Judge says serial rapist to be released

Judge says serial rapist to be released

LOS ANGELES

The so-called “Pillowcase Rapist” who attacked at least 40 women in the 1970s and 1980s will be freed and allowed to live in a remote Southern California desert area despite a host of vocal protests, a judge ordered Friday.

Christopher Evans Hubbart, 63, must be released from a state facility by July 7, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Gilbert Brown ruled.

Hubbart will be permitted to rent a small house near Palmdale, some 45 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

“Now we are preparing for his arrival,” said District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who spent months fighting Hubbart’s release. “We will do everything within our authority to protect the residents of Los Angeles County from this dangerous predator.”

US suspends $3.5M in military aid to Thailand after coup

WASHINGTON

The U.S. is suspending $3.5 million in military aid to Thailand, its first punitive step against the Asian country after a military coup, the State Department announced Friday.

Spokeswoman Marie Harf said the department is still reviewing a further $7 million in direct U.S. assistance to Thailand and an undetermined amount of aid from other global and regional programs.

The department on Friday also recommended Americans reconsider any non-essential travel to Thailand, particularly Bangkok, due to political and social unrest and restrictions on movement, including a nighttime curfew.

Obama taps Castro for Cabinet post

WASHINGTON

In a second-term Cabinet reshuffle, President Barack Obama tapped San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro on Friday to be the nation’s next housing secretary, giving a prominent national platform to one of the Democratic Party’s most celebrated up-and-comers.

Joined by Castro and Vice President Joe Biden, Obama also announced he was nominating current Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan to run the White House budget office — an opening Obama created when he asked his former budget chief to take over the Health and Human Services Department last month.

Putin promises to respect Ukraine’s presidential election

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia

President Vladimir Putin pledged Friday that Russia will respect the results of Ukraine’s presidential election, a strong indication the Kremlin wants to cool down the crisis. But new violence and rebel vows to block the balloting made prospects for peace appear distant.

New clashes were reported between pro-Russia separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine as Kiev continued an offensive to try to halt the uprising.

Associated Press reporters saw two dead Ukrainian soldiers near the village of Karlivka and another body near a rebel checkpoint, both in the Donetsk region. A rebel leader said 16 more people died Friday in fighting there — 10 soldiers, four rebels and two civilians — but there was no immediate way to verify his statement.

Associated Press