Donald Trump is poised to unleash his trade war with the world on Wednesday, pressing ahead with a slew of tariffs on the US’s largest trading partners despite fears of widespread economic damage and calls to reconsider.

The US president claimed “many” countries were seeking a deal with Washington, as his administration prepared to impose steep tariffs on goods from dozens of markets from Wednesday.

However, Beijing vowed to “fight to the end” after Trump threatened to hit Chinese exports with additional 50% tariffs if the country proceeds with plans to retaliate against his initial vow to impose tariffs of 34% on its products. That would come on top of the existing 20% levy and take the total tariff on Chinese imports to 104%.

The White House confirmed that the higher US tariffs on China would, indeed, be imposed from Wednesday. “President Trump has a spine of steel and he will not break,” the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said. “And America will not break under his leadership.”

The billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk has also reportedly asked the president to reverse course, and the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a libertarian group funded by organisations affiliated with conservative businessmen Leonard Leo and Charles Koch, filed a lawsuit against the “illegal” tariffs.

The latest tariffs are higher than the 10% flat rate imposed on all global imports to the US on Friday last week and are tailored to specific countries based on a formula that has been criticised by economists that divides trade in goods deficit by twice the total value of imports.

After days of turmoil since they were first revealed last week, global markets initially recovered some ground on Tuesday as senior US officials attempted to reassure investors that the new tariffs – including rates of 20% on the European Union, 26% on India and 49% on Cambodia – could be temporary.

But the bounce didn’t last long. On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 closed down 1.6%, at 4,982.77 – below 5,000 for the first time in more than a year – as the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.8%. The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite also came under pressure, dropping 2.2%.

Earlier in the day, the FTSE 100 rallied by 2.7% in London, recovering some of the losses it has endured since Trump’s announcement – on what was dubbed “liberation day” by his aides – last week. The Nikkei 225 rallied 6% in Tokyo. The Hang Seng Index rose 1.5% in Hong Kong.

Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, has insisted the new tariffs are at “maximum” levels, and expressed confidence that negotiations will bring them down.

“I think you are going to see some very large countries with large trade deficits [with the US] come forward very quickly,” he told CNBC, the financial news network, on Tuesday. “If they come to the table with solid proposals, I think we can end up with some good deals.”

Trump was asked on Monday whether the tariffs set the stage for negotiations with countries, or were permanent. “Well, it can both be true,” he told reporters. “There can be permanent tariffs, and there can also be negotiations.”

But he again raised the prospect of agreements with countries on Tuesday, trailing a potential deal with South Korea.

“Their top TEAM is on a plane heading to the US, and things are looking good,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “We are likewise dealing with many other countries, all of whom want to make a deal with the United States.”

The president added: “‘ONE STOP SHOPPING’ is a beautiful and efficient process!!! China also wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started. We are waiting for their call. It will happen!”

Rachel Reeves, the UK chancellor, sought to ease concerns about market volatility, telling parliament she had spoken to Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, who confirmed “markets are functioning effectively and that our banking system is resilient”.

A trade war “is in nobody’s interest”, Reeves argued, confirming that the UK was seeking to negotiate a new deal with the US. Trump has imposed a 10% tariff on UK exports, in line with the minimum benchmark introduced at the weekend.

She declined to back calls from Liberal Democrats for the government to launch a “buy British” campaign. “In terms of buying British, I think everyone will make their own decisions,” Reeves said. “What we don’t want to see is a trade war, with Britain becoming inward-looking.”

China adopted an altogether different stance. In a scathing editorial, the official state news outlet Xinhua accused the US president of “naked extortion”.

“Utterly absurd is the underlying logic of the United States: ‘I can hit you at my will, and you must not respond. Instead, you must surrender unconditionally,’” it said. “This is not diplomacy. It is blunt coercion dressed up as policy.”

On social media a 1987 speech by Ronald Reagan posted by China’s foreign ministry has been widely shared. The video clip, in which the former US president criticises the use of tariffs as leading to retaliation and ultimately hurting the US economy, “has a new meaning in 2025”, China’s the Paper said.

Bessent argued on Tuesday that China was making a “big mistake” by daring to retaliate. “They’re playing with a pair of twos,” he claimed on CNBC. “What do we lose by the Chinese raising tariffs on us? We export one-fifth to them of what they export to us, so that is a losing hand for them.”

Elon Musk made personal, repeated attempts to try to get Donald Trump to back off from the wave of global tariffs that have created turmoil in international markets, it was reported on Tuesday.

Musk’s failure to get Trump to listen, however, is evidence to some observers of a growing rift between the US president and the world’s richest person, who has been leading the White House’s efforts to curb federal spending as head of the unofficial department of government efficiency (Doge).

Two sources confirmed to the Washington Post that Musk had made a number of personal approaches to Trump over the weekend to try to persuade him to reverse the slate of trade tariffs he announced last Thursday on a vast number of countries, many of them longstanding US allies.

Their imposition tanked stock markets worldwide on Monday, wiped trillions of dollars from the values of numerous companies, and dinged the wealth of several billionaire friends of Trump, including Musk, a founder of Tesla and SpaceX, and owner of X – whose personal fortune fell below $300bn for the first time since last year, according to reports.

Trump’s strategy has also drawn widespread criticism from economists, political opponents and even some members of his Republican party, with a rightwing libertarian group that has been funded by the conservative businessmen Leonard Leo and Charles Koch filing a lawsuit against the “illegal” tariffs.

The Post did not publish details of the conversations between Musk and Trump. But the president ultimately disregarded the representations and doubled down on his policy on Monday by threatening to impose an additional 50% tariff on China after it responded to the original trade levy by announcing a 34% tariff on US imports.

At the same time as Musk was pleading with Trump, he was appearing online at a rightwing conference in Italy calling for zero tariffs between the US and the European Union. “That has certainly been my advice to the president,” he told attenders of the far-right League party conference in Florence.

On Monday, Musk escalated an insult-heavy social media feud with Peter Navarro, a key Trump ally and White House trade adviser said to be a guiding force behind the tariffs strategy.

Over the weekend, in response to a video Navarro posted about the administration’s rationale for the tariff strategy, Musk attacked Navarro’s master’s degree in economics from Harvard University. Musk did the same in a reply to a commentator who praised the Navarro video, writing: “He ain’t built shit.”

More name-calling followed on Monday, after Navarro called Musk a “car assembler” rather than a manufacturer because many Tesla electric vehicle (EV) parts come from overseas.

“Navarro truly is a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false,” Musk said in one post. In another, he wrote a derogatory term for somebody with a learning disability and added: “Tesla has the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks.”

Neither the Trump administration nor Musk responded to requests for comment.

The Post said Musk’s opposition to what has become Trump’s signature economic policy “marks the highest-profile disagreement between the president and one of his key advisers”. It follows reports that the billionaire will soon be leaving government to return to running his businesses.

Experts, however, expect the split to be amicable, with Musk set to retain close ties and influence with the president as well as on US politics generally.

“Elon is fantastic,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his way to Florida on Thursday, saying he wished Musk could stay in government but wanted to return to his various companies.

Tesla, in particular, has seen a sharp drop in sales of EVs in the US and Europe since Musk began his work for Doge. A backlash to Musk’s politics materialized in the form of protests and vandalism at his vehicle dealerships.

The FBI announced in March that it was forming a taskforce to target violence at Tesla sales points and charging stations, which included the discovery of incendiary devices at a dealership in Austin, Texas, and the arrest of a man in West Palm Beach, Florida, who allegedly tried to use an SUV to strike a group of protesters.

Shares in Tesla were trading at $233.29 at market close on Monday, Reuters reported, down more than 42% since the beginning of the year.

More trouble for Musk could be looming in Washington DC over potential conflicts of interest involving SpaceX, a key Nasa contractor.

The Democratic congressmen Gerald Connolly and Maxwell Frost have written to Nasa’s chief legal officer seeking information about $38bn in government contracts awarded to SpaceX at a time when Musk’s Doge is gutting federal spending and slashing jobs at numerous federal institutions, including the US government’s space agency.

“At Nasa, where Mr Musk has both benefited from significant contracts and has the potential to receive vast amounts of new business, his defiance of recusal laws and control of operations directly benefit his businesses,” the Democrats wrote.

“The known conflicts of interest presented by this arrangement are illegal and must be addressed immediately.”

Donald Trump is poised to unleash his trade war with the world on Wednesday, pressing ahead with a slew of tariffs on the US’s largest trading partners despite fears of widespread economic damage and calls to reconsider.

The US president claimed “many” countries were seeking a deal with Washington, as his administration prepared to impose steep tariffs on goods from dozens of markets from Wednesday.

However, Beijing vowed to “fight to the end” after Trump threatened to hit Chinese exports with additional 50% tariffs if the country proceeds with plans to retaliate against his initial vow to impose tariffs of 34% on its products. That would come on top of the existing 20% levy and take the total tariff on Chinese imports to 104%.

Here are the key stories at a glance:

Catching up? Here’s what happened on 7 April.

Donald Trump signed four executive orders on Tuesday aimed at reviving coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel that has long been in decline, and which substantially contributes to planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.

Environmentalists expressed dismay at the news, saying that Trump was stuck in the past and wanted to make utility customers “pay more for yesterday’s energy”.

The US president is using emergency authority to allow some older coal-fired power plants scheduled for retirement to keep producing electricity.

The move, announced at a White House event on Tuesday afternoon, was described by White House officials as being in response to increased US power demand from growth in datacenters, artificial intelligence and electric cars.

Trump, standing in front of a group of miners in hard hats, said he would sign an executive order “that slashes unnecessary regulations that targeted the beautiful, clean coal”.

He added that “we will rapidly expedite leases for coal mining on federal lands”, “streamline permitting”, “end the government bias against coal” and use the Defense Production Act “to turbocharge coal mining in America”.

The first order directed all departments and agencies to “end all discriminatory policies against the coal industry” including by ending the leasing moratorium on coal on federal land and accelerate all permitted funding for coal projects.

The second imposes a moratorium on the “unscientific and unrealistic policies enacted by the Biden administration” to protect coal power plants currently operating.

The third promotes “grid security and reliability” by ensuring that grid policies are focused on “secure and effective energy production” as opposed to “woke” policies that “discriminate against secure sources of power like coal and other fossil fuels”.

The fourth instructs the justice department to “vigorously pursue and investigate” the “unconstitutional” policies of “radically leftist states” that “discriminate against coal”.

Trump’s approach is in contrast to that of his predecessor Joe Biden, who in May last year brought in new climate rules requiring huge cuts in carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants that some experts said were “probably terminal” for an industry that until recently provided most of the US’s power, but is being driven out of the sector by cheaper renewables and gas.

Trump, a Republican, has long promised to boost what he calls “beautiful” coal to fire power plants and for other uses, but the industry has been in decline for decades.

The EPA under Trump last month announced a barrage of actions to weaken or repeal a host of pollution limits, including seeking to overturn the Biden-era plan to reduce the number of coal plants.

The orders direct the interior secretary, Doug Burgum, to “acknowledge the end” of an Obama-era moratorium that paused coal leasing on federal lands and to require federal agencies to rescind policies transitioning the nation away from coal production.

The orders also seek to promote coal and coal technology exports and to accelerate development of coal technologies.

Trump has long suggested that coal can help meet surging electricity demand from manufacturing and the massive datacenters needed for artificial intelligence.

“Nothing can destroy coal. Not the weather, not a bomb – nothing,” Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, by video link in January. “And we have more coal than anybody.”

Energy experts say any bump for coal under Trump is likely to be temporary because natural gas is cheaper and there is a durable market for renewable energy such as wind and solar power no matter who holds the White House.

Environmental groups were scathing about the orders, pointing out that coal is in steep decline in the US compared with the increasingly cheap option of renewable energy. This year, 93% of the power added to the US grid will be from solar, wind and batteries, according to forecasts from Trump’s own administration.

“What’s next, a mandate that Americans must commute by horse and buggy?” said Kit Kennedy, managing director of power at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“Coal plants are old and dirty, uncompetitive and unreliable. The Trump administration is stuck in the past, trying to make utility customers pay more for yesterday’s energy. Instead, it should be doing all it can to build the electricity grid of the future.”

Clean energy, such as solar and wind, is now so affordable that 99% of the existing US coal fleet costs more just to keep running than to retire a coal plant and replace it with renewables, a 2023 Energy Innovation report found.

Despite promises to bolster the US manufacturing industry, the Trump administration is reportedly planning to cut a key program that invests in some of the biggest manufacturing industries in the US, including in JD Vance’s home town of Middletown, Ohio.

Donald Trump is looking to slash a $500m grant from the Biden administration that was slated for Cleveland-Cliffs, a steel manufacturing giant in America’s rust belt, according to reporting from CNN. The grant was intended to help the company upgrade its ageing blast furnaces, so they would be powered by hydrogen, natural gas and electricity instead of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel.

Internal administration documents obtained by CNN reportedly lay out intentions to cut these grants, which would have created more than 100 permanent jobs and 1,200 construction jobs. Sources told CNN that representatives from the “department of government efficiency” had been involved in deciding which funding programs to cut.

Marcy Kaptur, the Ohio representative, told CNN in a statement: “An unelected billionaire who made his vast fortune off government contracts should not be able to unilaterally stop these programs,” referring to Elon Musk, whose Doge has continuously cut funding and jobs across the federal government.

When the grant was first announced, it was met with excitement among residents and unions, promising new jobs and a more climate-friendly agenda.

“It felt like a miracle, an answered prayer that we weren’t going to be left to die on the vine,” Michael Bailey, who worked at the plant for 30 years, told the Guardian.

Trump has long been an outspoken fan of coal, and the US vice-president referred to the clean energy legislation as a “green scam”. When Trump won the election in November last year, those who worked in the Ohio steel manufacturing industry and climate advocates were immediately fearful that the promised grant would never be delivered.

“It’s no surprise that he’s now threatening to gut a $500m investment in US manufacturing in his own home town,” said Pete Jones, rapid response director at Climate Power.

“Vance wrote a book about economic hardship in his home town, and now he has 900 new pages from Trump’s dangerous Project 2025 agenda to make the problem worse so big oil can profit.”

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his government is seeking clarification from Beijing after Ukrainian forces captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk region.

• Zelenskyy said the captured fighters were two of many more Chinese members of the Russian armed forces, and he accused the Kremlin of trying to involve Beijing in the conflict “directly or indirectly”. A few hundred Chinese nationals are thought to have travelled to fight as mercenaries with the Russian army alongside others from Nepal and central Asian countries.

• US state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce called the development “disturbing”, adding: “China is a major enabler of Russia in the war in Ukraine.”

• Russian forces staged massive drone attacks on the Ukrainian cities of Dnipro and Kharkiv late on Tuesday, triggering fires and injuring at least 17 people, regional officials said. In eastern Donetsk, the focal point of the 1,000-km (600-mile) frontline in the more than three-year-old war, a residential area came under attack in the city of Kramatorsk and local officials said residents were injured. In Dnipro, the attack sparked a fire, damaged houses and cars and injured 14 people, Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Telegram.

• Russia says it is close to regaining full control of its western Kursk region after pushing Ukrainian forces from one of their last footholds there. Russia’s defence ministry released a video of what it said was the recapture of the settlement of Guyevo set to dramatic music, showing smoke rising into the air from various buildings, a soldier waving the Russian flag from the window of a heavily damaged Orthodox church, and Russian troops carrying out house-to-house checks in case any Ukrainian soldiers were hiding. Ukraine officials have not commented on Russia’s claims, but its general staff said in a statement its planes had struck a complex of hangars and military buildings in the region being used by Russian drone operators and maintenance workers.

• The US senate has confirmed the appointment of Elbridge Colby as its top policy adviser at the Pentagon, despite concerns he had downplayed threats from Russia and Vladimir Putin. Colby previously questioned whether Russia actually invaded Ukraine, echoing a false Kremlin talking point. After side-stepping repeated questions on whether he believed Russia did invade the country, he was forced to agree it had.

• US and Russian delegates will hold talks on Thursday in Istanbul on restoring some of their embassy operations that have been drastically scaled back following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the US state department confirmed.

Ukrainian forces have captured two Chinese nationals fighting with the Russian army in the eastern Donetsk region, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Ukrainian president said they were two of many more Chinese members of the Russian armed forces, and he accused the Kremlin of trying to involve Beijing in the conflict “directly or indirectly”.

Zelenskyy said he would ask his foreign minister “to immediately contact Beijing and clarify how China intends to respond to this”, though it was not clear if the captured soldiers had been sent at the behest of their government or were individuals who had chosen for themselves to sign up.

A few hundred Chinese nationals are thought to have travelled to fight as mercenaries with the Russian army alongside others from Nepal and central Asian countries. Their status appears to be different to that of the 11,000 soldiers from North Korea who were deployed on the frontline after a political agreement between Pyongyang and Moscow.

Zelenskyy said identity documents, bank cards and personal data were found in the possession of the two men captured, and that his country’s domestic security agency, the SBU, was “verifying all the facts”.

He argued that the capture of the two men indicated that Russia had no interest in agreeing to a ceasefire in US-brokered peace negotiations, which have made only limited progress over the past two months.

“Russia’s involvement of China, along with other countries, whether directly or indirectly, in this war in Europe is a clear signal that Putin intends to do anything but end the war. He is looking for ways to continue fighting,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.

He said the development “definitely requires a response” from the US, Europe and “all those around the world who want peace”. There was no immediate reaction from Moscow or Beijing.

Below his post on X, Zelenskyy released a short video apparently showing a captured soldier, his hands tied, speaking in Mandarin. Prisoners of war are protected from public curiosity according to the Geneva conventions and should not have their images published online.

China says it is a neutral party in the conflict. Russia makes heavy use of Chinese-made components in its arms industry, and Ukraine does so to some extent. Both sides make significant use of Mavic drones from the Chinese manufacturer DJI, though Kyiv is trying to reduce its dependence on products from Beijing.

Western sources said it was early to reach definitive conclusions about the captured individuals. But one official said that so far “we’re not seeing evidence of state sponsorship here”, indicating an initial belief that the captured soldiers had acted on their own initiative.

Individuals from about 70 countries, including the US, UK and other European countries, have fought with Ukraine’s military. Some units, such as the Azov brigade, have actively sought to recruit foreigners to bolster forces depleted after more than three years of war.

In a letter marking one month since his detention by immigration authorities, Noor Abdalla vowed to continue to fight for the release of her husband, Mahmoud Khalil, and for the right to speak up on behalf of Palestinian rights.

“We will not be silenced,” she said. “We will persist, with even greater resolve, and we will pass that strength on to our children and our children’s children – until Palestine is free.”

Khalil, the recent Columbia graduate and Palestinian activist, was detained on 8 March and remains in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention in Louisiana. The Trump administration is seeking to deport him.

“Exactly a month ago, you were taken from me,” Abdalla, who is nine months pregnant with their first child, wrote in the letter addressed to her husband and published exclusively in the Guardian. “As the days draw us closer to the arrival of our child, I am haunted by the uncertainty that looms over me – the possibility that you might not be there for this monumental moment.”

Khalil helped lead Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protests last spring. His arrest was the first in what has become a mounting series of actions by the Trump administration to deport international students – some over their pro-Palestinian activism, others for reasons unclear to them.

Abdalla, a 28-year-old dentist residing in New York, is a US citizen who was born and raised in Michigan. Her parents immigrated to the US from Syria about 40 years ago. She was with him the evening of his arrest last month as they were returning from breaking their Ramadan fast with friends, and recorded the arrest.

“Every kick, every cramp, every small flutter I feel inside me serves as an inescapable reminder of the family we’ve dreamed of building together,” Abdalla’s letter said. “Yet, I am left to navigate this profound journey alone, while you endure the cruel and unjust confines of a detention center.”

Khalil has not been charged with any crimes and his lawyers contend that the Trump administration is unlawfully retaliating against him for his activism and constitutionally protected speech.

The administration has accused the recent graduate of leading “activities aligned to Hamas” and is seeking to deport him under a rarely invoked legal provision that allows the state department to deport non-citizens deemed to be a threat to US foreign policy.

Khalil and his lawyers are currently challenging the administration’s deportation effort in court. An immigration hearing in the case is set to take place on Tuesday afternoon.

In the letter, Abdalla said that she “could not be more proud” of Khalil, adding that he embodied everything she ever hoped for in a partner and for the father of her children.

“What more could I ask for as a role model for our children than a man who, with unwavering conviction, stands up for the liberation of his people, fully cognizant of the consequences of speaking truth to power?” she asks. “Your courage is boundless, and now more than ever, I am in awe of your strength and determination. Your voice, your belief in justice, and your refusal to be silenced are the very qualities that make you the man I love and admire.”

The letter slams the administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech in the name of fighting antisemitism, a campaign that has threatened billions of dollars in funding to American universities in addition to the immigration status of students who have not been accused of committing any crimes. It also critiques Columbia’s administrators, who Abdalla said failed to protect Khalil.

“They sit in their ivory towers, scrambling to fabricate lies and distort the truth, throwing accusations like stones in the hope that something will stick,” she said.

“What they fail to realize is that their efforts are futile. Their wrongful detention of you is a testament to the fact that you have struck a nerve,” she said. “You’ve disrupted the false narratives they’ve worked so hard to maintain, and spoken a truth that they are too terrified to acknowledge.”

In the letter, Abdalla said she eagerly awaited the day when she can tell their son the “stories of his father’s bravery, of the courage that courses through his veins, and of the pride he should feel to carry Palestinian blood … your blood”.

“And, more than anything, I pray that he will not have to grow up fighting the same fight for our basic freedoms,” she said.

“We will be reunited soon,” she said, but “until then, I will continue to fight for you, for us and for our family”.

“I know your spirit is unwavering, that they cannot break you, and that you will emerge from this stronger than ever,” she adds. “I have no doubt that, when you are finally released, you will raise your hands in the air, chanting: ‘Free Palestine.’”

In a letter marking one month since his detention by immigration authorities, Noor Abdalla vowed to continue to fight for the release of her husband, Mahmoud Khalil, and for the right to speak up on behalf of Palestinian rights.

“We will not be silenced,” she said. “We will persist, with even greater resolve, and we will pass that strength on to our children and our children’s children – until Palestine is free.”

Khalil, the recent Columbia graduate and Palestinian activist, was detained on 8 March and remains in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention in Louisiana. The Trump administration is seeking to deport him.

“Exactly a month ago, you were taken from me,” Abdalla, who is nine months pregnant with their first child, wrote in the letter addressed to her husband and published exclusively in the Guardian. “As the days draw us closer to the arrival of our child, I am haunted by the uncertainty that looms over me – the possibility that you might not be there for this monumental moment.”

Khalil helped lead Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protests last spring. His arrest was the first in what has become a mounting series of actions by the Trump administration to deport international students – some over their pro-Palestinian activism, others for reasons unclear to them.

Abdalla, a 28-year-old dentist residing in New York, is a US citizen who was born and raised in Michigan. Her parents immigrated to the US from Syria about 40 years ago. She was with him the evening of his arrest last month as they were returning from breaking their Ramadan fast with friends, and recorded the arrest.

“Every kick, every cramp, every small flutter I feel inside me serves as an inescapable reminder of the family we’ve dreamed of building together,” Abdalla’s letter said. “Yet, I am left to navigate this profound journey alone, while you endure the cruel and unjust confines of a detention center.”

Khalil has not been charged with any crimes and his lawyers contend that the Trump administration is unlawfully retaliating against him for his activism and constitutionally protected speech.

The administration has accused the recent graduate of leading “activities aligned to Hamas” and is seeking to deport him under a rarely invoked legal provision that allows the state department to deport non-citizens deemed to be a threat to US foreign policy.

Khalil and his lawyers are currently challenging the administration’s deportation effort in court. An immigration hearing in the case is set to take place on Tuesday afternoon.

In the letter, Abdalla said that she “could not be more proud” of Khalil, adding that he embodied everything she ever hoped for in a partner and for the father of her children.

“What more could I ask for as a role model for our children than a man who, with unwavering conviction, stands up for the liberation of his people, fully cognizant of the consequences of speaking truth to power?” she asks. “Your courage is boundless, and now more than ever, I am in awe of your strength and determination. Your voice, your belief in justice, and your refusal to be silenced are the very qualities that make you the man I love and admire.”

The letter slams the administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech in the name of fighting antisemitism, a campaign that has threatened billions of dollars in funding to American universities in addition to the immigration status of students who have not been accused of committing any crimes. It also critiques Columbia’s administrators, who Abdalla said failed to protect Khalil.

“They sit in their ivory towers, scrambling to fabricate lies and distort the truth, throwing accusations like stones in the hope that something will stick,” she said.

“What they fail to realize is that their efforts are futile. Their wrongful detention of you is a testament to the fact that you have struck a nerve,” she said. “You’ve disrupted the false narratives they’ve worked so hard to maintain, and spoken a truth that they are too terrified to acknowledge.”

In the letter, Abdalla said she eagerly awaited the day when she can tell their son the “stories of his father’s bravery, of the courage that courses through his veins, and of the pride he should feel to carry Palestinian blood … your blood”.

“And, more than anything, I pray that he will not have to grow up fighting the same fight for our basic freedoms,” she said.

“We will be reunited soon,” she said, but “until then, I will continue to fight for you, for us and for our family”.

“I know your spirit is unwavering, that they cannot break you, and that you will emerge from this stronger than ever,” she adds. “I have no doubt that, when you are finally released, you will raise your hands in the air, chanting: ‘Free Palestine.’”

At least 60 people have died and 160 were injured in the Dominican capital early on Tuesday after the roof collapsed at a nightclub where politicians, athletes and others were attending a merengue concert, authorities said.

Crews were searching for survivors in the rubble at the one-storey Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, said Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Center of Emergency Operations.

“We presume that many of them are still alive, and that is why the authorities here will not give up until not a single person remains under that rubble,” he said.

Nearly 12 hours after the top of the nightclub collapsed on to patrons, rescue crews were still pulling out survivors from the debris. At the scene, firefighters removed blocks of broken concrete and sawed planks of wood, using them to lift heavy debris as the noise of drills filled the air.

The confirmed death toll had reached 44, Méndez said in the early afternoon. Earlier, officials had said there were at least 160 people injured.

Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the north-western province of Montecristi and sister of seven-time Major League Baseball All-Star Nelson Cruz, was among the victims.

She had called President Luis Abinader at 12.49am saying she was trapped and that the roof had collapsed, first lady Raquel Arbaje told reporters. Officials said Cruz died later at the hospital.

“This is too great a tragedy,” Arbaje said in a broken voice.

The Professional Baseball League of the Dominican Republic posted on X that MLB pitcher Octavio Dotel died. Officials had earlier rescued Dotel from the debris and taken him to a hospital.

Meanwhile, the injured included legislator Bray Vargas and merengue singer Rubby Pérez, who was performing when the roof collapsed, officials said.

His manager, Enrique Paulino, whose shirt was spattered with blood, told reporters at the scene that the concert began shortly before midnight, with the roof collapsing almost an hour later, killing the group’s saxophonist.

“It happened so quickly. I managed to throw myself into a corner,” he said, adding that he initially thought it was an earthquake.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the roof to collapse.

Jet Set issued a statement saying it was cooperating with authorities. “The loss of human life leaves us in a state of deep pain and dismay,” it said.

Manuel Olivo Ortiz, whose son attended the concert but did not return home, was among those anxiously waiting outside the club, which is known for its traditional parties where renowned national and international artists perform. “We’re holding on only to God,” Olivo said.

Also awaiting word was Massiel Cuevas, godmother of 22-year-old Darlenys Batista. “I’m waiting for her. She’s in there, I know she’s in there,” Cuevas said, firm in her belief that Batista would be pulled out alive.

President Abinader wrote on X that all rescue agencies are “working tirelessly” to help those affected.

“We deeply regret the tragedy that occurred at the Jet Set nightclub. We have been following the incident minute by minute since it occurred,” he wrote.

Abinader arrived at the scene and hugged those looking for friends and family, some with tears streaming down their faces.

“We have faith in God that we will rescue even more people alive,” he told reporters.

An official with a megaphone stood outside the club imploring the large crowd that had gathered to search for friends and relatives to give ambulances space.

“You have to cooperate with authorities, please,” he said. “We are removing people.”

At one hospital where the injured were taken, an official stood outside reading aloud the names of survivors as a crowd gathered around her and yelled out the names of their loved ones.

Meanwhile, dozens of people gathered at the National Institute of Forensic Pathology, which projected pictures of the victims so their loved ones could identify them.

A US judge on Tuesday ordered the White House to restore full access to the Associated Press to presidential events, after the news agency was punished for its decision to continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its coverage.

The order from the US district judge Trevor McFadden, an appointee of Donald Trump, requires the White House to allow the AP’s journalists to access the Oval Office, Air Force One and events held at the White House.

The White House “sharply curtailed” the AP’s access to media events with the US president after he renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” and the news agency did not follow suit, McFadden wrote in a 41-page decision.

“Under the First Amendment, if the government opens its doors to some journalists – be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere – it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints,” McFadden wrote. “The Constitution requires no less.”

The AP sued three senior Trump aides in February, alleging the restrictions violated the US constitution’s first amendment protections against government abridgment of speech by trying to dictate the language they used in reporting the news.

Lawyers for the Trump administration have argued that the AP does not have a right to what the White House has called “special access” to the president.

On the first day of his second administration, Trump signed an executive order directing the US interior department to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

The AP said it would continue to use the gulf’s long-established name in stories while acknowledging Trump’s efforts to change it.

“For anyone who thinks The Associated Press’ lawsuit against President Trump’s White House is about the name of a body of water, think bigger,” Julie Pace, the AP’s executive editor, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “It’s really about whether the government can control what you say.”

Iran, wrongfooted by Donald Trump’s revelation that “direct talks” between the US and Iran on its nuclear programme are set to start in Oman on Saturday, insisted the talks would actually be in an indirect format, but added that the intentions of the negotiators were more important than the format.

Trump on Monday threw Tehran off guard by revealing the plan for the weekend talks and saying that if the talks failed Iran would be in “great danger”. There has been an unprecedented US military buildup across the Middle East in recent weeks, and Trump’s decision to make the talks public looks designed to press Iran to negotiate with urgency.

The US delegation to the talks will be led by Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, who has also been involved in talks with Russia over the Ukraine war; and the Iranian side by its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. Witkoff’s efforts to broker peace between Israel and Hamas and between Russia and Ukraine have so far failed.

Iran had in public been stalling about talks, saying simply that it was prepared for indirect talks with the US, but had not yet received a formal response from the US as to whether talks were going ahead. In a post on X issued some hours after Trump used an Oval Office press conference to reveal the agreement to stage weekend talks, Araghchi described the talks as an opportunity and a test. He insisted the ball was in the US’s court.

Speaking during a visit to Algiers, Araghchi elaborated that Iran wanted indirect talks. He said: “The form of negotiations is not important, whether they are direct or indirect. In my opinion, what is important is whether the negotiations are effective or ineffective, whether the parties are serious or not in the negotiations, the intentions of the parties in the negotiations, and the will to reach a solution. These are the criteria for action in any dialogue.”

He added Iran had not agreed on any formula that would allow indirect talks to convert into direct talks, but the US expects the talks to evolve into a direct negotiation. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has vetoed direct talks in protest at US sanctions and in deference to hardliners that believe talks with the US over Tehran’s nuclear programme are a political trap.

The former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani welcomed the news of the talks and said if the 2015 nuclear deal was conducted indirectly it would have taken 20 years and not two to conclude.

Trump pulled out of that deal – known as the joint comprehensive plan of action – during his first term. That deal had offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for limitations on its uranium enrichment activities.

Iran is waiting to see if Trump will be content if the talks focus on a new system of surveillance of its civil nuclear programme, not dissimilar to the treaty from which Trump withdrew the US in 2018; or instead the US will seek to dismantle Iran’s entire nuclear programme, a step that increasingly has been referred to as the Libya option. In December 2003, Libya’s longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi renounced the country’s weapons of mass destruction programme and allowed international inspectors to verify that Tripoli would follow through on its commitment.

Speaking alongside Trump in the Oval House on Monday, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, advocated the Libya option, but Iran insists it will not abandon its civil nuclear programme. Israel ultimately does not trust Iran and expects the talks to fail. It then favours a US-Israeli military strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear sites.

But Witkoff, in an interview with Tucker Carlson three weeks ago, suggested Trump’s demands of Iran may be relatively modest. He said Trump, in his letter seeking talks with Iran, had said: “We should clear up the misconceptions. We should create a verification programme so that nobody worries about weaponisation of your nuclear material. And I’d like to get us to that place because the alternative is not a very good alternative. That’s a rough encapsulation of what was said.”

But Trump is under pressure to reach an agreement that is more watertight than the agreement reached by Barack Obama in 2015.

Previewing Iran’s position in the talks, Araghchi said: “Iran’s nuclear programme is completely peaceful and legitimate. UN security council resolution 2231 has just confirmed its legitimacy. There is no doubt about it internationally. If anyone has any questions or ambiguities, we are ready to clarify. We are confident that our nuclear programme is peaceful and we have no problem building more confidence into this unless it creates a limitation for us or is an obstacle to Iran’s goals.”

Iran has always insisted a fatwa exists against building nuclear weapons, but senior Iranian politicians, faced by a series of military reversals, have increasingly challenged that.

Iran also faces the threat that Trump has set a two-month deadline – expiring in May – for the talks to achieve an outcome. Iran, being a consummate negotiator, may test Trump’s patience, especially if Witkoff eventually demands its ballistic weapons programme and financial support for militant forces is also put on the agenda.

A February report by the International Atomic Energy Agency found that Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% purity had increased sharply since December. Experts say that reaching 90% enrichment – the threshold for weapons-grade material – is relatively easy from that point. As of 8 February, Iran’s 60%-enriched uranium stockpile had grown by 92.5kg over the previous quarter, reaching 274.8kg. Iran says the stockpile is a response to US sanctions.

The UK government is developing a “murder prediction” programme which it hopes can use personal data of those known to the authorities to identify the people most likely to become killers.

Researchers are alleged to be using algorithms to analyse the information of thousands of people, including victims of crime, as they try to identify those at greatest risk of committing serious violent offences.

The scheme was originally called the “homicide prediction project”, but its name has been changed to “sharing data to improve risk assessment”. The Ministry of Justice hopes the project will help boost public safety but campaigners have called it “chilling and dystopian”.

The existence of the project was discovered by the pressure group Statewatch, and some of its workings uncovered through documents obtained by Freedom of Information requests.

Statewatch says data from people not convicted of any criminal offence will be used as part of the project, including personal information about self-harm and details relating to domestic abuse. Officials strongly deny this, insisting only data about people with at least one criminal conviction has been used.

The government says the project is at this stage for research only, but campaigners claim the data used would build bias into the predictions against minority-ethnic and poor people.

The MoJ says the scheme will “review offender characteristics that increase the risk of committing homicide” and “explore alternative and innovative data science techniques to risk assessment of homicide”.

The project would “provide evidence towards improving risk assessment of serious crime, and ultimately contribute to protecting the public via better analysis”, a spokesperson added.

The project, which was commissioned by the prime minister’s office when Rishi Sunak was in power, is using data about crime from various official sources including the Probation Service and data from Greater Manchester police before 2015.

The types of information processed includes names, dates of birth, gender and ethnicity, and a number that identifies people on the police national computer.

Statewatch’s claim that data from innocent people and those who have gone to the police for help will be used is based on a part of the data-sharing agreement between the MoJ and GMP.

A section marked: “type of personal data to be shared” by police with the government includes various types of criminal convictions, but also listed is the age a person first appeared as a victim, including for domestic violence, and the age a person was when they first had contact with police.

Also to be shared – and listed under “special categories of personal data” – are “health markers which are expected to have significant predictive power”, such as data relating to mental health, addiction, suicide and vulnerability, and self-harm, as well as disability.

Sofia Lyall, a researcher for Statewatch, said: “The Ministry of Justice’s attempt to build this murder prediction system is the latest chilling and dystopian example of the government’s intent to develop so-called crime ‘prediction’ systems.

“Time and again, research shows that algorithmic systems for ‘predicting’ crime are inherently flawed.

“This latest model, which uses data from our institutionally racist police and Home Office, will reinforce and magnify the structural discrimination underpinning the criminal legal system.

“Like other systems of its kind, it will code in bias towards racialised and low-income communities. Building an automated tool to profile people as violent criminals is deeply wrong, and using such sensitive data on mental health, addiction and disability is highly intrusive and alarming.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “This project is being conducted for research purposes only. It has been designed using existing data held by HM Prison and Probation Service and police forces on convicted offenders to help us better understand the risk of people on probation going on to commit serious violence. A report will be published in due course.”

Officials say the prison and probation service already use risk assessment tools, and this project will see if adding in new data sources, from police and custody data, would improve risk assessment.

The third season of The White Lotus may be over, but the drama continues for the hit HBO show. In a new interview, creator Mike White hit back at composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer, who told the New York Times last week that he is quitting the show.

De Veer, who composed the show’s score and viral title sequence stylized for each of the three seasons’ locations, told the Times that he would not return for the show’s fourth season following creative differences with White. “We already had our last fight for ever, I think,” he said of White. “He was just saying no to anything.”

Speaking with Howard Stern on Tuesday following the season finale, White, who also serves as the show’s sole writer and director, disputed de Veer’s characterization of the split. “I honestly don’t know what happened, except now I’m reading his interviews because he decides to do some PR campaign about him leaving the show,” he said. “I don’t think he respected me. He wants people to know that he’s edgy and dark and I’m, I don’t know, like I watch reality TV.”

“We never really even fought. He says we feuded,” he continued. “I don’t think I ever had a fight with him – except for maybe some emails. It was basically me giving him notes. I don’t think he liked to go through the process of getting notes from me, or wanting revisions, because he didn’t respect me. I knew he wasn’t a team player and that he wanted to do it his way. I was thrown that he would go to the New York Times to shit on me and the show three days before the finale. It was kind of a bitch move.”

De Veer’s work has been acclaimed by fans and critics: he won three Emmys for The White Lotus, including outstanding theme for season one. The season two version of the theme song became a club hit, remixed by artists such as Tiësto and Sofi Tukker.

White added that he and de Veer had had a rocky relationship during the first two seasons of the black dramedy, which has netted HBO 15 Emmys to date. “By the time the third season came around, he’d won Emmys and he had his song go viral, he didn’t want to go through the process with me, he didn’t want to go to sessions,” he told Stern. “He would always look at me with this contemptuous smirk on his face like he thought I was a chimp or something … he’s definitely making a big deal out of a creative difference.”

Stern replied: “You’re the genius behind this thing. Why quit a hit show because you got some notes and some differences? Just work it out.”

White responded: “He is very talented. [But] I’ve never kissed somebody’s ass so hard to just get him to – to lead that horse to water. Have fun with whatever you’re doing next.”

In the Times story, de Veer said: “Maybe I was being unprofessional, and for sure Mike feels that I was always unprofessional to him because I didn’t give him what he wanted. But what I gave him did this, you know – did those Emmys, people going crazy … That is the main thing that I’m most happy about – it was worth all the tension and almost forcing the music into the show, in a way, because I didn’t have that many allies in there.”

At issue appears to be the third season’s title sequence, which proved more divisive with fans – some expressed disappointment over the absence of the distinctive “ooh-loo-loo-loo” vocal ululation of the previous versions. According to de Veer, he attempted to persuade producers to assuage critics by releasing a full version of the theme that included it, but White refused.

“I texted the producer and I told him that it would be great to, at some point, give them the longer version with the ooh-loo-loo-loos, because people will explode if they realize that it was going there anyway,” he said. “He thought it was a good idea. But then Mike cut that – he wasn’t happy about that.”

Though the third season and its conclusion drew mixed critical reviews, The White Lotus has become a juggernaut for HBO. Sunday’s season finale drew 6.2 million viewers, breaking a series record set the week before by 30%.