TASK DEFINITION: Given a document and an entity the task is to select the author's sentiment towards the entity. Sentiments can be Positive, Neutral and Negative. Select Positive if the article expresses a positive view towards the given entity or praises its quality or skills. Select Neutral if the document expresses no clear view towards the entity or has equal amounts of positive and negative statements or expressing some fact/quote by someone else. Select Negative if the article expresses a negative view towards like harsh remarks, criticizing entities action/decision etc. Note that URLs in the text have been replaced with [Link].
PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Bill Cosby ? Bill Cosby   seen here at an August court appearance  is set for a retrial on sexual assault charges in April  after his first trial last spring ended in a hung jury. (Matt Rourke/AP)
The prosecutor in the  Bill Cosby  case asked a Pennsylvania judge to allow testimony from 19 alleged prior victims of the entertainer  whose retrial on sex assault charges is set to begin April 2.
The request is the first public indication of the shape and parameters of the prosecution case  and it represents a significant expansion of the government’s effort to portray  Cosby  as a serial predator. When  Cosby  was tried in June  prosecutors sought to include testimony from just 13 women who said they had been assaulted by the comic legend.
But it remains to be seen how this latest move by prosecutors will play out: Last year’s effort by prosecutors to introduce so-called “prior bad acts” testimony was largely unsuccessful  as the judge allowed only one of the 13 to appear at  Cosby ’s trial  which ended with a hung jury.
[What’s next for the Bill Cosby sex-assault case?]
In their request Thursday  prosecutors said that  Cosby  “has spent a lifetime entertaining audiences in front of the camera. Off camera  he has followed and  indeed mastered  a more nefarious script — a victimizing sexual script. . . . To satiate his desire  he has engaged  over the course of a lifetime  in a pattern of serial sexual abuse.”
[‘I’ve run out of clean socks and underwear’: The wait for a verdict in  Bill Cosby’s  trial turns into a test of endurance]
 Cosby  faces felony charges for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand  a former Temple University employee  at  his  suburban Philadelphia estate in 2004.  Cosby   now 80  has denied sexually assaulting women.

SOLUTION: Positive

PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Ryan Seacrest ? E! has no plans to drop  Ryan Seacrest  from his long-held red carpet hosting duties for this Sunday's Academy Awards  despite his former stylist going public Monday with claims that he repeatedly sexual harassed  her  â allegations the TV star denies.
This awards season has been dominated by the Time's Up movement  but  Seacrest  will be on the Oscars red carpet for what is arguably the biggest event of the season. E! conducted a probe into the allegation  which was brought to its attention in November  but found "insufficient evidence" to substantiate the claims.
An ABC spokesperson also said  Seacrest  would continue his duties on Live with Kelly and Ryan  as well as the reboot of American Idol  which is slated to premiere March 11.
Suzie Hardy  who said  Seacrest  harassed her  went public with her story Monday  telling Variety that he grabbed her genitals  gave her a "bear hug" while wearing only underpants  and forcefully slapped her buttocks  leaving a red welt.
She told Variety that E!'s human resources department sought her out for an interview in 2013 to inquire about the relationship between her and  Seacrest . âI was very proud to say âNo  I donât [have a physical relationship with  Seacrest ] ââ she said she told them. âI never touched him  I never kissed him  I never fucked him  nothing. But I said  âBut he touched me.ââ

SOLUTION: Negative

PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Neda Agha Soltan ? In the video  Neda Agha Soltan is lying on the ground as blood flows from her mouth and nose and onlookers scream. Her last moments spread around the world on Youtube  Facebook  blogs and Twitter  turning her into an icon in the clash between Iran's cleric-led government and protesters.
 "She only ever said that she wanted one thing  she wanted democracy and freedom for the people of Iran " Caspian Makan told an Associated Press reporter during a telephone call from Tehran.
 But Makan did provide photographs of himself with a woman he identified as Soltan and also had her as a friend on his Facebook page and said he had intended to marry her. "I still feel her  I still talk to her " he said.
 Makan said that they had argued in the days before her death about her decision to attend the protests  which were part of the self-described "green wave" movement that claims hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole his June 12 re-election.
 He said he had asked her not to go out for fear she would be arrested or shot. "I tried to dissuade her from going out in the streets because I'd seen in my work as a journalist that  unfortunately  there are a lot of merciless behaviors " Makan said.
 "But she said that our attendance would be worthwhile even if a bullet hits my heart " he said. "Unfortunately  that is how she died  a bullet hit her heart and her lung  and maybe 5 or 6 minutes later  she died."
 Internet accounts say that Soltan's father was at her side during her death. But Makan said a white-haired man who is seen pressing on her chest in the video and repeatedly saying "don't be afraid  Neda dear  don't be afraid" was actually her music teacher.
 chest in the video and repeatedly saying "don't be afraid  Neda dear  don't be afraid" was actually her music teacher.
 She'd grown dissatisfied with her theology studies and had taken up music  as a pianist  he said.
 They first met on a vacation in Izmir  Turkey  a town on the Mediterranean  on a vacation tour from Iran. He described Soltan as a plain-spoken woman who loved poetry -- Iran's Rumi and America's Robert Frost were her favorites.

SOLUTION:
Neutral