Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair was at one time a rising star amongst the top battle commanders in the U.S. Army. However, now he is fighting charges of sexual assault that could put him in a military prison for life if he is convicted.

Sinclair was the 82nd Airborne’s deputy commander, but will appear in a courtroom at Fort Bragg on Tuesday to face criminal charges in a court martial that he physically forced a captain, who is female to perform oral sex. The female captain was under his direct command.

Lawyers for Sinclair, who is a married father of two children, deny the accusation, but admit he had an extramarital affair for three years while with the officer in Afghanistan and Iraq in war tours. The admission he had an extramarital affair will likely end his career in the Army.

Sinclair, who is 51, pleaded not guilty to the eight charges against him including indecent acts, forcible sodomy, unbecoming conduct and violating orders.

Sinclair is believed to be the military’s most senior member to ever face a sexual assault trial. His case comes while the Pentagon is grappling with many revelations involving sexual misconduct and rape within the service.

In hearings prior to the trial, prosecutors painted Sinclair a sexual predator who abused the position he had obtained so he could prey on his subordinate who had been trained to follow orders.

Prosecutors said Sinclair threatened to kill both the captain and her family if she mentioned their affair to anyone.

Lawyers for the defense suggest the general is the one who is the victim, both of an ex-lover who was jealous and prosecutors who are overzealous facing great pressure from the top rankings to send a message that sexual misconduct would not be tolerated.

The lead prosecutor resigned for the military only weeks prior to the beginning of the trial. His resignation followed a pre-trial hearing that was contentious. In a pre-trial hearing last January the defense contended that the captain perjured herself.

Outside the court proceedings, prosecutors declined any comment.

The waterlogged mountainsides looming over the communities in the foothills in California have city officials worried. The state is in dire need of moisture but not at high rates that have become increasingly more dangerous.

Evacuation orders for hundred of Los Angeles County homes remained in effect where fires have burned vegetation holding the soil in place and heavy rain bursts have caused the mountainsides to belch the occasional flow of debris.

The storm that is now situated just off the coast and sending bands of rain onto the mainland is a marked departure from months of drought. The drought is at crisis proportion for the huge farming industry in the state.

However, storms of this sort would need to be commonplace to make a serious dent in the drought, said weather forecasters.

Officials have warned that even though there have been long lulls, additional heavy downpours can be expected and they have urged all residents that have left their homes to not return yet.

The weather forecast has the storm moving east over the Rockies to the Plains and into the Mississippi Valley, bringing large amounts of rain with it.

The eastward movement of the storm on Saturday ended a streak of 70 straight days without any precipitation in Phoenix. A spell of 85 days of no rainfall of any measurable amount ended Friday in Las Vegas.

Snow and rain finally arrived in New Mexico, which has been drought stricken as well. A highway accident in Denver due to heavy snow involved over 100 vehicles killing one person and injured dozens more.

More than 1,200 homes in Monrovia, Glendoria and Azusa all adjacent cities to one another have been evacuated, because of the possibility of huge flows with destructive force originating from the San Gabriel Mountains.

Forecasters are saying that the upper-level low at the center of the storm would be coming ashore moving east and by the end of Sunday would leave just showers in the area.

The storm has saturated much of the state. San Francisco has received over 8 inches of rain this week bringing the city to more than 44% of its normal rainfall.

Vladimir Putin the President of Russia has assured Angela Merkel the German Chancellor that Russia was not interested in breaking apart Ukraine. This announcement came amidst increasing concern internationally after men armed with weapons occupied airports in Crimea the pro-Russia region of Ukraine.

Merkel was concerned over the events taking place in Crimea said one of her spokespersons at a news conference. The spokesperson said that Putin told Merkel he accepted Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

These comments come as military soldiers in uniforms that were unmarked took positions at Sevastipol’s Belbek airport, where a naval base is leased by Russia and at the Simferopol airport. Simferopol is the administrative capital of Crimea.

The Interior Minister said the occupation of the airport took place a day after armed men took the one government building and put a flag from Russia on its roof.

The events in Crimea have raised concerns of leaders in the West. They worry Russia could encourage separatism within the region, which was ceded by Russia to the Soviet Socialist Republic of Ukraine 60 years ago.

European diplomats and their counterparts in Germany said that Merkel has taken the informal lead as a key link between Western leaders and President Putin since the crisis boiled over in Ukraine last week, when troops fired upon protesters in the central square of Kiev.

Merkel spoke with Putin on repeated occasions since then. She has said Russia should help to stabilize Ukraine financially and politically, as well as protect the territorial integrity. She also has appealed to Kiev’s new regime to reach out to its segment of the overall population that is pro-Russian.

Germany had said any financial assistance for Kiev from Europe is conditional on Ukraine obtaining loan monies through the International Monetary Fund.

Officials in Germany said that other conditions included the formation of government that was inclusive and a commitment of financial help by Russia.

The new government in Ukraine requested an IMF bailout as it struggles with the decision by Russia to freeze funding support of $15 billion that was promised in 2013.

Pope Benedict, who resigned almost one year ago, broke his silence for the first time since he stepped down from the highest position in the Catholic Church, branded new media speculation absurd that he had been forced out.

Church law states that the resignation of a pope is only valid if he makes the decision with full freedom and no pressure from anyone else.

Benedict, who is 86, said there is no doubt about the validity of his resignation from the Petrine ministry. He now holds the title of pope emeritus.

He stated that the only condition over the validity of his resignation was the complete freedom he had over the decision. Speculation with regard to the validity of his resignation he said was absurd.

On February 11 of 2013, Benedict made the announcement he was resigning, becoming the first pope to resign in 600 years. Two weeks after his announcement, Francis won the election amongst the Cardinals to become the first pope in over 1,300 who was non-European.

Benedict at that time said he was stepping down due to not being able to carry out his duties due to not having the spiritual or physical strength and that he was making the decision with complete freedom.

In early February, on the day following the one-year anniversary of his resignation, a newspaper in Italy ran an article that revived the speculation that he had been forced into resigning due to scandals that took place within the Vatican.

During 2012, the butler for Benedict was arrested due to leaking documents of a sensitive nature alleging corruption amongst Vatican prelates and irregularities in the finances of the Vatican.

At that time, Italian media reported a group of prelates who had wanted Benedict discredited and pressure him into resigning were the ones behind those leaks. That has been always denied by the Vatican.

The newspaper also made a suggestion that Benedict has chosen to continue wearing white because of feeling like he was still the pope.

Benedict now lives in almost complete isolation in a former convent on the grounds of the Vatican. When asked about this he said he continues to wear his white cassock and keep Benedict for his name for just practical reasons.

When he resigned, he said no other clothes had been available and he wears his cassock differently than Pope Francis does. He called it another case of unfounded speculation.