."

 Cosby's rise to fame

 Bill Cosby adjusts his bow tie in a promotional portrait from 1969.

 It would be hard to overstate Cosby's impact on the entertainment industry and popular culture in America.

 The Philadelphia native enjoyed a steady rise to extraordinary, global fame. By the early 60s he had achieved widespread recognition as a standup comedian and Grammy winning recording artist. He was the first black actor to co-star in a leading dramatic role on US TV -- in the espionage series "I Spy."

 In 1966, he won an Emmy for that role -- another first for an African-American performer. He starred in movies opposite Sidney Poitier and in the 70s developed the animated "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" series for TV.

 In the 1980s, he reached another generation of fans by turning the lives of the Huxtables, a black, middle-class New York family, into a beloved and groundbreaking sitcom. Over the course of multiple award-winning seasons of "The Cosby Show," he starred as sweater-loving father figure Dr. Cliff Huxtable. The role cemented his place among the most prominent of celebrities.

 Cosby's serial successes translated into extraordinary fame and considerable influence -- and he relished the opportunity to use his lofty status as a platform to make public pronouncements about social responsibility and parenting.

 In 2004, at an NAACP event commemorating the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, Cosby delivered what came to be known as the "Pound Cake" speech , in which he argued that crime in the black community was in part due to bad parenting and a lack of personal responsibility.

 "Looking at the incarcerated, these are not political criminals," Cosby said.

 "These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake! Then we all run out and are outraged: 'The cops shouldn't have shot him.' What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?"

 Constand's accusations

 Andrea Constand said she was assaulted by Cosby at his home in 2004.

 In 2005, Andrea Constand told police that she was drugged and assaulted by Cosby. Constand, the director of operations for the women's basketball team at Temple at the time, had struck up a friendship with Cosby, a Temple alumnus who was 37 years her senior.

 Sometime between mid-January and mid-February in 2004, Cosby invited Constand to his home in the suburbs of Philadelphia to discuss her future career plans. She told him she was "drained" and had been missing sleep, the criminal complaint states.

 Cosby told her to relax and gave her three blue pills, saying "these will make you feel good. The blue things will take the edge off," according to the complaint. She asked if the pills were herbal and he said they were. After telling Cosby she trusted him, she downed the pills with water. He then offered her wine to drink, and after some pushing, she took a couple of sips, according to the criminal complaint.

 She began experiencing blurred vision and difficulty speaking, lost all strength in her legs, and was "in and out," she told police. According to the complaint, Cosby positioned himself behind her on the sofa, penetrated her vagina with his fingers and put her hand on his penis. She told police that she felt "frozen" and "paralyzed" and did not consent to the touching.

 Constand woke up in the early morning and discovered that her bra was undone and had been moved above her breasts, according to the complaint.

 About a year later, Constand told her mother about the assault, and Mrs. Constand spoke with Cosby over the phone to confront him. In that conversation, Cosby admitted to fondling Constand's breasts, penetrating her vagina, and putting her hand on his penis, according to the criminal complaint.

 A criminal investigation was opened. In an interview with police, Cosby said that the pills he gave Constand were over-the-counter Benadryl. He described their sexual encounter as consensual, and he said she never told him to stop or mentioned that her senses were affected by the Benadryl.

 Cosby also gave an unusual answer when asked if he ever had sexual intercourse with Constand: "Never asleep or awake," he said.

 District Attorney Bruce Castor declined to press charges in 2005.

 Constand filed a civil suit against Cosby shortly after, and Cosby gave a deposition in that case. He and Constand settled the civil suit in 2006.

 Dozens of accusers

 Hannibal Buress' stand-up routine about Bill Cosby reignited the issue.

 Cosby had remained very much in the public spotlight when, a decade later, video of Buress' stand-up performance created a renewed interest in the accusations. Fresh claims began to trickle out.

 Joan Tarshis, a journalist and publicist, told CNN that Cosby had assaulted her 45 years ago when he gave her a drink that made her groggy and she woke up to him removing her underwear.

 Janice Dickinson, the supermodel and TV personality, accused Cosby of sexually assaulting her in 1982 after he gave her a pill and a glass of red wine.

 But public opinion had shifted and, as the number of complaints continued to climb, many gave more credence to the dozens of women and their stories of being drugged and raped.

 Cosby's comedy specials were canceled or put on hold and a number of colleges and institutions cut ties with the now-radioactive comedian. "The sensitivity to women who are sexually harassed or touched without permission has changed dramatically in the last 12 to 13 years," said James Cohen, a criminal law professor at Fordham.

 After a request from the Associated Press, Cosby's deposition in Constand's civil suit was unsealed in July 2015. Cosby's attorneys argued that he only gave that deposition because the district attorney at the time promised never to bring a criminal case based on the accusations.

 However, the release of the deposition led the new district attorney to file criminal charges in December 2015.

 Many of his accusers see the charges as a form of vindication -- no matter the trial's outcome. Heidi Thomas, who accused Cosby of assaulting her in 1984, told CNN that she was "thrilled" to learn he would be charged with a crime. "Is it going to become something that eventually will send him to prison?" she wondered. "Wow. That would be the ultimate victory. I don't know."

 Major issues at trial

 The jury will be faced with two competing accounts of what happened.

 Despite the dozens of accusations, Cosby's trial will in many ways come down to a "he said-she said" argument common to sexual assault cases, legal experts predict.

 "Those cases always carry potential problems for both sides," said attorney Coburn.

 On one side is Constand, now 44, whose testimony of the alleged assault will be the crux of the prosecution's case against Cosby. Though the trial will center on her accusations, jurors will likely be familiar with the many other accusations against Cosby that were covered widely in the media.

 "The media and prejudice from that is the most powerful (issue) to overcome here," said Sara Webster, a criminal defense attorney in Pennsylvania. "There are people who can step back and say, 'Well, I'll stick with what I just hear in the courtroom,' but you know there's an imprint that occurs over time."

 Cosby's attorneys are likely to argue that Constand didn't report the alleged assault until almost a year after she said it happened and will question her version of events. The case has very little forensic evidence, and the defense will try to point out inconsistencies in Constand's story.

 "Time is the enemy for any criminal case," said Jordan Friter, an attorney in Pennsylvania. "Most people couldn't tell you what they had for dinner last night, let alone what happened 13 years ago."

 "The defense is going to be looking for inconsistencies, and is going to claim that the passage of time doesn't excuse (them). The prosecution will use time for any excuse for inconsistencies," said Fordham law professor James Cohen. "That's sort of how the discussion will go."

 Still, Cosby's decision not to testify will make his case "difficult" for jurors, according to Webster.

 "(Jurors) want a denial. It's tough when you have a client that isn't going to take the stand," Webster said.

 Legally speaking, the result of the trial will not directly affirm or deny any of the other accusations against Cosby. But the verdict's impact on the public consciousness is a different story.

 "I think the result of this trial will probably have a lot to do with the way people look at him," said attorney Barry Coburn. "A trial is a powerful thing. It's drama, it's public, and I think people tend to invest the result with a lot of credit." ||||| Opening arguments begin Monday in one of the most high-profile criminal trials in American history. After decades of skirting prosecution, comedy legend Bill Cosby is finally being made to answer one of the 60 women who have accused him of sexual assault. But the proceedings won't just determine whether the allegedly frail and increasingly blind Cosby ends his life in a prison cell—they will also help shape how America talks about rape, race, and celebrity for decades.

 It's tempting to think of the case as a slam dunk given that Cosby's basically already been found guilty in the court of public opinion. Library patrons have taken to rejecting his books in large numbers, cities have dismantled likenesses of him like they were monuments of the Confederacy, and the media has come to an unusual consensus in such a polarized era that this guy is worthy of titles like "America's abusive father."

 The reality isn't nearly that simple. Cosby is on trial for something that allegedly happened back in 2004—when George W. Bush was president, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal was breaking, and Sex and the City was still on HBO. Superstar basketball player Kobe Bryant dodged his own sexual assault case that September (thanks in no small part to shoddy prosecution) and went on to enjoy another decade at the top of his profession.

 Not only was this a different cultural moment, but in 2004, texting was far from ubiquitous and social media had yet to take America by storm. Which is to say that there aren't as many electronic records to corroborate Andrea Constand's account as there might be if the incident took place today.

 Constand also did not go to a hospital to get a toxicology report or rape kit after the fact, something that Jane Anderson, a legal expert at AEQuitas—a group that helps prosecutors build sexual assault cases—says is crucial. According to her, jurors have come to expect DNA evidence thanks in part to police procedural shows like CSI and NCIS and are reluctant to convict without it.

 Anderson is already sweating the optics of an acquittal. There's basically no one in America who hasn't heard about the staggering number of women who've come forward against Cosby. She says that if Cosby gets off, the public will likely conflate that one verdict with complete innocence—which could make it seem futile for some victims to pursue justice.

 "It's not gonna matter in the Cosby case that there's one victim listed in the complaint and that all the jurors are going be instructed to listen to is the evidence in front of them," Anderson says. "In the public's perception, they're going think about the 60 victims who came forward. If he's found not guilty, it's probably going to read to a layperson that 60 people accused him and he was found not guilty of 60 rapes. So will it have that sort of negative snowball effect of, 'Well, it's just me going forward, how will I possibly convince a jury?'"

 Back in October 2014, comedian Hannibal Buress joked onstage about long-standing accusations that Cosby was a rapist. The bit went viral, which helped encourage many more women to come forward with stories about being drugged and attacked by the former Jell-O spokesman. Of the women who pursued criminal charges, only a former Temple University basketball coach and Canadian citizen named Andrea Constand succeeded. That's in part because victims of sex crimes in America have historically had a short timeframe in which to go to the cops.

 Cosby's problems went from mere embarrassment, ridicule, and professional isolation to potential criminal liability after Constand's 2005 civil suit against him was unsealed in July 2015. In it, Cosby spoke cavalierly about using quaaludes to get women to sleep with him. Public outrage mounted, which put pressure on the Montgomery County District Attorney's office outside Philadelphia to press charges while it still could. In the November 2015 election, Kevin Steele was elected as the new district attorney on a campaign pledge of going after America's Least Favorite Dad.

 Just weeks before the window of opportunity was set to close, Steele made good on that promise. Now a jury will determine whether the 79-year-old once slipped three pills and a glass of wine to Constand so he could fondle and penetrate her, as alleged in an affidavit.

 Cosby's defense attorney, Angela Agrusa, has already hinted at the strategy she intends to pursue, telling the Hollywood Reporter in April that she planned to "rehabilitate his reputation" and paint him as the victim of a media witch hunt. She'll also work on framing the DA as an opportunistic politician who wouldn't have even revived the case had it not won him the election. Meanwhile, two of Cosby's daughters released statements on syndicated hip-hop radio show The Breakfast Club saying they thought the case against their dad was based on racism.

 Constand will also almost certainly get grilled by Agrusa about her motivations for hanging out with Cosby in the first place, a trope of sexual assault trials. Constand has previously said the comedian made aggressive sexual advances toward her prior to the alleged assault, which gives Cosby's defense attorney the opportunity to try and portray whatever happened between the two as consensual.

 All of the defense's strategies—from playing up peoples' tendency toward hero-worship with celebrities to subtly invoking the history of black men being lynched for alleged sexual behavior toward white women to victim blaming—will appeal to the psychology of the three main camps of people still defending Cosby. There are some who have lionized him for so long that they can't believe he's fallible. There are others who find it impossible to disentangle the accusations from the fact that Cosby is black and successful and most (though by no means all) of his accusers are white women. And others who still don't get why women often do not report sexual assault right after the fact.

 Meanwhile, the prosecution will likely be trying to establish that what they say Cosby did to Constand constituted a pattern of behavior. Although they originally requested that 13 other women be allowed to testify, the judge has only allowed one other alleged victim to take the stand. Whatever that former assistant to one of Cosby's agents says—and of course whether the jury believes her—is likely to prove pivotal given the Constand case evidence largely comes down to he-said-she-said.

 Along with his own words from the 2005 deposition, Cosby's prosecutors can also call witnesses who knew Constand before the alleged assault as well as after in an attempt to show how her behavior or habits might have changed.

 The stakes are high. Kristen Houser of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center says that if Cosby is found guilty, it will go a long way in encouraging women to come forward if they've been assaulted. The fact that so many women have been so public about the accusations—many going so far as to be photographed for a New York feature back in July 2016—coupled with the fact that Cosby is one of the most famous men in the world could have a trickle-down effect and erase some of the stigma of being "out" as a victim.

 "There are other people out there who have been very afraid to come forward, and I do think that high-publicity cases can be encouraging or inspiring to people who are wondering whether or not to report what's happened to them," Houser says. " I think a lot of survivors see a lot of people bravely stepping into a public arena with a high-profile alleged assailant, and they think that they can take on one where the stakes aren't quite so high. I do think people are paying attention."

 Constand, who is gay, will also probably face probing questions about her sexual history. The defense team might even go so far as to interview people from her past to find out if she ever had a boyfriend. If she endures this kind of invasion to no avail, it's worth wondering if some women might decide it's simply not worth the exposure and scrutiny to go after the most powerful men in the country. Certainly some of the women who spoke out against Donald Trump have endured their own blowback—and America saw how little those allegations cost the president last November. Cosby, for his part, at least initially tried to silence accusers by suing seven of them for defamation.

 No matter what happens in court, the trial will resume the national dialogue about sexual assault that was put on hold when an accused assailant won the presidency. That includes the statutes of limitations, which make these cases so hard to bring. Some states have already begun to expand or even eliminate them thanks in part to the Cosby Effect: victims feeling emboldened to speak up years or even decades later. The comedian was awful close to being in the clear forever just because 12 years had passed since his alleged night with Constand––a number advocates like House call "truly arbitrary."

 "When you've got almost 60 people who can't take any actions against an alleged rapist because the statute of limitations have expired," she says, "you're gonna have a national conversation about it no matter what."

 Follow Allie Conti on Twitter. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

 NORRISTOWN, Pa. — As Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial opened Monday, there was a reminder of his former reputation as "America's Dad" — the actress who played his youngest daughter on TV.

 Keshia Knight Pulliam, 38, who played Rudy Huxtable on "The Cosby Show," accompanied the comedian into the Montgomery County courthouse, where he stands accused of drugging and molesting a woman at his home in 2004.

 Bill Cosby arrives for the first day of his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania on June 5, 2017. Brendan McDermid / Reuters

 Neither Cosby nor Pulliam spoke as they entered.

 Gloria Allred, the attorney who represents some of the dozens of women who have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct, called it an "historic day."

 "It's the first time Mr. Cosby will have to face his accusers in criminal court," Allred said.

 A handful of those women traveled to be at the green-domed courthouse in small-town Pennsylvania.

 "I haven't seen him since 1969," said Victoria Valentino, 74, who says Cosby drugged and raped her in Los Angeles nearly five decades ago.

 "I hope he makes eye contact because I'd love to look him in the eye and stare him down."

 Related: 'No Fear': Andrea Constand Ready to Confront Cosby at Trial

 Cosby, 79, is on trial for allegedly assaulting just one woman, Andrea Constand, who worked for his alma mater, Temple University.

 She claims that after two years of friendship and mentorship, the star turned predator, giving her pills that incapacitated her and then molesting her while she lay "paralyzed."

 Cosby has portrayed the encounter as consensual, saying he gave Constand two Benadryl pills to help her relax. He has pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated indecent assault, denied all other allegations and sued some of his accusers for defamation.

 The "I Spy" actor, who says glaucoma has left him legally blind, does not intend to take the stand. Constand, who settled a lawsuit against Cosby in 2006, will testify. Other potential witnesses include:

 Prior Alleged Victim No. 6: Also known by the pseudonym Kacey, she is the only one of the other accusers who can testify. A former assistant to Cosby's late agent, she alleges that in 1996, after Cosby insisted she take a pill, she woke up in bed with the half-naked entertainer.

 An unnamed William Morris Agency employee who the defense contends can contradict Kacey's account of her interaction with Cosby.

 A psychologist who will discuss the behavior of sex-abuse victims. Prosecutors may use her testimony to try to explain why Constand waited a year to report the alleged assault to police.

 Pharmaceutical experts who will testify about the effects of Benadryl and Quaaludes, the latter of which Cosby has admitted he gave to women for sex in the 1970s.

 Although the jury was chosen in the Pittsburgh area, the trial is taking place in Montgomery County in the Philadelphia suburb of Norristown.

 Barricades ringed the columned courthouse on Sunday night in anticipation of big crowds, but as of 7 a.m., there were only a few spectators lined up to get in.

 Bill Parker, 43, who owns a donut shop said the he thought the trial "would be an incredible event to witness."

 "He has been an idol to us," Parker said. "To hear the accusations was quite a shocker."

 Parker said he was "trying to remain neutral" on the question of whether Cosby attacked Constand. "But I'm already disappointed he confessed to extramarital affairs," he said. "It doesn't connect with the man we thought he was."

 Other local residents said they had not paid much attention to the legal drama that had played out at the courthouse over the last year.

 "I don't know what's happening," said one 15-year-old walking by the stately building. "Who is Bill Cosby?" ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

 / Updated By Hannah Rappleye and Tracy Connor

 She has told her story to police and prosecutors. Now she will tell it to 12 strangers — and the rest of the world.

 In the coming days, Andrea Constand will take the witness stand at Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial and give a sworn account of what happened between them at his Pennsylvania home one night in 2004. And then she will have to defend her version under vigorous cross-examination, with the comedian's lawyers and the public scrutinizing her every word.

 Andrea Constand walks in a park in Toronto on Dec. 30, 2015. Mark Blinch / Reuters file

 It would be a daunting prospect for anyone, especially someone as private as Constand, who has never given a wide-ranging interview or held a press conference about the encounter that could send Cosby to prison for the rest of his life.

 But according to a close friend, the 44-year-old Canadian massage therapist is approaching the court battle with the same quiet intensity and grounded confidence she once displayed as a top athlete.

 "There's no trepidation, no fear," said Donna Motsinger, one of dozens of other women who have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct — charges he denies.

 "She is prepared for this moment. She used to play basketball and she prepared for those games like nobody else and that is what she has done here."

 It was basketball that brought Constand into Cosby's orbit through a chance meeting that would upend both of their lives and lay the groundwork for the extraordinary scandal that has unfolded over the last two years.

 A high-school standout in her native Canada, Constand was recruited by the University of Arizona and went on to play pro ball in Italy before taking a job as the director of operations for the women's team at Temple University.

 Cosby, one of the biggest celebrities in the nation, was an alum of Temple, and that's where he first met Constand in the winter of 2001 during a basketball game.

 Andrea Constand poses for a photo in Toronto on Aug. 1, 1987. Ron Bull / The Toronto Star/The Canadian Press via AP

 He has testified that he was instantly attracted to the "good-looking" six-footer with a wild mane of curly hair and beaming smile. Cosby, who was then in his mid-60s, said he had no idea that Constand, then in her late 20s, was gay and had been in relationships with women since high school.

 Phone calls led to invitations for dinners and other events. The long-married actor known as "America's Dad" has said that while he took a sexual interest in Constand, he also assumed the role of "mentor" and tried to help her break into a career in broadcasting.

 In a statement to police, Cosby claimed he and Constand engaged in "petting" on three occasions before the incident tied to the criminal charges. But she says the only earlier contact was when Cosby touched her leg after a dinner at his house, a moment she says she did not welcome and that "embarrassed" her.

 "We were not involved in any romantic relationship," she later told police.

 This much is not in dispute: In early 2004, Cosby invited Constand to his sprawling home in Cheltenham Township. They talked about her decision to move away from sports and pursue a career in massage. She said she was emotionally drained and had missed sleep, and he told her she needed to relax.

 Cosby went upstairs and returned with pills. She described them as three oblong blue tablets that he said were herbal and encouraged her to wash down with red wine. Cosby says it was two tabs of Benadryl, one of them broken in half.

 "These will make you feel good," he said, according to Constand. "Down them."

 Comedian Bill Cosby at Temple University's commencement Thursday, May 12, 2011, in Philadelphia. Matt Rourke / AP file

 Cosby claims that what happened next — "touching and kissing with clothes on" — was consensual. "I enjoyed it," he told police.

 Constand says there was no consent; she couldn't even speak. Within 30 minutes, her vision was blurry and her legs like jelly, she said. She felt "spacy" and nauseous and could not keep her eyes open. Then Cosby was with her on the sofa, aroused, touching her breasts and genitals, she recalled.

 "I was pretty much frozen," she told police. "I was unable to speak. I was like paralyzed."

 When she came to, she said, it was around 4 a.m. A robed Cosby appeared and gave her a muffin and sent her on her way.

 Over the next year, she saw him twice.

 That March, he invited her to a restaurant where he was meeting with honor students from a local school; she said she went because she hoped to confront him, and went to his house afterward to talk. When she told him she was "uncomfortable" about what had occurred, "he was confused," Constand told police. And she bolted when he sat down close to her.

 In the summer, he called and invited her to see one of his shows in Canada. She took her parents and brought him a sweater as a gift. The defense will likely seize on that as a sign that Constand was not traumatized, but prosecutors have permission to present an expert to testify such behavior is not unusual in sexual assault survivors.

 Constand's mother, Gianna, a medical secretary, has said her daughter was withdrawn and plagued by nightmares after she left Temple and returned to live with them in Canada. She didn't know why until January 2005, when Constand had what she called "a flashback" and told her mother everything she remembered.

 They called Canadian police the next day — and then they called Cosby, who told police he assured them that there was no "penile penetration." Several more calls followed; in one that was recorded and can be played at trial, Cosby promised to reveal the name of the medication he gave Constand and offered to pay for her schooling.

 Her father Andy, a massage therapist, told the Toronto Sun at the time that Constand had no interest in Cosby's money; it was her "code of ethics" that made her come forward.

 "She helps people who are poor, people who are sick. She'd give you the shirt off her back," he said. "She's not the type of person to lie. When she says something, it's the truth."

 Pennsylvania authorities opened an investigation into Constand's complaint, but then-District Attorney Bruce Castor declined to prosecute. He later said he thought she would have a better chance of getting justice in civil court.

 Constand did file a lawsuit, which named 12 other "Jane Does" who alleged they had been sexually assaulted. Cosby was forced to sit for the now-infamous deposition in which he discussed giving Quaaludes to women for sex in the 1970s — another detail the jury will hear.

 Andrea Constand walks her dogs in Toronto, Canada on December 31, 2015. Marta Iwanek / AP file

 The suit was settled in 2006 for an undisclosed sum, and the scandal faded away. For a decade, Constand was out of the spotlight, living in Toronto with her beloved dogs and launching a massage practice that focuses on the elderly and the sick.

 Then, in 2014, a scathing one-liner about Cosby's history by comedian Hannibal Buress went viral, bringing new attention to old allegations. Week by week, new women came forward to accuse Cosby of everything from making unwanted advances to drugging and raping them.

 A judge ordered Cosby's deposition from the civil suit unsealed, and Pennsylvania prosecutors reopened the investigation into Constand's complaint. In December 2015, the DA charged Cosby with three counts of aggravated indecent assault, to which he pleaded not guilty.

 Constand has refused to be sucked into the frenzy, giving no interviews beyond brief comments to a Canadian newspaper that she did not want to talk about Cosby. "It's in the past," she said. "I have a whole other life and I am happy."

 Her social media accounts suggest a woman who is deeply spiritual, loves the outdoors, and is close to her family. Her toned arms are covered in tattoos.

 In October 2015, she posted a photo of her forearm. Below an inked caduceus, the symbol of medicine, was a wristband with words "Consent is...," part of a campaign by an advocacy group to end sexual violence. Constand completed the phrase in her post: "It's a conversation away."

 Other accusers, whose claims are beyond the statute of limitations for criminal charges, speak with almost-awed admiration for Constand and say she will, in a way, be representing all of them when she takes the stand.

 Heidi Thomas, a former model who says she was attacked in 1984, called Constand a "hero" for agreeing to testify. Beth Ferrier, who says Cosby raped her during an affair in the mid-1980s, choked up while talking about wanting to give her a hug.

 "I don't know how she's prepping for it but I know she has the core values and ability to tell the truth and not stammer and not second-guess herself. She's just an incredibly honest person who deserves the ability to speak her truth," Ferrier said.

 "I'm really super-proud of her ... It takes guts."

 Motsinger, who has become a maternal figure to Constand since the civil suit, said she has no doubt Cosby's lawyers will try to break her on the stand, and no doubt they will fail.

 "They will have to try to discredit her truth and I believe this will be almost impossible for them to do," Motsinger said.

 "I really feel like she is the person who is supposed to be there out of all the women. There is nobody better in this moment in my opinion." ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. |||||

– Bill Cosby's trial for allegedly assaulting Andrea Constand begins Monday, and at least one member of his former TV family will reportedly be watching from the sidelines, per NBC News. Keshia Knight Pulliam, 38, who played little Rudy Huxtable on The Cosby Show, is expected to be in the Norristown, Pa., courthouse to watch the proceedings against her 79-year-old former boss, with Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt telling People that Pulliam won't be there to "proclaim guilt or innocence," but simply "to finally hear the truth for herself." Wyatt says Cosby's wife on the show, Phylicia Rashad, will also appear in the courtroom at some point, though the New York Daily News says it has been told that a Rashad appearance Monday is "unlikely" because she's working. Reports of Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played son Theo Huxtable, attending are similarly being bandied about. The New York Times offers an overview of what to expect during the trial—"perhaps America's highest profile celebrity trial since that of OJ Simpson"—including expected lines of evidence, the Cosby legal team's anticipated strategy, and some juror information. CNN says the trial has come down to a "he said-she said" scenario, with one other alleged victim expected to testify against Cosby in addition to Constand. "What Cosby is hoping for is that the jury forgets about the other 48 [alleged victims]," a Fordham criminal law professor notes. Meanwhile, Constand herself is reportedly ready to face intense grilling on the witness stand. "There's no trepidation, no fear," a close friend who's also one of Cosby's alleged victims tells NBC. "She used to play basketball and she prepared for those games like nobody else and that is what she has done here." (Vice calls the trial a "test for America.")


The Council on Islamic-American Relations announced a lawsuit against Florida Gun Supply, which was declared a "Muslim-Free zone" by owner Andy Hallinan. (Published Wednesday, July 29, 2015)

 A Florida gun shop whose owner declared the store a "Muslim-free zone" is facing a lawsuit from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

 CAIR announced Wednesday that they were filing the lawsuit against Florida Gun Supply in Inverness.

 "American Muslims have a right to browse and purchase guns, take classes on gun safety and shoot guns at a range without having to be profiled and discriminated," Hassan Shibly, Chief Executive Director of CAIR Florida, said in a statement. "Such discrimination is not only illegal, it is bad for our country and makes us less safe and less free."

 Florida Gun Supply owner Andy Hallinan declared the store a "Muslim-free zone" in a controversial Facebook video posted earlier this month to the shop's page.

 Hallinan said the move was in response to the shooting of four Marines and a Navy sailor in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on July 16.

 "I have a moral and legal responsibility to ensure the safety of all patriots in my community," Hallinan said in the video. "So effective immediately, I'm declaring Florida Gun Supply as a Muslim-free zone. I will not arm and train those who wish to do harm to my fellow patriots.”

 Only On 6 Man Claims He Was Fired Because of Cancer Diagnosis

 Hallinan's attorney, the American Freedom Law Center's Robert Muise, called the lawsuit "completely frivolous" and said it contained no factual allegations. He also said he may seek sanctions against CAIR for filing a frivolous lawsuit.

 "Mr. Hallinan has an obligation to not train or equip terrorists and he refuses to do so," Muise said. "This is about public safety."

 CAIR says the store's policy violates federal law.

 "CAIR Florida has gone above and beyond to amicably reach a resolution outside of court with Florida Gun Supply regarding its discriminatory policies," CAIR Florida Civil Rights Director Thania Diaz Clevenger said in a statement. "We want to make the law crystal-clear to any businesses elsewhere contemplating the implementation of such policies that religious discrimination is still illegal in the United States of America and that American Muslims are just as much entitled to their rights as every other American is." ||||| Andy Hallinan says his gun shop in Inverness, Fla., is a "Muslim-free zone." (Photo: Facebook)

 The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday against a gun shop whose owner declared it a "Muslim-free zone" earlier this month.

 Andy Hallinan drew national media attention when he announced that he would "not arm and train those who wish to do harm to my fellow patriots" at his Florida Gun Supply in Inverness.

 He made the declaration that he had "a moral and legal responsibility" to take action days after a Muslim-American man went on a shooting rampage at two Chattanooga, Tenn. military facilities by a gunman that left four Marines and one Navy sailor dead.

 In the lawsuit, CAIR-FL asks the court to grant an injunction against the gun shop, prohibiting it from discriminating against Muslims or instituting any policies or practices that discriminate or segregate people on the basis of religion.

 Officials at CAIR-FL criticized Hallinan after he made the declaration for discriminating against an entire religion for the act of one person. Hallinan subsequently agreed to meet and train Hassan Shibly, CAIR-FL's executive director.

 But Hallinan later rescinded the invitation to Shibly after receiving a flood of e-mails and calls from people that he said warned him that CAIR had been put on the United Arab Emirates' list of designated terrorist groups.

 Shibly is not named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, and he stressed that the lawsuit is about countering what he said was an "illegal" policy by the store to discriminate against Muslims.

 The group says in its complaint, which was filed U.S. District Court in Ft. Lauderdale, that it represents Muslims "who have a right to purchase guns, browse guns, take classes on gun safety, shoot guns at the range, and visit the gun range for entertainment purposes and not be discriminated against."

 "Unfortunately, he caved in to a lot of the anti-Muslim pressure and anti-Muslim base that he's pandering to," Shibly told USA TODAY. "The main issue is that we don't want segregation to rear its ugly head again in Florida. When he refused to reconsider his position, when he refused to reconsider to be educated, refused to engage this community, refused to respect American law, we had no choice but to bring forward this lawsuit."

 Hallinan said in a brief telephone interview that he had not been served with the lawsuit and called the litigation "bullsh—."

 His attorney, Robert Muise, of the American Freedom Law Center, called the lawsuit "bogus" and that Muslims are not being discriminated against. He said Hallinan told Shibley that he would not meet with him because of his concerns about the group CAIR and not because of his religion.

 "Find in that complaint, one allegation of any Muslim who is discriminated against because of his religious beliefs," said Muise, whose firm identifies itself as a Judeo-Christian, public interest law firm. "You can't find any because the facts do not exist."

 "If there is anyone that is being turned away, they are being turned away for public safety," Muise added. "It is bogus, frivolous and it will play itself out here over the coming weeks and months.

 Muise noted that CAIR was implicated as an unindicted co-conspirator in 2007 case against the Chicago-area based Holy Land Foundation, which was found guilty of aiding Hamas, U.S.-designated terror organization.

 Shibly says that inclusion on the list of unindicted co-conspirators was a tactical move by the prosecutors that chose to list dozens of Muslim organization as part of effort to broaden admissibility of hearsay evidence in the Holy Land case. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled that the Justice Department violated the Fifth Amendment rights of hundreds of Muslim groups and individuals when it included them in the unindicted co-conspirator list in 2007.

 "CAIR tried in vain to have their name removed from the list of unindicted co-conspirators, but every court that looked at it said that there was sufficient evidence to list them as an unindicted co-conspirator," Muise countered in an e-mail. "The only issue the court had with it with regard to CAIR was that it should have been filed under seal."

 On Tuesday, Muise said Hallinan was advised by federal agents to shut down his shop. They told Hallinan they were concerned about the intentions of a Muslim convert who had travelled from California to attend a class at Florida Gun Supply scheduled for that day, Muise said.

 Chris Martin, who is a Navy veteran, told WFTS-TV that ATF agents approached him as he left his hotel to head to the gun store and informed him Hallinan had shuttered the store. Martin stopped by CAIR's Tampa office to tell the group about this plan, and officials with the organization informed him of his rights, Shibly said.

 It is unclear how agents learned that Martin was coming.

 "Somebody is trying to limit or prevent or restrict constitutional rights that I feel I fought for, I fought for those rights," Martin said.

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1ShJBEE ||||| ORLANDO, Fla. A Florida gun store that proclaimed itself a Muslim-free zone was sued on Wednesday in federal court by the state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on the grounds that the restriction is discriminatory.

 The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale accuses Florida Gun Supply of Inverness of violating the federal public accommodations law and seeks an injunction to stop the discrimination, according to the complaint.

 "We just can't let segregation rear its ugly head in Florida again. This is part of Islamophobia that we need to challenge," said Hassan Shibly, chief executive director of the civil rights group.

 Andrew Hallinan, the gun shop's 28-year-old owner, referred calls for comment to his lawyer, Robert Muise of the American Freedom Law Center. The law firm aggressively seeks to advance and defend the country's Judeo-Christian heritage, according to its website.

 Muise denied that the store had discriminated and called the lawsuit "absolutely bogus."

 Hallinan announced the Muslim-free zone in a video posted on his store's Facebook page on July 18 in reaction to the deadly shootings at Tennessee military sites by a suspect officials have described as a homegrown extremist.

 In a telephone call with Shibly, Hallinan invited him to attend a gun course at his store on July 25 and explain the Koran to him afterward.

 Shibly said Hallinan subsequently canceled the meeting. |||||

Write a summary.

– The owner of a gun store in Florida who declared his shop to be a "Muslim-free zone" is now the target of a lawsuit. The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a federal lawsuit calling the policy at Florida Gun Supply discriminatory, reports Reuters. The move comes after owner Andrew Hallinan, 28, posted a video to Facebook announcing his new policy in the wake of the Chattanooga rampage. "I have a moral and legal responsibility to ensure the safety of all patriots in my community," Hallinan says in the video, as quoted by NBC Miami. "So effective immediately, I'm declaring Florida Gun Supply as a Muslim-free zone. I will not arm and train those who wish to do harm to my fellow patriots." But the chief executive of CAIR calls it blatant "Islamophobia" that must be challenged. "Unfortunately, he caved in to a lot of the anti-Muslim pressure and anti-Muslim base that he's pandering to," Hassan Shibly tells USA Today. "When he refused to reconsider his position, when he refused to reconsider to be educated, refused to engage this community, refused to respect American law, we had no choice but to bring forward this lawsuit." Meanwhile, Chris Martin, a US military veteran who converted to Islam, has traveled to Inverness, Florida, from California so he can try to enroll in a training course at the shop to challenge the ban, reports WFTS-TV. Federal agents are reportedly keeping a close eye on the situation.


Write an article based on this summary:

– The US intends to step up its "non-lethal" aid to the Syrian opposition, John Kerry announced after a meeting of the "Friends of Syria" group in Rome today. The Obama administration will ask Congress for $60 million in aid, along with food rations, and medical supplies, the BBC reports. "The US decision to take further steps now is the result of the brutality of superior armed force propped up by foreign fighters from Iran and Hezbollah," Kerry said. But the move doesn't go as far as reports yesterday indicated it might, NPR points out—there was no mention of body armor, armored vehicles, or military training, for instance. US officials say the opposition has brought up "other needs," and that it is "keeping that under review." In the meantime, Britain and other nations are likely to provide such equipment, the Washington Post reports. But despite the caution, one Syrian leader expressed optimism, Reuters reports. "We heard today a different kind of discourse," he said.

Image caption The escalating carnage in Syria has increased pressure for western intervention

 The US is to step up its support for the Syrian opposition as it fights to topple President Bashar al-Assad, Secretary of State John Kerry says.

 Mr Kerry said the US would provide direct support to rebel forces in the form of medical and food supplies.

 He also promised an additional $60m (£40m) in aid to the opposition to help it deliver basic governance and other services in rebel-controlled areas.

 Mr Kerry was speaking at a gathering of the Friends of Syria group in Rome.

 On Friday he is travelling to Ankara to discuss the Syria crisis with top Turkish officials.

 'Out of time'

 The promise of direct, non-lethal aid to the rebels represents a shift in US policy on Syria, correspondents say.

 Media caption John Kerry: "This funding will allow the opposition... to be able to rebuild"

 However it falls short of providing the weapons and munitions that the rebels say they need to defeat government forces.

 Mr Kerry said the decision was designed to increase the pressure on President Assad to step down and allow a democratic transition.

 "The US decision to take further steps now is the result of the brutality of superior armed force propped up by foreign fighters from Iran and Hezbollah.

 "President Assad is out of time and must be out of power," said Mr Kerry, adding that the Syrian leader could not "shoot his way out" of the situation.

 The $60m in aid to the opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) represents a doubling of US support.

 It was intended to help the opposition deliver governance and basic services in rebel-controlled areas, said Mr Kerry.

 "As the regime continues to lose ground it will help the opposition extend stability and build representative government and the rule of law," he added.

 The signals are clear. Diplomatic patience is running out and the international calculus is slowly shifting. The debate on arming the Syrian opposition is not going to go away. Non-lethal military aid looks to be the next step for some governments. The problem is that the arming debate is no simple one. More weapons may even up the contest but equally could increase the bloodshed in the short term. How could weapons be kept out of the hands of extremist Islamist groups? And is it really true, as some have argued, that supplying weaponry will boost the influence of Western governments among groups that will have a key role in any post-Assad Syria? One reason the diplomatic clock has been moving so slowly is, in fairness, that while terrible events have been taking place on the ground, there are probably no easy diplomatic answers to be found. Frustration forces Western shift on Syria

 After the meeting, the European Union announced changes to its arms embargo on Syria, allowing EU states to provide armoured vehicles, non-lethal military equipment and technical aid to the rebels, but not weapons.

 At the meeting with Mr Kerry, leader of the SNC, Moaz al-Khatib, said he was still frustrated by the lack of military help for rebel fighters.

 He initially refused to attend the Rome talks in protest at a lack of international support for the Syrian rebels, but was persuaded after the US and UK indicated there would be specific promises of aid.

 Mosque 'captured'

 Speaking at the meeting Mr Khatib called on President Assad to make "one wise decision in your life" and stand down "for the future of your country".

 Earlier this month he also suggested for the first time that talks with the Assad government might be possible, though that suggestion remains controversial among opposition groups.

 The SNC says it plans to set up a government to administer rebel-held areas of Syria, primarily in the north of the country close to the Turkish border.

 But a meeting to select the prime minister, scheduled for the weekend, was unexpectedly postponed on Thursday, and no new date has been set.

 Meanwhile fighting in Syria continues and the humanitarian situation is worsening.

 In the latest fighting, rebel forces have captured the historic Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo, according to an activist group.

 The mosque was damaged and its museum caught fire as rebels forced government troops to withdraw, UK-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

 Fighting also raged elsewhere in Aleppo's old city, including near the Palace of Justice, it added.

 'New phase'

 Aleppo - Syria's second city - has been a key battleground in the conflict.

 Mr Kerry highlighted the fate of the city in his address, accusing President Assad of engaging in "ruthless attacks" with Scud missiles against rebel-held areas.

 According to UN estimates, more than 70,000 people have been killed in Syria since the revolt against President Assad began nearly two years ago.

 Opposition fighters have been constantly outgunned as President Assad's forces deploy tanks, aircraft and missiles against them.

 Image caption The Syrian rebels say weapons and ammunition are what they need most

 The UN's refugees agency says the number of Syrians who have fled the conflict into neighbouring countries is now approaching one million, while two million have been internally displaced.

 The World Health Organisation has warned of disease outbreaks and worsening medical services.

 Earlier, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the Friends of Syria were determined to "ramp up" assistance to the opposition.

 "We are entering a new phase in the response of Western and Arab nations to the crisis in Syria," he said.

 The Friends of Syria organisation has broad international support, but does not include Syrian allies Russia and China.

 On Thursday Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks on Syria with his French counterpart Francois Hollande.

 He conceded that there were differences in the positions of Russia and France, but said both had agreed that Syria should not be allowed to break apart as a result of the conflict. ||||| ROME (Reuters) - Western powers pledged aid for Syrian rebels on Thursday but stopped short of offering them weapons, disappointing opponents of President Bashar al-Assad clamoring for more arms.

 More than 70,000 Syrians have been killed in a fierce conflict that began with peaceful anti-Assad protests nearly two years ago.

 Washington has given $385 million in humanitarian aid for Syria but U.S. President Barack Obama has so far refused to give arms, arguing it is difficult to prevent them from falling into the hands of militants who could use them on Western targets.

 The United States said it would for the first time give non-lethal aid to the rebels and would more than double its support to Syria’s civilian opposition, casting it as a way to bolster the rebels’ popular support.

 The help will include medical supplies, food for rebel fighters and $60 million to help the civil opposition provide basic services like security, education and sanitation.

 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the new steps after a meeting of 11 mostly European and Arab nations within the “Friends of Syria” group.

 The European Union, acting on a decision this month to send direct aid to the rebels, said it had amended sanctions on Syria to permit the supply of armored vehicles, non-lethal military equipment and technical aid, provided they were intended to protect civilians.

 If the provision of non-lethal assistance goes smoothly, it could conceivably offer a model for providing weaponry should Western governments ultimately decide to do so.

 The aid offered for now did not appear to entirely satisfy the Syrian National Council opposition, a fractious Cairo-based group that has struggled to gain traction inside Syria, especially among disparate rebel forces.

 “Many sides ... focus (more) on the length of the rebel fighter’s beard than they do on the blood of the children being killed,” Syrian National Coalition President Moaz Alkhatib said at an appearance with Kerry and Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi.

 A rebel commander in Aleppo, Syria’s second city left devastated by several months of heavy fighting, said the lack of arms was the main obstacle to victory for his forces.

 “We hope ... that weapons will flow and things will change but we are not waiting for them - we are going ahead with our fighting plans on the ground,” the commander, Abdel-Jabbar Oqaidi, told Reuters by Skype.

 He estimated that four fifths of the city was now under rebel control and the insurgents had taken over Aleppo’s historic Umayyad mosque and the Palace of Justice. The claim could not immediately be verified.

 A picture posted on the Internet showed what activists said was a rebel fighter prostrate in prayer in the Umayyad mosque’s courtyard, its blackened archways still bearing signs of a fire which damaged the 13th century complex last year.

 The rebels were still fighting for control of three airports in the Aleppo region, Oqaidi said.

 DISAPPOINTMENT

 In what analysts described as a sign of disappointment at the West’s reluctance to send arms, Syria’s political opposition postponed talks to choose the leader of a provisional government, two opposition sources told Reuters in Beirut.

 Opposition leaders hoped a Saturday meeting in Istanbul would elect a prime minister to operate in rebel-controlled areas of Syria, threatened by a slide into chaos as the conflict between Assad’s forces and insurgents nears its second anniversary.

 While one source said the meeting might happen later in the week, a second source said it had been put off because the three most likely candidates for prime minister had reservations about taking the role without more concrete international support.

 “The opposition has been increasingly signaling that it is tired of waiting and no one serious will agree to be head of a government without real political and logistical support,” said Syrian political commentator Hassan Bali, who lives in Germany.

 Bali said the United States and other members of the core “Friends of Syria” nations appeared intent “on raising the ante against Assad but are not sure how.”

 A final communiqué said participants would “coordinate their efforts closely so as to best empower the Syrian people and support the Supreme Military Command of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army in its efforts to help them exercise self-defense”.

 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) gestures next to Syrian National Coalition head Mouaz al-Khatib during a news conference at Villa Madama in Rome February 28, 2013. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

 Kerry said the United States would for the first time provide assistance - in the form of medical supplies and the standard U.S. military ration known as Meals Ready to Eat, or MREs - to the fighters.

 A U.S. official told reporters it would give the aid only to carefully vetted fighters, adding that the United States was worried that “extremists” opposed to democracy, human rights and tolerance were gaining ground in the country.

 “Those members of the opposition who support our shared values ... need to set an example of a Syria where daily life is governed neither by the brutality of the Assad regime nor by the agenda of al Qaeda affiliated extremists,” the official said.

 REBELS WANT ANTI-TANK, ANTI-AIRCRAFT WEAPONS

 The continued U.S. refusal to send weapons may compound the frustration that prompted the coalition to say last week it would shun the Rome talks. It attended only under U.S. pressure.

 Many in the coalition say Western reluctance to arm rebels only plays into the hands of Islamist militants now widely seen as the most effective forces in the struggle to topple Assad.

 With fighting raging on largely sectarian lines, French President Francois Hollande said at a Moscow summit that new partners were needed to broker talks on ending the crisis, winning guarded support from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 “We think that this dialogue must find a new form so that it speaks to all parties,” said Hollande, giving few details of his proposal.

 Putin said Russia - one of Assad’s staunchest allies - would look at Hollande’s proposal, “which I think we could consider with all our partners and try to carry out.”

 Russia has said Assad’s departure must not be a precondition for talks and a political solution, while the West has sided with Syria’s opposition in demanding his removal from power.

 Kerry’s offer of medical aid and food rations fell far short of rebel demands for sophisticated anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to help turn the tables against Assad’s mostly Russian-supplied forces.

 It also stopped short of providing other forms of non-lethal assistance such as bullet-proof vests, armored personnel vehicles and military training to the insurgents.

 Slideshow (8 Images)

 Last week the European Union opened the way for direct aid to Syrian rebels, but did not lift an arms embargo on Syria.

 Kerry said the U.S. role should not be judged in isolation but in the context of what other nations will do.

 “What we are doing ... is part of a whole,” he said. “I am absolutely confident ... that the totality of this effort is going to have an impact of the ability of the Syrian opposition to accomplish its goals.” ||||| U.S. To Give Syrian Opposition $60 Million More In Non-Lethal Aid, Kerry Says

 The Obama administration will ask Congress for an additional $60 million in aid to help the Syrian opposition council provide basic goods and services in areas under rebel control, Secretary of State John Kerry announced Thursday in Rome.

 NPR's Michele Kelemen, who is among the correspondents traveling with Kerry on his first overseas trip since becoming secretary, tells our Newscast Desk that the U.S. "is also offering non-lethal assistance to the free Syrian army — in the form of food rations and medical supplies." She adds that "U.S. officials say that the Syrian opposition laid out many other needs in talks with Kerry and the Obama administration is 'keeping that under review.' "

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images

 The BBC starts its report on the news this way:

 "The U.S. is to step up its support for the Syrian opposition as it fights to topple President Bashar al-Assad, Secretary of State John Kerry says. Mr. Kerry said the US would provide 'direct support' in the form of medical and food supplies to rebel forces. He also promised an additional $60 million in aid to the opposition to help it deliver basic governance and other services in rebel-controlled areas. ... " 'President Assad is out of time and must be out of power,' Mr. Kerry said, adding that the Syrian leader could not 'shoot his way out' of the situation."

 As the BBC reminds its readers, "the U.N. estimates 70,000 people have died in the Syrian conflict since 2011."

 Thursday's announcement was not quite what The Washington Post, CBS News and some other news outlets were predicting a day earlier. As we reported Wednesday, they said the U.S. was also contemplating giving rebels "equipment such as body armor and armored vehicles," though not weapons.

 Today, the Post writes that: ||||| The Obama administration will provide food and medicine to Syrian rebel fighters, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Thursday, announcing a cautious U.S. foray into front-line battlefield support that falls far short of the heavy weapons or high-tech gear the rebels seek.

 “The stakes are really high, and we can’t risk letting this country — in the heart of the Middle East — be destroyed by vicious autocrats or hijacked by the extremists,” Kerry said following discussions among a group of Western and Arab nations that are funding, and in some cases arming, the fighters.

 The United States will, for the first time, send supplies through the rebels’ central military headquarters, with U.S. advisers supervising the distribution of food rations and medical supplies, U.S. officials said. The shift is intended to give the U.S.-backed Syrian Opposition Coalition greater say over the aid, but it is also a test of the rebels’ ability to keep donated supplies out of the hands of extremists in their midst.

 Washington also will send an additional $60 million to help the umbrella Syrian Opposition Coalition provide basic services such as sanitation and education in areas the rebels now control, Kerry said. That is on top of about $50 million spent on indirect help for the opposition. The goal of the new money is to counter the increasingly effective network of services provided by militants.

 Kerry called President Obama’s decision to expand U.S. support “a significant stepping-up of the policy.”

 Britain and other nations working in concert with the United States are expected to go further to help the rebel Free Syrian Army by providing battlefield equipment such as armored vehicles, night-vision devices or body armor. The Obama administration is weighing similar assistance, but Kerry announced only the first, small steps.

 The United States is one of about a dozen nations prepared to provide broader financial and practical support for the rebels fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Kerry and other diplomats framed the new help during meetings with Syrian political opposition leaders Thursday in Rome.

 Standing alongside Kerry in a joint appearance before reporters, the leader of the Syrian Opposition Coalition had no words of thanks for an offer that still represents a hedge of the U.S. bet on the group it helped to form last year.

 Coalition chairman Mouaz al-Khatib angrily appealed for a humanitarian corridor to the besieged city of Homs and said the rebels are tired of Western complaints about extremists in their ranks. He argued that the real enemy is the Assad regime but said too many outsiders are worried only about “the length of a beard of a fighter.”

 “No terrorists in the world have such a savage nature as those in the regime,” Khatib said in Arabic.

 The Syrian opposition leader’s finger-jabbing anger was in marked contrast to Kerry’s clipped and measured tone. Kerry looked at Khatib without expression as the Syrian spoke.

 Kerry said Assad is “out of time and must be out of power.” But U.S. officials acknowledged that Assad has shown little sign that he is ready to bargain with the rebels.

 The rebels have captured significant territory and large caches of military weapons, but the two-year war that has killed about 70,000 people remains mostly a stalemate.

 Kerry said he is confident that, combined with other nations’ new offers, the U.S. assistance will make a difference.

 “The totality of this effort is going to have an impact on the ability of the Syrian opposition to accomplish its goals,” Kerry said. He promised to take other rebel requests to Washington for further discussion.

 The Obama administration and its leading European allies, including Britain and France, have sought to coordinate their assistance to the rebels, and Kerry will now head to Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to try to ensure that all countries providing aid are working from the same game plan. The Saudis have taken the lead in sending weapons to opposition fighters.

 Like the rebels themselves, Saudi Arabia would prefer that the United States move toward a military intervention. Although U.S. officials indicated additional aid would be forthcoming, the administration is still opposed to sending weapons or using its aircraft to stop Assad’s air bombardments. Discussions are ongoing in Washington to determine how much further the administration is willing to go, including expansion of a minimal military training program.

 In a tweet following the Rome meeting, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain will “be announcing new assistance.”

 Britain and France have been awaiting an easing of a European Union arms embargo on Syria that will go into effect Friday. The new terms allow individual E.U. members to provide “non-lethal and technical assistance to protect Syrian civilians.” Each member country is left to decide what form its aid will take.

 British and French officials have indicated that their support of the rebel forces might also include training, coordinated with allies and conducted outside Syria.

 Another opposition figure, Adib Shishakly, who is in charge of coordinating humanitarian assistance for the National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, cautiously welcomed the U.S. announcement.

 “We expected more, but hopefully this is a positive start,” he said, speaking from the coalition’s headquarters in Cairo. However, he added, the opposition is “absolutely disappointed” that the United States is not offering military assistance to the Free Syrian Army at a time when the Syrian government is escalating its use of force to include ballistic missiles as well as airstrikes.

 “They’re not doing anything about the Scuds,” Shishakly said, referring to the Syrian military’s increasing use of Russian-designed missiles. “And if they are not going to do anything about it, at least give us the tools to protect ourselves.”

 Rebels and analysts said the real significance of the aid is that a portion will go directly to the Free Syrian Army’s military councils, opening a formal channel between the U.S. government and the rebels for the first time.

 The councils were formed at the prodding of U.S. officials last year in an effort to make the ad hoc rebel army more effective by giving it a more coherent structure. But the councils have had limited success in coordinating the hundreds of rebel groups that have emerged to join the fight, among them some of the increasingly powerful Islamist groups that have chosen not to join the councils.

 A spokesman for the Damascus Military Council who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Qatada said he was deeply disappointed that the assistance package did not include arms.

 “We thank the American government for the aid,” he said in an interview over Skype. “However, we would like to point out that we do not need food at the moment. We would rather have weapons to defend ourselves and our children.”

 If the assistance is intended to increase U.S. influence over the chaotic events unfolding on the battlefield, “it will need a lot more than this,” said Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar. “The trajectory of the conflict is much more dangerous than that, and these kind of Band-Aids are not going to have a major impact on the ground.”

 DeYoung reported from Washington. Liz Sly and Ahmed Ramadan in Beirut and Anthony Faiola in London contributed to this report. |||||


News article:

The United Nations food agency is pressing for immediate access to Burma’s troubled northern Rakhine state amid accusations that it shelved a critical report revealing desperate hunger among the persecuted Muslim population.

 A July assessment by the World Food Programme (WFP) warning that more than 80,000 children under the age of five in majority-Muslim areas were “wasting” – a potentially fatal condition – was removed from public view at the request of the Burmese government, the Guardian reported.

 Instead, the six-page document has been replaced with a statement saying Burma and the WFP are “collaborating on a revised version” and that the report should not be cited in any way.

 Greg Barrow, WFP’s deputy director of communications told the Telegraph that the organisation “stood by” its findings.

 But he said a new assessment had to be made in light of dramatic changes on the ground since a military operation was launched against the Rohingya population after insurgents attacked security posts on August 25.

 However, the WFP, along with other humanitarian aid agencies has been denied access to the conflict zone, a restriction it is urging the Burmese authorities to lift. ||||| The United Nations food aid agency withdrew a critical report revealing desperate hunger among the persecuted Rohingya population after the Myanmar government demanded it be taken down, the Guardian has learned.

 The July assessment by the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that more than 80,000 children under the age of five living in majority-Muslim areas were “wasting” — a potentially fatal condition of rapid weight loss.

 Rohingya crisis: UN 'suppressed' report predicting its shortcomings in Myanmar Read more

 The six-page document, which was reported on at the time, was replaced with a statement saying Myanmar and WFP were “collaborating on a revised version”.

 That process would involve “representatives from various ministries, and will respond to the need for a common approach” that was in line with “WFP’s future cooperation with the government”.

 The report should not be cited in any way, the statement added.

 However, WFP’s executive director David Beasley said in an emailed statement to the Guardian later on Tuesday that the agency would republish the report.

 “The assessment should not have been removed and I have directed that it be republished immediately in its original form,” Beasley said. “Put simply, the World Food Programme stands firmly behind the findings of the report.”

 He said that the level of food needs in Rakhine state had likely since changed for the worse and called for authorities to allow free and unhindered access to aid deliveries.

 The revelation that the report was spiked will add to a series of recent criticisms that UN did not push the government hard enough for the rights of 1.1 million Rohingya in Myanmar or sound the alarm on their spiralling oppression.

 The issue exploded on 25 August when Rohingya insurgents attacked security forces, who responded with a severe counteroffensive. More than half a million Rohingya have since fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, many alleging the army conducted mass killings and rapes, claims the government denies.

 The UN’s most senior official in the country will leave at the end of the month amid allegations she suppressed another report, a damning consultation of the UN’s strategy, and also attempted to shut down public advocacy on Rohingya suffering. She leaves in the middle of the current crisis, the worst in decades, while a replacement has not been publicly announced.

 Asked why the July study on Rakhine state was removed, WFP said earlier that it was withdrawn from the website “following a request by the government to conduct a joint review”.

 The August violence, however, halted the joint review, it said.

 A consultant who has worked with the UN’s Myanmar office including WFP said the agency’s in-country team were already extremely nervous about the report getting too much attention.

 The assessment indicated that controversial WFP food aid cuts to internally displaced Rohingya over the previous two years had left people in dire need, said the consultant, who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak freely.

 “That was the discussion that was going on behind the scenes and at a senior level,” the source said. “They knew it was potentially damaging. It was all to do with the fact that internally, there was a belief that the decision made to stop feeding some of the [internally displaced people] was actually causing people serious harm, in terms of food security, hunger and even starvation.

 “There was a real sense that they had things to hide in their work in Myanmar. Things had not been going to plan there,” the source added.

 The WFP country office had also been prioritising its relationship with the government above humanitarian needs, the source added, in an attempt to attract millions in donor funding by showing it had government-approved access to work in other parts of the country.

 “It’s a funny thing in the UN. It’s all about how much money you can raise,” the source said. But the access came at the expense of Myanmar’s most hated minority, the Rohingya, a toxic topic to raise with the government, leading to it being side-lined.

 Meanwhile, WFP knew the “government wouldn’t have been happy”, the source said, about the report, which found that in one district, Maungdaw, one-third of all homes were experiencing extreme food deprivation.

 The report called for further humanitarian assistance for more than 225,000 people, a move the government, which has since blocked aid to Rakhine, would not want.

 And alarmingly, the assessment pointed to widespread accounts of security forces preventing Rohingya from reach markets and their crops.

 Documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis – in pictures Read more

 “Restriction of movement was one of the main constraints for the population for accessing food,” it said. “Residents still did not have full access to the forest, agricultural land and fishing grounds due to continuous military presence.”

 The Guardian has contacted the Myanmar government for comment.

 WFP did not respond directly to questions about whether food aid cuts had left vulnerable people in need or whether it the agency had prioritised good relations with the government over the immediate humanitarian needs of the Rohingya.

 “WFP’s purpose in Myanmar is and always has been to address the food and nutrition needs of vulnerable people,” it said. ||||| For Half A Million Rohingya Fleeing Myanmar, Bangladesh Is A Reluctant Host

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Michael Sullivan for NPR Michael Sullivan for NPR

 537,000: That's the number of Rohingya who have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh in the past seven weeks, according to the U.N.

 It's the largest migration of people in Asia in decades. The Rohingya are fleeing a campaign of terror by the Myanmar military and Buddhist vigilantes, something the U.N. has called the world's "fastest developing refugee emergency" and a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

 It's not the first time this has happened. Members of Myanmar's mostly Muslim Rohingya minority have been fleeing military crackdowns for decades — as far back as 1978, and as recently as last October and November, when the military launched "clearance operations" after a series of attacks by Rohingya militants on security outposts in Rakhine State. Similar attacks in August prompted this latest wave of rape, murder and arson, entire villages torched by security forces and Buddhist vigilantes.

 Bangladesh reckons about 800,000 Rohingya are now living on its side of the border. Most are in overcrowded, spontaneously erected camps, staying in shelters that amount to little more than bamboo poles strapped together with a bit of plastic sheeting for a roof.

 Even before the latest wave of arrivals, Bangladesh was uneasy with the number of Rohingya in country. Now it's trying to do something about it.

 "We need to know for accountability how many Rohingyas come to our country," says Maj. Kazi Obaidur Reza, with Bangladesh's border guards.

 He supervises the registration effort at the Kutapalong camp, just a few miles from the border. Hundreds of Rohingya line up patiently in the hot sun, waiting for their temporary IDs. Inside, it's a flurry of activity.

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Michael Sullivan for NPR Michael Sullivan for NPR

 "We are taking photographs; they are giving biometrics of all fingers and they are getting this card where all documents are written — from where they come, date of entry into country, date of birth, mother's name — so we can easily identify all of them," Reza says.

 This procedure is not just for the new arrivals, he says, but for all the Rohingya who have come at one time or another from the other side.

 Many Rohingya are getting something they never had in Myanmar — an official document that acknowledges their identity.

 Rashid Ulla, a rail-thin 35-year-old from Myanmar's Maungdaw township, proudly shows me his. Under "Nationality," it says "Myanmar Rohingya."

 "I'm happy to have an ID that says I am Rohingya," he says.

 Back in Myanmar, the government doesn't use the word — it doesn't consider the Rohingya citizens.

 But the Bangladeshi IDs aren't permanent. And the Rohingya aren't recognized officially as refugees. Bangladesh is wary of getting stuck with them permanently.

 "And that matters," says Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director for Human Rights Watch. "They're being given a camp residency card, which basically gives them access to food rations. But Bangladesh is still very far away from recognizing them formally as refugees. And that matters, because if they're not registered refugees it means that they don't have access to education. They have very limited ability to move around."

 That ability is getting more limited every day. At a checkpoint just down the road from the Kutapalong camp, about a dozen Bangladeshi police, their rifles slung over their backs, are flagging down buses, cars and auto rickshaws, looking for Rohingya. Those they find get turned back to the informal camps where they came from on the Bangladeshi side of the border.

 Police official Hasanuzzaman Mollah says this is one of 11 checkpoints on the road from the border to the Bangladeshi city of Cox's Bazar.

 "Our purpose is to restrict their access into Cox's Bazar or beyond," he says, as one of his men boards a bus to check the passengers. "We cannot allow them to disperse throughout our country."

 It's a security issue — and a political one as well. Some of the Rohingya who have been in Bangladesh for a long time have been accused of involvement in the smuggling and drug trades.

 In this part of the country, it's an economic issue too. Though the Rohingya aren't allowed to work or go to school, some find jobs under the table — mostly in the construction or building trades, where their legally ambiguous status means employers can pay them less than they'd pay Bangladeshis.

 This has created resentment among residents, though overall, there is public support and Bangladeshis — rich and poor — have greeted the latest influx of refugees with generosity.

 Security officials and some independent analysts, however, do worry that Bangladesh's own Islamist extremists — some with ties to transnational terrorist groups — will try to exploit new arrivals.

 "One of my big fears now is that a lot of these groups with ties come in and pick off recruits from these [Rohingya] communities," says security analyst Elliot Brennan, an Australia-based independent researcher who specializes in Myanmar and Southeast Asia. "Maybe not taking them to Myanmar, but taking them back to different areas and as a result, we have a general recruitment body as the situation deteriorates in the camps and the people become more desperate."

 In the meantime, some religious hardliners in Muslim-majority Bangladesh are stirring the pot. Some are calling to arm the Rohingya. Others are even talking about war with the Buddhist majority neighbor.

 That is creating more political problems for a government already overwhelmed by the sheer number of new arrivals. Bangladesh's preferred option is for the Rohingya to be repatriated, to live safely back in Myanmar. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the U.N. General Assembly last month that the U.N. should set up and police "safe areas" inside Myanmar for that very purpose.

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Munir UZ Zaman/AFP/Getty Images Munir UZ Zaman/AFP/Getty Images

 That doesn't look likely. And it's highly unlikely the Rohingya will even be allowed — or want — to return after the horrors they've been subjected to.

 So for now, Bangladesh is hosting them. But there may be a limit to its patience. The government is setting up a new megacamp that will encompass many of the existing informal camps that have sprung up in the past several weeks and decades. All the Rohingya in Bangladesh will be required to live there, and only there.

 The U.N. resident coordinator in Bangladesh, Robert D. Watkins, told Agence France-Presse this will pose problems.

 "When you concentrate too many people into a very small area, particularly the people who are very vulnerable to diseases, it is dangerous," Watkins warned. "It is much easier to manage people, manage the health situation and security situation if there are a number of different camps rather than one concentrated camp."

 Bangladeshi officials are adamant, however, that the new camp is the best solution to ensure its own security and that of the Rohingya. Human Rights Watch's Bouckaert, like Watkins, is not convinced.

 "If Bangladesh wants to contain people in camps, first of all they need to respect their rights," he says. "But secondly, they also have to provide the humanitarian assistance, the education, the health assistance that people need to survive. And that is simply not the reality we see today."

 The reality today is more urgent for both Bangladesh and its humanitarian aid partners: simply finding enough food, water and adequate sanitation for the new arrivals.

 How they're treated once that's sorted out is another matter. And Bangladesh is the only country that has taken the Rohingya in. Nobody else has offered to share that burden. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– A July report describing near starvation in Myanmar's Rakhine state has been expunged from the UN website—at Myanmar's request. Myanmar was upset with the report's claim that military forces were blocking access to food for the Rohingya even before a government crackdown led 537,000 to flee to Bangladesh, per NPR. But the Guardian reports the UN's World Food Program might have its own reasons for wanting the report erased. According to one source, UN officials knew the report was "potentially damaging," as it suggested WFP food aid cuts to the Rohingya over a two-year period were causing harm, even starvation. "There was a real sense that they had things to hide," the source says. The WFP tells a very different story: The agency "stands by its original assessment" that 80,000 Rohingya children under the age of five were suffering from potentially fatal weight loss in Rakhine in July. However, the food situation will have changed since an "upsurge in violence" in August, "just months before the next harvest," a rep tells the Telegraph. "In a dynamic and evolving situation, it is important to coordinate closely with all partners, including the government," WFP adds, noting its decision to scrap the previous report came "following a request by the government to conduct a joint review." That review has stalled with Myanmar keeping agencies out of the conflict zone, however. The WFP says it's continuing to push for access.


News article:

'Her career is over': Elton John reignites feud with Madonna as he labels her a 'f***ing fairground stripper'

 Sir Elton John has reignited his feud with Madonna by labelling her a 'f***ing fairground stripper' in an extraordinary new interview.

 The 65-year-old singer didn't hold back with his criticism of Madonna, with his outburst triggered as he claimed the singer had been 'horrible' to Lady Gaga, who is godmother to his and husband David Furnish's 19-month-old son Zachary.

 Elton added that Madonna, 53, had no right to criticise other artists because her 'career is over' and her recent MDNA world-tour was less than well received.

 Outburst: Sir Elton John stunned as he called Madonna a 'f***ing fairground stripper' during an interview on Australian TV show Sunday Night 'Her career is over': Elton said Madonna should have stuck to making 'great pop records' instead of turning to dance music

 Speaking on Australian news and current affairs programme Sunday Night, Elton said: ' She's such a nightmare. Sorry, her career is over. Her tour has been a disaster and it couldn't happen to a bigger ****.

 'If Madonna had any common sense she would have made a record like Ray of Light and stayed away from the dance stuff and just been a great pop singer and make great pop records, which she does brilliantly.

 'But no, she had to go and prove ... she looks like a f***ing fairground stripper. She's been so horrible to Gaga.'

 Happier times: Elton and Madonna performed together during the Rainforest Concert back in 1998

 Elton's comments come after Madonna hit out at Gaga for her track Born This Way having too many similarities to her own 1989 hit Express Yourself.

 She said: ' I thought, "What a wonderful way to redo my song." I mean, I recognised the chord changes. I thought it was ... interesting.'

 Earlier this year, Elton reignited his long-running feud with Madonna by implying she wouldn't sing live at the Super Bowl half-time show, saying she should "lip-synch good" in her performance.

 Feuding: The pair's feud was heightened after Madonna beat Elton to take home the Best Song award at the Golden Globe awards earlier this year. Elton was pictured looking furious during Madonna's acceptance speech

 The 65-year-old musician's comments came after David had branded Madonna 'embarrassing' and 'desperate' after her song Masterpiece - from her directorial debut movie W.E. - beat Elton's efforts on animated film Gnomeo and Juliet to win a Golden Globe award.

 He wrote on Facebook: 'Madonna. Best song???? F**k off!!! Madonna winning Best Original Song truly shows how these awards have nothing to do with merit.

 'Her acceptance speech was embarrassing in its narcissism. And her criticism of Gaga shows how desperate she really is. (sic)'

 To listen to Elton's interview, click here.

 Emotional: Elton also blasted Madonna for being horrible to Lady Gaga, who is his and David Furnish's son Zachary's godmother, during the interview

 Good friends: The interview was conducted by Elton's long-time friend Molly Meldrum

  ||||| 05 August, 2012

 Reporter: Molly Meldrum

 Producer: Erin Reimer

 To mark the 40-year anniversary of the release of his enduringly popular single Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long Long Time), Sir Elton John has taken the celebrations global for a world tour. He’ll return to our shores in November for a very special run of shows, some in parts of Australia he’s never been.

 Before that, though, he caught up with old pal Molly Meldrum backstage on tour for a pre-show chat about fatherhood, celeb feuds and his partner David.

 Friends for decades, Elton was one of the first to call after Molly’s life-threatening accident eight months ago.

 “You look great! Silly cow,” were among his first words to Meldrum as they met for the interview.

 Elton was very much the proud dad, brandishing an iPad with photos and video of his young son Zachary, conceived via a surrogate mother and raised by he and long-term partner David Furnish.

 “When I got sober, all good things started happening to me. It’s 19 years this October we’ve been together. He’s the person I was looking for all my life but tried too hard to find,” he said of Furnish.

 This sense of peace contrasted sharply with Elton’s earlier explosive behaviour, infamously captured in the warts and all 1997 documentary Tantrums and Tiaras.

 Elton said he credited Molly with trying to snap him out of his past destructive behaviour.

 He’s not all inner peace, though – the mere mention of Madonna’s name was met with one of Elton’s trademark caustic sprays.

 “She’s such a nightmare. Her career’s over...and she looks like a f***ing fairground stripper. She’s been so horrible to Gaga,” he fumed. Gaga being, of course, Lady Gaga – Zachary’s godmother. Elton admitted that, with Zachary, he hoped to right some of the wrongs of his own father.“My dad never came to see me [in concert]. That really hurt, and it still does. I just wanted him to see that I was really good, but it never happened,” he sighed.To finish off their chat, Molly presented Elton with a gift for little Zachary – a toy keyboard. Elton couldn’t resist banging out a few bars of Waltzing Matilda in preparation for his upcoming Aussie sojourn. Elton will perform at Perth, Canberra, Launceston and a very special show at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on Thursday November 15 – taking his record number of shows at the iconic Sydney venue to a staggering 42. Performing with a full band, Elton’s shows will commemorate the 40 years since the release ofas well as being a celebration of his greatest hits. Full tour dates are below.Perth Arena, Perth with special guests 2CELLOS. Tickets HERE or on 132 849.Canberra Stadium, Canberra with special guests 2CELLOS and Schmidt. Tickets HERE or on 132 849.Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney with special guests 2CELLOS & Schmidt. Tickets HERE or on 136 100.Silverdome, Launceston with special guests 2CELLOS. Tickets HERE or on 03 6344 9999.Tickets for Perth, Canberra and Sydney on sale now. Tickets for Launceston on sale 10am Monday August 13.For more information visit Elton's website or Chugg Entertainment |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Elton John's feud with Madonna continues, with John declaring last night that the Material Girl's "career is over." As evidence, he pointed out that "her tour has been a disaster," adding, "it couldn't happen to a bigger ****." Appearing on Australian show Sunday Night, John also had harsh words for Madonna's look, comparing her to "a f***ing fairground stripper." Why so angry? John may have provided a clue; he accused Madonna of being "so horrible" to Lady Gaga, who just so happens to be godmother to John's son, the Daily Mail notes. "She's such a nightmare," he said. "If Madonna had any common sense she would have made a record like Ray of Light and stayed away from the dance stuff and just been a great pop singer and make great pop records, which she does brilliantly."