Man seen with missing Pittsburgh student trying to obtain new passport, lawyers say
ABC News
(PITTSBURGH) — Joshua Riibe, the 22-year-old Minnesota college student who was with University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki the night she went missing on a spring break trip to the Dominican Republic, is trying to get a new passport to return back to the United States, according to his lawyers.
Riibe’s legal team confirmed to ABC News they are trying to get a new U.S. passport for Riibe from the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic.
“The U.S. Embassy is in communication with Mr. Riibe, his family, and his lawyer and is providing all appropriate consular assistance,” the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic told ABC News.
A Dominican judge ruled during a habeus corpus hearing Tuesday that Riibe is free to move without police surveillance around the Dominican Republic, because he is only a witness of an accident, not a suspect. But the judge did not give Riibe his passport back, because he said it was not in his jurisdiction to hand over the passport. The judge did not specify whose jurisdiction it is to give the passport back.
If the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic issues Riibe a new passport, he will be able to use it to leave the country.
Riibe said in court on Tuesday that he is “ready to go home and go back to my life.”
Authorities have said they believe Konancki died by drowning in Punta Cana early on March 6, officials told ABC News.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(MADRID) — Former Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales has been found guilty of sexual assault of stemming from his nonconsensual kiss of footballer Jenni Hermoso at the 2023 World Cup Final.
Spain beat England 1-0, taking home the 2023 World Cup title. Rubiales kissed Hermoso without her consent during the team’s trophy ceremony, which was captured on video and in photos.
Rubiales was suspended from his position in August 2023 after the incident. Nearly the entire coaching staff has resigned amid the controversy.
Rubiales had claimed that the kiss was consensual, but Hermoso publicly denied that claim.
After refusing to resign amid pressure from the Spanish government, players, soccer clubs and officials, he later resigned from his position. In October 2023, Rubiales was banned by FIFA from all soccer activities for three years.
The incident triggered protests and fed into the wider discussion about sexism and consent.
Rubiales could face more than a year in prison.
Last year, a judge said there was enough evidence for Rubiales and three other former executives with the Royal Spanish Football Federation to go to trial.
Prosecutors asked for a two-and-a-half-year sentence for Rubiales, arguing he held Hermoso’s head without her consent and that the nonconsensual kiss had personal and professional consequences for the soccer player, prosecutors told ABC News. He could also face a fine of at least 50,000 euros ($54,000), prosecutors said.
Prosecutors asked for Rubiales to be prohibited from communicating with or coming within a 200-meter radius of Hermoso.
The prosecutor’s office said it also requested one-and-a-half years in prison for the three former executives who the judge said may have put pressure on Hermoso to say it was a consensual kiss.
-ABC News’ Aicha El Hammar Castano contributed to this report
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday escalated a trade war with Canada, imposing a fresh round of tariffs on steel and aluminum products, threatening additional duties, and reiterating a call for Canada to give up its sovereignty and become a part of the United States.
Top Canadian officials responded forcefully, saying the country would keep its countermeasures in place until Trump withdraws U.S. tariffs.
Trump announced the new policies a day after Ontario slapped a 25% surcharge on electricity sent to the U.S., saying that he is adding another 25% tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum, bringing the total to 50%.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the increased tariff “will go into effect TOMORROW MORNING, March 12th.”
The U.S. imports more steel and aluminum from Canada than any other country.
In an interview on Tuesday after Trump’s announcement, Ontario Premier Doug Ford urged Trump to withdraw the tariffs, threatening to further escalate the standoff by shutting off electricity Canada supplies to the U.S.
“That’s the last thing I want to do,” Ford told CNBC. “I want to send more electricity down to the U.S., to our closest allies.”
“Is it a tool in our toolkit? 100%. And as [Trump] continues to hurt Canadian families, Ontario families, I won’t hesitate to do that,” Ford continued.
A spokesperson for Canada’s incoming Prime Minister Mark Carney described Trump’s latest tariffs as an “attack on Canadian workers, families and businesses.”
“My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect and make credible, reliable commitments to free and fair trade,” the spokesperson added in a statement to ABC News.
Trump also said in his post that he will “shortly be declaring a National Emergency on Electricity” in the area impacted by the tariffs from Canada. He said that the national emergency will “allow the U.S to quickly do what has to be done” to respond to the tariff from Canada, without providing any specifics on what actions the U.S. might take.
Earlier Tuesday, Ford urged Trump to reconsider his tariffs, saying that they are “causing chaos.”
“Markets are tanking. He needs to drop his tariffs and come to the table to negotiate a fair trade deal. Until he does, we won’t back down,” Ford said in a post on X.
The announcement from Trump escalated a trade war between set off last week after the U.S. imposed 25% tariffs on imports from Canada. In a near-immediate response, Canada slapped a 25% retaliatory tariff on $30 billion worth of goods. Tariffs on an additional $125 billion worth of products will take effect in 21 days, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said
Trudeau sharply criticized the tariffs, calling them a “dumb” policy that does not “make sense.”
The tit-for-tat measures reignited a trade war that had been averted a month earlier, when Trump paused the implementation of tariffs after reaching an agreement with Canada on border enforcement.
In late February, Trump alleged that illicit drugs such as fentanyl had continued to enter the U.S. through Canada, despite the agreements reached weeks earlier to address the issue.
Since September, nearly all fentanyl seized by the U.S. came through the Southern border with Mexico, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agency. Less than 1% of fentanyl was seized at the northern border with Canada, the CBP found.
The reason for the tariffs is based on a false allegation about Canada as a major source of drugs entering the U.S., Trudeau said last week.
As part of his announcement on Tuesday, Trump threatened to impose additional retaliatory tariffs on Canada if duties on U.S. goods remain in place.
“If other egregious, long time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada, I will substantially increase, on April 2nd, the Tariffs on Cars coming into the U.S. which will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada,” Trump said in the Truth Social post.
He also called on Canada to drop their tariffs on dairy farmers, and again asserted that Canada should become America’s 51st state.
“The artificial line of separation drawn many years ago will finally disappear, and we will have the safest and most beautiful Nation anywhere in the World – And your brilliant anthem, “O Canada,” will continue to play, but now representing a GREAT and POWERFUL STATE within the greatest Nation that the World has ever seen!,” Trump said in the post.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
ABC News’ William Gretsky contributed to this report.
Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(BOSTON) — A doctor who was arriving in the United States to teach medicine was detained at Boston’s Logan International Airport on March 13, according to legal documents obtained by ABC News.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh had a valid H1B visa, or work visa, that had been issued on March 11. A Lebanese citizen, she was employed by Brown University as an assistant professor of medicine.
A kidney transplant specialist, Alawieh had also previously trained at both the University of Washington and Yale University.
The legal filing claimed that Brown’s Division of Nephrology was “extremely distressed.”
“She is an assistant professor and has serious responsibilities,” the document attested. “Her colleagues have been covering for her, but that is no solution. Dr. Alawieh is an outstanding academic in Transplant Nephrology, and she is needed at Brown Medicine.”
Also according to the legal documents, DHS officials gave no reason for her detention.
Customs and Border Protection did not respond to ABC News’ questions regarding her whereabouts and did not disclose why she was denied entry into the U.S.
However, Hilton Beckham, CBP’s Assistant Commissioner of Public Affairs, shared a statement saying, “Arriving aliens bear the burden of establishing admissibility to the United States. Our CBP Officers adhere to strict protocols to identify and stop threats, using rigorous screening, vetting, strong law enforcement partnerships, and keen inspectional skills to keep threats out of the country. CBP is committed to protecting the United States from national security threats.”
A U.S. district court judge in Massachusetts ordered that Alawieh should not be deported without 48 hours’ notice and a reason why from DHS.
Instead, according to a notice of apparent violation, DHS “willfully” disregarded the court order and deported Alawieh to France, with a scheduled flight to continue on to Lebanon. It is unconfirmed if that deportation took place as planned.
