South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Suspect held in Idaho student killings plans to waive extradition
BOISE, Idaho — A suspect arrested in connection with the slayings of four University of Idaho students plans to waive an extradition hearing so he can be quickly brought to Idaho to face murder charges, his defense attorney said Saturday.
Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old Ph.D. student and teaching assistant in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, was taken into custody early Friday morning by the Pennsylvania State Police at his parents’ home, authorities said.
Bill Thompson, a prosecutor in Latah County, Idaho, said Friday that investigators believe Kohberger broke into the University of Idaho students’ home near campus “with the intent to commit murder.” The bodies of the students — Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin — were found on Nov. 13, several hours after investigators believe they died.
Kohberger’s attorney, chief public defender Jason LaBar, said Kohberger plans to tell a judge in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday that he will waive his extradition hearing so he can be quickly brought to Idaho to face the charges and is eager to be exonerated.
LaBar also cautioned people against passing judgment on the case until a fair trial is held.
“Mr. Kohberger has been accused of very serious crimes, but the American justice system cloaks him in a veil of innocence,” LaBar wrote in a prepared statement. “He should be presumed innocent until proven otherwise — not tried in the court of public opinion.”
Federal and state investigators are now combing through Kohberger’s background, financial records and electronic communications as they work to identify a motive and build the case, a law enforcement official who could not publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The investigators are also interviewing people who knew Kohberger, including those at WSU, the official said.
Kohberger is being held without bond in Pennsylvania and will be held without bond in Idaho once he is returned, Thompson said.
China’s declaration: China “stands on the right side of history,” leader Xi Jinping said Saturday in a New Year address that came as questions swirl over his government’s handling of COVID-19 and economic and political challenges at home and abroad.
Speaking on national television, Xi largely avoided directly addressing issues confronting the country, pointing instead to successes in agricultural production, poverty elimination and its hosting of the Winter Olympics in February.
He later turned obliquely to the challenges facing the world’s most populous country and second-largest economy, saying, “The world is not at peace.”
China will “always steadfastly advocate for peace and development ... and unswervingly stands on the right side of history,” he said.
Recent weeks have seen street protests against Xi’s government, the first facing the ruling Communist Party in more than three decades.
UK’s outlook: Britain has had a tough 12 months and its problems will not “go away” in 2023 — but the coronation of King Charles III, scheduled for May 6, will help bring the country together, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Saturday in his New Year message.
Sunak, who in October became the third Conservative British prime minister of 2022, said the U.K. was rocked this year by the “profound economic impact” caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
He said his government has taken “difficult but fair decisions to get borrowing and debt under control” and helped Britons cope with a cost of living crisis driven by sharply rising energy bills.
Sunak did not mention the U.K.’s political chaos, which saw former Prime Minister Boris Johnson quit in July after a string of scandals and his successor Liz Truss resign after less than two months in office.
He said the U.K. would “come together with pride in everything that makes this country great” for the coronation ceremony of Charles III.
Guaido ousted: The opposition legislature in Venezuela voted to terminate its interim government, ending the leadership of Juan Guaido, who for years had served as the face of resistance to the country’s authoritarian government.
Friday’s vote was a blow to the United States, which had steadfastly backed Guaido. It was the second and final vote held in December to determine the fate of the interim government, whose influence has waned in recent years as President Nicolas Maduro has held onto power.
With 72 votes in favor, 29 against and eight abstentions, the lawmakers moved to end Guaido’s interim presidency starting Wednesday.
Venezuela has been in the grips of an economic, political and humanitarian crisis since 2014.
Migrants intercepted: A vessel carrying at least 700 migrants was intercepted off the eastern coast of Libya, the coast guard said. It was one of the largest interceptions in recent months of migrants seeking a better life in Europe through the war-torn North African country.
The coast guard said the boat was stopped Friday off the Mediterranean town of Moura, 56 miles west of Benghazi.
It said in a statement that the migrants hail from different nations and that those who illegally entered Libya would be handed over to their home countries.
The statement did not provide further details.
The coast guard posted images on Facebook showing a large, overcrowded vessel with most of those on board appearing to be young people.
Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants seeking a better quality of life in Europe.
The oil-rich country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
Bill Cosby: A woman who alleges Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1986 sued the comedianactor, NBCUniversal and other companies Friday in New York, where five other women filed a similar lawsuit in December.
Stacey Pinkerton says she was a 21-year-old flight attendant and model that year when she claims Cosby drugged her at a restaurant in Illinois and took her back to a hotel room in Chicago. The lawsuit alleges Cosby “engaged in forced sexual intercourse” with her while she was incapacitated from the drugs.
The lawsuit comes more than a year after Cosby left prison after his 2018 sexual assault conviction in Pennsylvania was overturned.