IndustryStandard

Donald Trump insisted his trade war with much of the world was “doing really well” despite mounting fears of recession and as Beijing hit back and again hiked tariffs on US exports to China.

As the US president said his aggressive tariffs strategy was “moving along quickly”, a closely watched economic survey revealed that US consumer expectations for price growth had soared to a four-decade high.

The White House maintains that the US economy is on the verge of a “golden age”, however, and that dozens of countries – now facing a US tariff of 10% after Trump shelved plans to impose higher rates until July – are scrambling to make deals.

Israel’s military is organising hiking tours for civilians in newly occupied Syrian territory during the Passover holiday, local media has reported. The twice-daily tours in the contested Golan Heights will run for a week beginning this Sunday. Tickets sold out almost immediately.

Under a military escort in bulletproof buses, small groups will travel up to 2.5km into Syrian territory that was off limits until the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) seized the Golan buffer zone after the fall of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in December. Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since 1967 and now controls hundreds more square kilometres of Syrian land.

The United Nations says Palestinian women and children were the only fatalities in at least three dozen Israeli air strikes on Gaza since mid-March, as it warned that Israel’s military offensive threatens Palestinians’ “continued existence as a group”.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Friday that the office had documented 224 Israeli strikes on residential buildings and tents for displaced people in the Gaza Strip between March 18 and April 9.

The findings come as Israel’s attacks on Gaza have killed more than 1,500 Palestinians since the Israeli military broke a ceasefire in March, according to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Israeli troops fired more than 100 times during an attack in which they killed 15 emergency workers in Gaza, with some shots from as close as 12m (39ft) away, a forensic audio analysis of mobile phone footage commissioned by BBC Verify has found.

Two audio experts examined a 19-minute video authenticated by BBC Verify, showing the incident and the moments leading up to it near Rafah on 23 March.

The findings support a claim made by the Palestinian Red Crescent that the workers were "targeted from a very close range". On 5 April an Israeli army official said aerial footage showed troops opening fire "from afar".

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) declined to comment on the analysis directly when approached by BBC Verify.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz says the country will retain control of a buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt, including the critical Philadelphi Corridor, even if a deal is reached to end the war.

Speaking during a visit to the new “Morag corridor” between the southern Gaza cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, Katz said the Israeli government is also working to advance Trump’s plan to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza.

“Large areas are being seized and added to Israel’s security zones, leaving Gaza smaller and more isolated,” said Katz.

LONDON/SYDNEY, April 9 (Reuters) - Global markets took a pummelling on Wednesday as President Donald Trump's eye-watering 104% tariffs on China came into effect, and a savage selloff in U.S. bonds sparked fears that foreign funds were fleeing U.S. assets.

This week has brought crisis-era volatility to markets, wiping off trillions of dollars in value from stocks and hitting commodities and emerging markets with force.

At the epicentre of the rout on Wednesday were U.S. Treasuries and the dollar, effectively the backbone of the global financial system..

The dollar - the ultimate safe haven in times of turmoil - fell broadly, as investors dashed into the likes of gold and the Swiss franc, accelerating the flight from stocks and industrial commodities.

Search efforts continued early on Wednesday after nearly 100 people died in a nightclub roof collapse in the Dominican Republic.

The popular Dominican merengue singer Rubby Pérez, who was performing at the Jet Set nightclub before hundreds of people when the collapse occurred shortly after midnight on Tuesday, was one of those killed, according to his manager.

Relatives of clubgoers gathered around the disaster site in the capital, Santo Domingo, as rescuers ferried the injured to hospital and used a crane to remove debris.

“We have some friends here, a niece, a cousin, some friends, who are in the rubble,” said Rodolfo Espinal as he waited for information on his loved ones.

About 370 rescue personnel combed mounds of fallen bricks, steel bars and tin sheets for survivors.

An immigration judge ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration has until 5pm on Wednesday to present evidence as to why Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, should be deported. She said that if the evidence does not support deportation, she may rule on Friday on his release from immigration detention.

Khalil, a green-card holder and leader in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year, was detained on 8 March. The Trump administration claims that his presence has adverse foreign policy consequences, an argument decried by his legal team as a blatant free speech violation. The government has not provided any evidence that he broke the law, a typical condition for revoking permanent residency.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can “either can provide sufficient evidence or not”, said the judge, Jamee Comans, from her courtroom in Jena, Louisiana. “If he’s not removable, I’m going to terminate this case on Friday.”

The US and China are heading towards an all-out trade war, after Donald Trump unleashed a fresh wave of tariffs against dozens of partners that triggered a fresh day of stock market turmoil on Wednesday.

Despite the market chaos, China’s government was unbowed, reiterating threats of further countermeasures and saying it was unwilling to fight a trade war but “will never sit idly by and watch the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese people be damaged and deprived”.

The global economy has been rocked since sweeping 10% US tariffs took effect over the weekend, prompting dramatic market sell-offs worldwide and sparking recession fears.

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NEW YORK, N.Y. — Pro-Palestine demonstrators temporarily shut down Grand Central Station on Monday in a disruptive protest coinciding with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House, according to the New York Police Department and protest organizers.

The demonstration, organized by the group Within Our Lifetime, began outside the United Nations headquarters before protesters marched to Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. Videos posted online show crowds blocking entrances and holding banners inside and outside the station.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sharply criticized the protest and called for accountability. “Disgusting. These antisemitic mobs shutting down transit centers need to be condemned and the organizers should be held accountable,” Duffy wrote on X. “Now, they have to worry about pro-Hamas agitators. Enough is enough.”