Politics
Person of interest in missing Dominican Republic tourist case set free by judge – National TenX News
A judge in the Dominican Republic granted a request for freedom for Joshua Riibe, who is believed to be the last person to have seen missing U.S. tourist Sudiksha Konanki before her disappearance on March 6.
Riibe’s lawyer Alfredo Guzmán Saladín filed a habeas corpus petition seeking the release of their client. A hearing addressing the petition was held on March 18.
The petition asked for the return of Riibe’s passport, which was allegedly withheld by Dominican authorities while the 22-year-old college student was being interviewed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the FBI, who were investigating the case.
Judge Edwin Rijo ordered Riibe’s release, saying that he can cooperate with authorities without being detained.
“All parties say that he has cooperated in everything that has been asked of him,” Rijo said, adding that Riibe is a witness and as such, cannot be detained.
The Associated Press reports that so many journalists showed up to cover the hours-long hearing, it had to be moved to a bigger courtroom.
Before the ruling, prosecutors told the judge that Riibe was not under arrest and that he was free to move around the hotel where he is staying. They said Riibe told them he lost his passport, although Riibe said in court that officials had seized his passport and cellphone.
“I really want to be able to go home and talk to my family, give them hugs,” Riibe told the judge via a translator. “I understand that I’m here to help. I’ve done that. It’s been 10 days.”
When leaving the hearing, Ribbe’s lawyers said they expressed their solidarity with Konanki’s family, according to Dominican news outlet Noticias Sin.
“We express our solidarity with Sudiksha Konanki’s family in these difficult times, joining in the collective hope that she be found safe and sound as soon as possible,” Guzmán Saladín said upon leaving the court.
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Riibe’s lawyers also said they express a “deep gratitude to the Dominican judiciary and all institutions involved in the Joshua Steven Riibe case for recognizing and upholding the rule of law and showing respect for his fundamental rights as a foreign citizen in the Dominican Republic.”
Riibe’s father, Francis Albert Riibe, was also in attendance during his son’s court hearing. He told reporters that he came to the Dominican Republic because his son “is being held captive and cannot leave the hotel.”
According to Noticias Sin, Riibe told reporters that Konanki’s mother, Sreedevi, had thanked him for trying to save her daughter’s life.
“We were in the lobby and the mother hugged me and said thank you for saving Sudiksha the first time,” Riibe reportedly said.
Riibe, who has not been charged with any crime, previously told local investigators that he and Konanki were “in waist-deep water, talking and kissing a little,” when a large wave crashed into them and swept them both “out to sea,” according to the transcript obtained by NBC News.
“I kept trying to get her to breathe, but that didn’t allow me to breathe all the time, and I swallowed a lot of water,” Riibe reportedly said.
Riibe, a former lifeguard, told investigators he was able to get himself and Konanki to shore safely.
“It took me a long time to get her out, it was difficult,” Riibe told officials, according to the transcript. “I was a lifeguard in the pool, not in the sea.
“When I finally reached the ground on the beach, I held her in front of me. She wasn’t out of the water, she was knee-deep and walking at an angle out of the water.
“The last time I saw her, I asked if she was OK. I didn’t hear her answer because I started vomiting all the sea water I had swallowed.”
After vomiting, Riibe said he looked around and didn’t see Konanki and assumed she left the beach.
“I looked around and I didn’t see anyone. I thought she’d grabbed her things and left.”
Michael Chapman, sheriff of Loudoun County in Virginia, said in a statement Tuesday that officials have been working with Dominican authorities and continue to review evidence in the case.
“The disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki is tragic, and we cannot imagine the grief her family has been feeling,” he said. “Sudiksha’s family has expressed their belief that she drowned. While a final decision to make such a declaration rests with authorities in the Dominican Republic, we will support the Konanki family in every way possible.”
Konanki’s parents spoke with reporters outside their home in Loudoun County, Va., on Tuesday and said that authorities told them they believed their daughter drowned.
“Both sides of authorities have shown us how high the ocean waves were at the time of the incident, and both sides of the authorities have clarified the person of interest was not a suspect from the beginning,” Konanki’s father, Subbarayudu, said while fighting back tears.
“It is with deep sadness and heavy, heavy heart, we are coming to the terms with the fact that our daughter has drowned,” Subbarayudu continued. “This is incredibly difficult for us to process. We kindly ask you to keep our daughter in your prayers.”
“We still have two young children to care for. In light of this, we respectfully request some space, time and privacy to focus on healing and helping our children recover as we try to move forward with our lives.”
On Monday, Dominican Republic National Police spokesperson Diego Pesqueira said that Konanki’s family sent a letter “requesting declaration of death.”
The letter, viewed by Global News, said the family made the request “after much deliberation” and thanked supporters for their international search efforts.
“Following an extensive search, Dominican authorities have concluded that Sudiksha is believed to have drowned,” her parents wrote in a letter to La Policia Nacional. “Her clothes were discovered on a beach near where she was last seen. The individual last seen with her is cooperating with the investigation, and no evidence of foul play has been found.
“We understand that certain legal procedures must be followed and are prepared to comply with any necessary formalities or documentation.
“Initiating this process will allow our family to begin the grieving process and address matters related to her absence.”
“While no declaration can truly ease our grief, we trust that this step will bring some closure and enable us to honor her memory.”
— With files from The Associated Press
The Trump administration said Friday it was denying and revoking U.S. visas from members of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
That comes ahead of next month’s United Nations General Assembly, where Canada and several other countries have said they intend to officially recognize a Palestinian state.
The U.S. State Department cited the groups’ efforts to secure statehood recognition at the UN, along with their appeals to the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice to investigate alleged Israeli crimes in Gaza, as reasons for the decision by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Both steps materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks,” the department said in a statement.
“The Trump Administration has been clear: it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace.”
The statement did not name the officials being denied entry. It was not immediately clear if the list included Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was expected to travel to New York for the UN gathering.
The Palestinians’ ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, told reporters at the UN headquarters that they were checking exactly what the U.S. move means “and how it applies to any of our delegation, and we will respond accordingly.”
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Representatives assigned to the Palestinian Authority mission at the UN, led by Mansour, will be granted waivers so they can continue their New York-based operations, the U.S. statement said.
Mansour said Abbas still intends to lead the delegation to the high-level meetings and is expected to address the General Assembly — as he has done for many years — and to attend a meeting on the afternoon of Sept. 22 on a two-state solution co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia.
U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to New York and address the general assembly on Sept. 23, the White House said on Thursday.
Canada, Britain, Australia and France in recent weeks have announced or signalled their intention to recognize a Palestinian state during the meeting.
The countries have said their recognition is conditional on the Palestinian Authority — which has limited self-rule over parts of the occupied West Bank and has for years been positioning itself as a legitimate government alternative to Hamas in Gaza — undergoing reforms and new elections.
Abbas has signalled he will co-operate with the Western nations’ demands.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization is an internationally recognized coalition that represents Palestinian people in its occupied territories and abroad.
The Trump administration has staunchly backed Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. The U.S. has also refused to condemn expanded Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Canada and other allies have said undermine two-state solution efforts.
Rubio hosted Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar in Washington on Wednesday “to reaffirm our two nations’ close cooperation,” the U.S. secretary said in a post on X.
Saar, asked after the meeting what the plan was for a Palestinian state, said there would not be any.
The Israeli minister on Friday thanked Rubio for holding the PA and PLO “accountable for rewarding terrorism, incitement and efforts to use legal warfare against Israel” in a social media statement.
Officials with the Palestinian Authority reject that they’ve undermined peace prospects.
Under the 1947 UN “headquarters agreement,” the U.S. is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, terrorism and foreign policy reasons.
Hamas earlier this month said it had accepted a U.S.-backed proposal on a ceasefire in Gaza that would see the release of some hostages in exchange for talks with Israel that would end the conflict and see the return of all remaining hostages.
But Israel has said it will only accept the full return of all the hostages and has pressed ahead with a plan to occupy Gaza City, which international monitors like the UN have warned could worsen a famine already afflicting the Palestinian territory.
Rubio last week announced sanctions against multiple International Criminal Court judges and prosecutors involved in the court’s investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza and the issuing of arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
—With files from Reuters
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Politics
Israel launches new offensive in Gaza, says remains of 2 hostages returned – National TenX News
Gaza City is now a dangerous combat zone, Israel says, adding that it is in the “initial stages” of a planned offensive that has drawn international condemnation.
Israel’s military said it suspended midday pauses to fighting, which had allowed food and aid supplies to enter from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Gaza’s largest city.
It also said it had recovered the body of a hostage and the remains of another, and vowed its military offensive would return more.
The shift comes weeks after Israel first announced plans to widen its offensive in Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering and enduring famine.
Father of hostage calls recovery operation a ‘bittersweet moment’
Israel’s recovery of more hostages Friday felt like a “stab in the stomach” for Rubi Chen, who believes his son is still in captivity in Gaza.
Israel said it had returned the body of one captive and the remains of another from Gaza Friday. It identified one as Ilan Weiss, a man killed in the initial Hamas attack.
“It’s a bittersweet moment that the Weiss family is reunited with their loved one, even though he’s coming back not as they would have wanted,” said Chen. “But at least they have closure … there are still 49 families waiting to have that closure.”
Chen said his family has received intelligence that his son did not survive the Oct. 7 attack but Hamas has not provided any information about his son’s whereabouts.
Netanyahu details hostage recovery operation
The Israeli prime minister said the body of a dead Israeli and the remains of another were recovered following an operation in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces and the country’s internal security service Shin Bet.
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Netanyahu said Friday one set of remains belongs to Ilan Weiss who was killed on Oct. 7, 2023 while defending Kibbutz Be’eri against attacking Hamas gunmen.
The remains of the second Israeli are now being examined for positive identification at the Institute of Forensic Medicine.
Weiss’ wife Shiri and daughter Noga, also kidnapped in the Hamas attack, were released from captivity in November 2023.
He has two other daughters.
The Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the return of all hostages remains the “highest national priority” and urged the Israeli government to enter into negotiations “and stay at the table until every last hostage comes home.”
Israeli military says attack on Gaza City will intensify
A spokesman for the Israeli military says the country’s forces have started their attack on Gaza City which are operating “with great force” on the city’s outskirts.
Avichay Adraee, the Arabic-speaking spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces, posted on X Friday that the military operation is in its initial phase, but that the Israeli military will “intensify our strikes” and “will not hesitate” until all Israeli hostages are returned and Hamas is dismantled “militarily and politically.”
Adraee said Israel is “not waiting” and is moving ahead with its attack against Hamas which has “transformed from a military organization into a defeated organization waging guerrilla warfare.”
The U.N.’s humanitarian agency said they were “deeply concerned” by the military’s statement that it would intensify its operation in Gaza City.
It predicted that the offensive would have a “horrific impact on people already exhausted, malnourished, bereaved, displaced, and deprived of basics needed for survival.”
It said UN and NGO teams would remain on the ground in Gaza City to provide life-saving support but maintained that its work would need to be facilitated.
Israel says hostage bodies recovered
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the body of Ilan Weiss of Kibbutz Be’eri and the remains of another unnamed hostage were returned to Israel.
“The campaign to return the hostages continues continuously. We will not rest or be silent until we return all of our hostages home — both the living and the dead,” Netanyahu said.
Israel on Friday said its military had recovered the bodies of two hostages, including an Israeli man who was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war.
Of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas-led militants almost 22 months ago, roughly 50 remain in Gaza including 20 that Israel believes to be alive.
Israeli military begins Gaza City offensive
Israel declared Gaza’s largest city a dangerous combat zone and said it was in the ″initial stages″ of a planned offensive that has drawn international condemnation.
The suspension comes weeks after Israel first announced plans to widen its offensive in Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering and enduring famine.
440 people are now sheltering inside Gaza’s only Catholic church, spokesman says
A spokesman for Gaza’s only Catholic church said some 440 people who have taken shelter there had unanimously agreed to stay, despite word that Israel was preparing to mount a new military offensive in the Palestinian territory.
Farid Jubran told The Associated Press Friday that their decision to stay in Gaza City’s Holy Family Catholic Church was made of their own free will and “wasn’t imposed on the people.”
He said five clergy have also stayed in the church to assist those sheltering that include women, children and older people.
But Jubran, who is currently outside of Gaza, said it’s “up to them” if they want to leave the church at some point later.
The spokesman said there are no additional measures that have been taken inside the church to bolster the safety of the people.
He said “when we feel danger, people get closer to the walls or whatever, it’s more protected” but that the church “doesn’t have any specific defenses.”
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Politics
Canada places further sanctions on Russia over Moldova interference claims – National TenX News
Ottawa is placing further sanctions on Russia after allegations that Moscow interfered to influence elections in Moldova, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand’s office said on Thursday.
Canada is imposing sanctions against 16 individuals and two entities under the Special Economic Measures (Moldova) Regulations for their role in “Russia’s malign interference activities in Moldova,” Anand’s office said.
“These individuals have actively participated in coordinated efforts aimed at destabilizing the democratically elected government in Moldova. They are associated with politician and businessman Ilan Shor, who has been sanctioned by Canada, and who fled Moldova in 2019,” the statement continued.
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The list of people who’ve been sanctioned include officials of the Shor Party, a political party led by Ilan Shor. The party was sanctioned by the Canadian government in June 2023.
The list also includes former officials of Moldova and officials of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, “a region in Moldova whose current administration has strong links to Russia.”
Canada is also placing sanctions on members of pro-Russian Moldovan media outlets accused of “disseminating disinformation,” as well as “other participants in Russia’s malign operations abroad.”
The two entities on which Canada placed sanctions Thursday include Victory/Pobeda, a political bloc led by the Shor Party, and a Shor-backed paramilitary group that Canada accused of being “involved in organizing a series of anti-government protests in Moldova in 2023.”
Anand’s office said Canada is rolling out these measures “as political actors and organizations under Mr. Shor’s influence are ramping up their efforts to interfere in Moldova’s next parliamentary elections, which will be held on September 28, 2025.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
U.S. scraps Palestinian officials’ visas ahead of UN General Assembly – National TenX News
Israel launches new offensive in Gaza, says remains of 2 hostages returned – National TenX News
Canada places further sanctions on Russia over Moldova interference claims – National TenX News
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