Body of soldier killed in combat in Afghanistan is returned to U.S.
Delaware
Body of soldier killed in combat is returned
The remains of a 33-year-old American soldier killed in combat in Afghanistan have been returned to the United States, arriving at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Goble of Washington Township, N.J., was killed Monday in a roadside bombing in northern Kunduz province. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Goble was assigned to 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The Pentagon has said Goble’s unit was engaged in combat operations when he suffered fatal injuries.
— Associated Press
courts
Filing: Avenatti debt was over $15 million
Prosecutors say California attorney Michael Avenatti was over $15 million in debt when he tried to extort up to $25 million from Nike, while Avenatti’s lawyers say the money he legally requested to conduct an internal probe of the sportswear giant was a bargain.
Both sides made the assertions in court papers filed late Tuesday in advance of a Jan. 22 criminal trial in Manhattan. For Avenatti, it is the first of three scheduled trials in the next five months. He has denied all charges.
Criminal charges against him in other cases include allegations in New York that he defrauded former client Stormy Daniels out of proceeds of a book deal and charges in Los Angeles that he defrauded clients out of millions of dollars.
In their submission, federal prosecutors said they plan to show the jury that Avenatti owed “conservatively, in excess of $15 million.” Avenatti told the Associated Press on Wednesday that “any claim that I was $15 million in debt is ridiculous, absurd and laughable.”
Prosecutors, however, say they plan to prove the debts through documents and testimony.
— Associated Press
Man fatally stabs woman and injures teen, police say: A man killed a woman in North Philadelphia on Wednesday, repeatedly stabbing her, police said. The 35-year-old woman was found with stab wounds to her stomach and chest after the attack shortly before 3:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Fern Rock neighborhood, police said. She was pronounced dead at Albert Einstein Medical Center. A 14-year-old boy found inside the home with a stab wound to his right thigh was taken by police to the hospital, where he was listed in critical condition, police said. A 33-year-old suspect was arrested. The names of the victim and suspect were not released.
Woman, children found dead in Boston: A woman and two young children died after being found unconscious on a sidewalk near a Boston parking garage Wednesday. The identities of the victims, as well as the woman’s relationship to the children, who Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said appeared to be under age 5, had not been determined.
Washington reenactment returns after years: Thousands turned out Wednesday in Washington Crossing, Pa., to watch a reenactment of George Washington’s daring Christmas Day crossing of the Delaware River in 1776 — the first time it was completed in three years because of a string of bad weather.
Woman taking gifts to Mexican camp detained: A Texas woman who drove to Mexico to deliver Christmas gifts to a sprawling migrant camp housing people seeking asylum and waiting for U.S. court dates said Wednesday she was detained by Mexican authorities for two days. Anamichelle Castellano said she and another volunteer for her nonprofit group, the Socorro Foundation, were stopped Monday at a bridge crossing from Brownsville, Tex., to Matamoros, Mexico, and spent Monday night sleeping on a couch with her 9-year-old daughter in a government office. She said authorities discovered a small box of ammunition inside the car she was driving, which she said was left there by her husband. Mexico has strict laws against entering the country with guns or ammunition. The prosecutor’s office in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
— Associated Press