Politics
U.S. couple finally home after month in Mexican prison over timeshare dispute – National TenX News
A Michigan couple has been released from a Mexican prison after spending nearly a month behind bars over a payment dispute with a timeshare company.
Paul, 58, and Christy Akeo, 60, “have been released from custody and have returned to Lansing, Michigan,” according to a statement from their lawyers on April 3.
Prosecutors in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo accused the couple of cancelling 13 credit card payments to a hotel chain worth approximately $116,500 in 2022, which they said constituted fraud, CNN reported.
The couple denied the allegations, saying that their credit card company had refunded the amount when the resort firm, The Palace Company, failed to provide services that were promised. A judge dismissed the criminal case and ordered the release of the couple after the state attorney of Quintana Roo reached an agreement with the Akeos and the timeshare company.
Under the terms of the agreement, $116,587.84 will be donated to a non-profit organization in Mexico benefiting orphan children.
“Each party regrets that this incident occurred,” a joint statement from the Akeos and The Palace Company said.
The couple was taken into custody shortly after their plane landed in Cancun on March 4 for allegedly defrauding the hospitality company, Palace Elite Resorts. The company previously claimed the couple had defrauded it through $117,000 of chargebacks on their American Express card after they purchased a timeshare membership with them several years earlier.
Palace Elite Resorts filed a complaint with the Mexican public prosecutor, which led to the arrests of the Akeos.
The couple denied the company’s allegations, and their law firm said that they were “held captive for 32 days in Cereso Cancun prison.”
“Make no mistake, what they’re doing is they are holding two Americans hostage because they want them to pay them money,” the couple’s lawyer John Manly told CBS.
Michigan Republican Rep. Tom Barrett travelled to Mexico to visit the couple and bring them back home.
Barrett posted on X on April 2, demanding “their release after learning yesterday of their deteriorating physical condition.”
“Enough is enough, after spending nearly a month in a maximum security Mexican prison over what amounts to a contract dispute on a time-share, it’s long overdue for the Mexican authorities to release Paul and Christy,” Barrett wrote.
In another post, Barrett said he travelled directly to the prison where the Akeos were being held upon landing in Mexico.
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“I met with them personally for an hour and learned of the horrific conditions they are facing — rubbled walls, overcrowded cells, toilets that don’t flush, and disgusting food. This has left them scared, frustrated, and struggling to find hope. I assured them that I am doing everything I can to urgently secure their safe release,” Barrett wrote.
He said that following the meeting with the Akeos, he met with the president of Quintana Roo Supreme Court to “expedite any relief we can provide.”
One day later, Barrett shared a video of the Akeos boarding a plane to return to Michigan, writing, “Paul and Christy Akeo are coming home. Mission accomplished.”
On March 24, the couple’s daughter, Lindsey Hull, said her mother and stepfather were being “held without bail in a maximum-security Mexican prison” in a Facebook post.
“The last 21 days of being held captive is a direct result of my parents simply challenging wrongful credit card charges made by The Palace Company, aka Palace Resorts with American Express. American Express sided with my mom and Paul as a response to these wrongful charges,” Hull wrote in a statement on March 24.
“The last 21 days of torture my parents have been through is a direct response of The Palace Company’s corruption, extortion, retaliation and blackmail against our parents. The Palace Company is demanding $250,000, the signing of an NDA that does not even guarantee their release, as well as a Facebook post made by our parents to be left up for 1 week claiming all responsibility and fault for the torture they have endured throughout the last 3 weeks,” Hull continued.
Hull claimed that The Palace Company was also demanding a public apology from her parents, which she said was “absolutely sickening.”
“My mom and Paul are being denied medical attention, denied proper communication and publicly defamed. They have been held captive in prison for 21 days and despite asking numerous times to speak to Paul, we have yet to have ANY communication with him,” Hull wrote.
“My mom has lost 25 lbs. in 20 days due to inability to eat as the prison is serving her food they are aware she is allergic to. She also has a severe rash all over her body they refuse to treat,” she added.
Hull said she had brought up her concerns with the U.S. Consulate over the course of three weeks, however they allegedly didn’t organize any visitation with jailed U.S. citizens until “17 days into their imprisonment.”
“In other words, the US Consulate and the US Embassy have been nothing short of useless,” Hull added.
She said that her family had spent “thousands upon thousands of dollars towards Mexican legal representation.”
“But unfortunately that only goes so far when dealing with this level of corruption and extortion. We have also met prior demands given to us by The Palace Company and yet they have had no serious response to letting our parents free,” Hull claimed in her post.
Hull shared a video of her parents returning home on April 4, writing, “When mom and dad are finally home after 30 days!!!”
After their return, the couple’s lawyers thanked Special Envoy Adam Boehler, U.S. President Donald Trump and Barrett, calling him a “hero in my book.”
“President Trump, I know he personally got involved with this and wanted them home, so I give him a lot of credit,” Manly said to CNN. “No American should have to endure what these people have endured. But for these three men, I think they’d still be sitting there.”
In a statement, Hull thanked government officials for helping to organize her parents’ release and noted Barrett’s efforts.
“He traveled to Cancun at great personal risk, camped out at the prison and made it clear that he would not return home without them,” she said in a statement on April 3. “His heroic efforts as a veteran represent the finest traditions of our nation’s military to never leave an American behind.”
“No American should be held hostage to the demands of a private company anywhere in the world,” she said.
Hull added her parents will be treated for “illnesses and trauma” inflicted upon them during their captivity.
— With files from Reuters
Politics
UK refuses to invite Israeli government officials to London arms fair over the war in Gaza – National TenX News
The U.K. has barred Israeli government officials from attending the country’s biggest arms fair over growing concern about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The decision does not cover representatives of Israeli defense contractors, who will be allowed to attend the DSEI UK exhibition, scheduled for Sept. 9-12 in London. The event was formerly known as Defense and Security Equipment International.
“The Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong,” the British government said in a statement. “As a result, we can confirm that no Israeli government delegation will be invited to attend DSEI UK 2025.”
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The decision comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer in July announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel takes steps to end the crisis in Gaza, agrees to a ceasefire with Hamas and commits to a long-term peace agreement. Britain previously barred sales to Israel of any arms that could be used in the nearly 23-month war in Gaza.
Israel’s Defense Ministry said the decision was based on politics and “serves extremists.”
“These restrictions amount to a deliberate and regrettable act of discrimination against Israel’s representatives,” the ministry said.
The Israeli ministry said it would withdraw from the exhibition and will not establish a national pavilion.
Pro-Palestinian and anti-war groups have announced plans to for protests during DSEI, which will take place at the Excel center in east London.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Politics
Israel soon will halt or slow aid to northern Gaza as military offensive grows – National TenX News
Israel will soon halt or slow humanitarian aid into parts of northern Gaza as it expands its military offensive against Hamas, an official said Saturday, a day after Gaza City was declared a combat zone.
The decision was likely to bring more condemnation of Israel’s government as frustration grows in the country and abroad over dire conditions for both Palestinians and remaining hostages in Gaza after nearly 23 months of war.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, told The Associated Press that Israel will stop airdrops over Gaza City in the coming days and reduce the number of aid trucks arriving in the north as it prepares to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people south.
Israel on Friday ended recently imposed daytime pauses in fighting to allow aid delivery, describing Gaza City as a Hamas stronghold and alleging that a tunnel network remains in use, despite previous large-scale raids. The United Nations and partners have said the pauses, airdrops and other measures fell far short of the 600 trucks of aid needed daily in Gaza.
A ‘massive population movement’ coming
AP video footage showed several large explosions across Gaza overnight. Israel’s military Saturday evening said it had struck a key Hamas member in the area of Gaza City, with no details.
In recent days, Israel’s military has increased strikes on the outskirts of Gaza City, where famine was recently documented and declared by global food security experts.
By Saturday there had been no airdrops for several days across Gaza, a break from almost daily ones. Israel’s army didn’t respond to a request for comment or say how it would provide aid to Palestinians during another major shift in Gaza’s population of over 2 million people.
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“Such an evacuation would trigger a massive population movement that no area in the Gaza Strip can absorb, given the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the extreme shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care,” Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement.
It’s impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City can be done in a safe and dignified way, she said.
Hundreds of residents have begun leaving Gaza City, piling their remaining possessions onto pickup trucks or donkey carts. Many have been forced to leave their homes more than once.
Killed while seeking food
Israeli gunfire killed four people trying to get aid in central Gaza, according to health officials at Al-Awda Hospital, were the bodies were taken.
An Israeli strike on a bakery in Gaza City’s Nasr neighborhood killed 12 people including six women and three children, the Shifa Hospital director told the AP, and a strike on the Rimal neighborhood killed seven.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said another 10 people died as a result of starvation and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, including three children. It said at least 332 Palestinians have died from malnutrition-related causes during the war, including 124 children.
At least 63,371 Palestinians have died in Gaza during the war, said the ministry, which does not say how many are fighters or civilians but says around half have been women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.
“There is no food and even water is not available. When it is available, it is not safe to drink,” said Amer Zayed, as he waited for food from a charity kitchen in Deir al-Balah on Friday.
“The suffering gets worse when there are more displaced people,” he added.
Israelis rally again to demand a ceasefire deal
Israelis waited to hear the identity of the remains of a hostage that Israel on Friday said had been recovered in Gaza. It also said it recovered the remains of hostage Ilan Weiss.
Forty-eight hostages now remain in Gaza of the over 250 seized in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Israel had believed 20 are still alive.
Their loved ones fear the expanding military offensive will put them in even more danger, and they were rallying again Saturday to demand a ceasefire deal to bring everyone home.
“Netanyahu, if another living hostage comes back in a bag, it will not only be the hostages and their families who pay the price. You will bear responsibility for premeditated murder,” Zahiro Shahar Mor, nephew of hostage Avraham Munder, said in Tel Aviv.
© 2025 The Canadian 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.
UK refuses to invite Israeli government officials to London arms fair over the war in Gaza – National TenX News
Israel soon will halt or slow aid to northern Gaza as military offensive grows – National TenX News
U.S. scraps Palestinian officials’ visas ahead of UN General Assembly – National TenX News
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