The EU has suspended its retaliatory 25% tariffs on US goods for 90 days after Donald Trump’s dramatic climbdown in his trade war.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said the EU would put on hold for 90 days the countermeasures – 25% tariffs on €21bn (£18bn) of US goods – that it had agreed on Wednesday. “We want to give negotiations a chance,” she said. “If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in.”

In an earlier statement that did not mention the EU countermeasures, von der Leyen had welcomed the US president’s 90-day pause on his highest tariffs, as she reiterated that the EU was ready to negotiate a trade deal with the US.

The chaotic U-turn by the White House on Wednesday means that until July the EU will face a 10% duty on exports to the US, rather than the 20% “reciprocal tariff” rate that was in force for a matter of hours. Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars remain in place.

Von der Leyen said Trump’s announcement to pause the higher rates of tariffs he had imposed on many countries was “an important step towards stabilising the global economy”.

On Wednesday, EU member states voted almost unanimously to impose 25% tariffs on €21bn-worth of US agricultural and industrial products in retaliation for the steel and aluminium tariffs that Trump announced in February.

Those EU duties – weighted towards goods from Republican states in the US – will now only come into force if trade talks fail. The European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill, when asked why the EU had decided to freeze its retaliation even though Trump’s metals tariffs remained in place, said: “We are not going to take the further step right now because we want new space for negotiations. We want to talk to our American counterparts.”

The commission will also freeze proposals on further retaliation that had been expected to be published next week. “What has happened today is that in response to President Trump’s announcement, we have pushed the pause button, and until further notice, it is paused,” Gill said.

Trump seemed unaware on Wednesday of the EU’s initial retaliation, commenting that it was “bad timing” when asked about it by a reporter. The US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, told Trump that the measures were being phased in, saying: “They threatened, but they picked a later date, and our expectation is that it’s going to be later still.”

Trump replied: “I’m glad that they held back.”

Von der Leyen also reiterated the EU’s willingness to negotiate a tariff-free agreement covering cars and industrial goods, an offer she made publicly after Trump’s billionaire adviser Elon Musk came out in favour of zero tariffs between Europe and the US last weekend.

Von der Leyen said: “Tariffs are taxes that only hurt businesses and consumers. That’s why I’ve consistently advocated for a zero-for-zero tariff agreement between the European Union and the United States.”

Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, said Trump’s decision to pause planned tariff increases for most countries was a testament to EU unity.

Asked about Trump’s reversal in an interview with the German broadcaster RTL, Merz said the announcement was a “reaction to the determination of the Europeans”.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, welcomed the US tariffs pause, describing it as “a door to negotiation and deals between countries”. But Sánchez, who is on a trade visit to south-east Asia, also described Trump’s decision to impose tariffs “on the whole world – including a terrifying 46% on Vietnam” as “an unjustified and unjust decision”.

As the prospect of possible negotiations loomed, Sánchez said Spain would always work for “a world of open doors”, adding: “Spain’s response is being coordinated with the EU in order to protect our exporters. Not a single business will be left exposed because of this measure.”

Donald Trump is facing accusations of market manipulation after posting on social media that it was a “great time to buy” just hours before he made a dramatic U-turn on his trade war that led to big rises in stock markets around the world.

Shortly after US markets opened on Wednesday morning, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT”.

Less than four hours later, he shocked investors by announcing a 90-day pause on additional trade tariffs on most countries except China, sending share indexes soaring.

In America the S&P 500 blue chip index closed up by more than 9%, while the technology-focused Nasdaq index shut more than 12% up. Stocks continued to rise in Asia and Europe on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index up by 9%, and London’s FTSE 100 index rising by as much as 4% in early trading.

Trump does not usually sign off his post with his initials. Those letters happen to be the same as the ticker for Trump Media & Technology Group, the business that controls Truth Social, whose stock shot up by 22% on Wednesday.

The timing of the US president’s posts and subsequent huge share jumps has sparked accusations of market manipulation. The Democratic senator Adam Schiff has called for an investigation, saying: “These constant gyrations in policy provide dangerous opportunities for insider trading.

“Who in the administration knew about Trump’s latest tariff flip-flop ahead of time? Did anyone buy or sell stocks, and profit at the public’s expense? I’m writing to the White House – the public has a right to know.”

The Democratic senator Chris Murphy also wrote on X that an “insider trading scandal is brewing … Trump’s 9:30am tweet makes it clear he was eager for his people to make money off the private info only he knew. So who knew ahead of time and how much money did they make?”

The New York Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for all members of Congress to disclose any stocks they had bought in the past 24 hours. “I’ve been hearing some interesting chatter on the floor,” she wrote on X. “Disclosure deadline is May 15th. We’re about to learn a few things. It’s time to ban insider trading in Congress.”

When asked by US reporters on Wednesday evening when exactly he arrived at his decision to pause the tariffs on most countries for 90 days, Trump said: “For a period of a time. I would say this morning. Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it.”

However White House officials have argued the shift was part of the strategy all along, with his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, arguing it was his “art of the deal” at work.

Several investors have used volatility in the stock market in recent weeks as a buying opportunity. The US representative for Georgia, Republican and Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene, disclosed that she had made several purchases on 3 and 4 April – days when there were sharp market falls after Trump first detailed his “liberation day” tariffs on 2 April – including shares in Amazon.com and Apple. Shares in the technology companies rose by 12% and 15% respectively on Wednesday.

While Trump has paused many of the new country-specific tariffs, he has maintained pressure on China, the second biggest economy in the world. He increased the tariff on Chinese imports to 125% from the 104% level that started on Wednesday. Beijing could respond again after hitting US imports with 84% tariffs that began on Thursday.

Moscow has released a US-Russian dual national, Ksenia Karelina, who had been detained in Russia, the US secretary of state has said after a Wall Street Journal report that a prisoner swap had been agreed.

Marco Rubio wrote on the social media platform X: “American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release.” He added that Trump “will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans”.

Karelina, a ballet dancer also identified in media reports as Ksenia Khavana, was arrested in Ekaterinburg in February last year and sentenced in August to 12 years in prison on a treason conviction for allegedly raising money for the Ukrainian military.

A rights group said the charges stemmed from a $51 (£40) donation to a US charity that helps Ukraine.

More details soon …

A British adventurer has apologised after her claims to be the first woman to traverse Canada’s largest island solo were dismissed by members of the Inuit population who criticised her dangerous “privilege and ignorance”.

Camilla Hempleman-Adams, 32, covered 150 miles (240km) on foot and by ski while pulling a sledge across Baffin Island, Nunavut, in temperatures as low as -40C and winds of 47mph during the two-week expedition last month.

The trek took Hempleman-Adams, the daughter of the adventurer Sir David Hempleman-Adams, from Qikiqtarjuaq to Pangnirtung, through Auyuittuq national park.

But her claims have been described as incorrect, with local people saying they had travelled the same route for generations.

Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona, an Inuit artist based in Ottawa, said on Instagram: “There is no way in hell a British colonizer is coming to Inuit Nunaat in 2025 and claiming any firsts.

“My gramma walked 100’s of km yearly, often pregnant, to Spring fishing and winter caribou hunting grounds because that was life. Every inch of this continent has indigenous history and stories like this. Help me call out this ignorant and racist behaviour.”

Kabloona said the matter had affected the community because many people who lived traditional nomadic lifestyles had died, raising concerns that cultural practices would gradually be lost to time.

“The article hit people really hard in a very sensitive spot because of our history and the difficulties we face every day in combatting western colonialism,” she told the BBC.

“This woman is coming here from such a place of privilege and ignorance that it seems dangerous. It was almost like she was bringing back news of a new continent to Europe and saying: ‘There’s nobody here!’ We were and still are.”

She added: “It’s such a clear example of how colonialism benefits from dispossessing Indigenous people of their land and writing us out of history.”

Hempleman-Adams wrote on her expedition website before departure: “Parks Canada has confirmed there are no historical records of a female solo attempt from Qikiqtarjuaq to Pangnirtung.”

Kabloona said this was because crossing the terrain was considered “a normal way of life for them”.

Hempleman-Adams, a producer living in London and the youngest British woman to ski to the north pole aged 15, said: “It was never my intention to misrepresent any historical achievements or cause distress to local communities.

“Before undertaking the expedition, I researched and verified the accuracy of my claim with Parks Canada and local outfitters in both towns who confirmed that there was no known female solo winter crossing from Qikiqtarjuaq to Pangnirtung.

“However, if this information is incorrect, I apologise unreservedly for making an incorrect claim and for causing offence.”

She added she was “truly saddened” that coverage of her trek “may have caused concern or upset … I remain committed to learning from this experience and engaging with the community with the utmost respect.”

Andrew Tate told a woman he was “debating whether to rape you or not” before he strangled and forced himself upon her, according to one of four women suing the self-proclaimed misogynistic influencer.

He is also accused of whispering “good girl” as he raped a woman he employed at his webcam business whom he had separately threatened with a gun, and strangling another so often that she developed spots from burst capillaries around her eyes.

A fourth woman, whom he allegedly first met at Yates nightclub in Luton, claims Tate continued to have sexual intercourse with her after strangling her to the point that she lost consciousness.

“She heard the defendant saying things like ‘I own you’ and ‘I’m going to kill you,’” according to her claim.

Tate denies the allegations, which include rape, coercive control and assault and battery, describing them as a “pack of lies” and “gross fabrications”. He claims his relationships with the women were consensual and that there was no violence or coercive control involved.

His lawyers further claim that the allegations for personal injury are barred as they relate to a period between 2013 and 2015 and are subject to a three-year limitation period.

It is claimed that emails, texts and other potential evidence in his defence will have been lost.

The claims by the four women have been filed at the high court where a preliminary hearing is scheduled for 15 April. Three of the women involved had reported Tate to Hertfordshire police in 2019 but the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to bring criminal charges.

According to the claims, two of the women worked for Tate’s webcam business in 2015 and the other two were in relationships with him in 2013 and 2014.

One of the women who allegedly had a relationship with Tate in 2013 said she told him she did not want to rush into full sexual intercourse but that he raped her at his flat after a training session before a kickboxing fight.

He is alleged to have told her: “I’m just debating whether to rape you or not.”

According to the claim, she “did not believe what she was hearing and asked him if he was joking”. Tate’s “face turned angry, and he proceeded to put one hand around her neck and, with the other, tried to remove her underwear”, it is claimed.

The claim goes on: “The … claimant was saying ‘no Andrew, you said you wouldn’t’ and “no, no, no”. His grip was tight but at that point it was not so tight that she could not speak.

“His response was to tell the … claimant to ‘shut the fuck up’. When she was quiet, he told her she was a ‘good girl’, and the … claimant thought if she was quiet he would partially release the stranglehold on her neck.”

Tate is alleged to have then raped the woman and to have repeatedly asked her: “Who do you belong to?”

In Tate’s filed defence, he claims the sexual intercourse was consensual and that the woman went on to visit him “on a number of occasions thereafter”. The defence adds: “They had sex several times. This is not the behaviour of someone in fear.”

All four women claim to have developed long-term mental health problems as a result of their alleged experiences.

Tate is under criminal investigation in three countries, including in Romania where he and his brother, Tristan, are accused of human trafficking, trafficking of minors and money laundering. He also faces allegations of rape.

Bedfordshire police are seeking to arrest the Tate brothers in relation to allegations of rape and trafficking dating back to between 2012 and 2015. The two men, who deny all accusations against them, are believed to currently be in Dubai.

Prosecutors in Rome have opened an investigation into the murder of an Italian scientist in Colombia, with one theory being that he could have been killed by warring criminal clans in a case of mistaken identity.

Alessandro Coatti, who until late last year worked at the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) in London, was last seen leaving a hostel in Santa Marta, a port city on the Caribbean coast, on 3 April.

The 38-year-old’s dismembered body parts were found two days later in a suitcase dumped on the outskirts of the city.

The molecular biologist had been travelling and conducting research in South America after working in London for eight years. There is no evidence that Ciotta had any links to organised crime.

Rome prosecutors will collaborate with counterparts in Colombia, with Italy expected to send a team of investigators to Santa Marta. According to reports in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, one line of inquiry is that Coatti could have been killed by mistake in the context of a “settling of scores” between organised crime groups.

Lerber Dimas, a crime expert, told the Colombian news website El Tiempo that the killing bore the hallmarks of the two armed groups operating in the area, Clan del Golfo and the Autodefensas Conquistadores de la Sierra.

Norma Vera Salazar, a human rights expert, said there had been a spate of similar crimes. “There is a clear recurring pattern in these crimes: bodies are tortured, dismembered, stuffed into garbage or coffee sacks, and abandoned along rural roads,” she told El Tiempo. “These types of murders are used by self-defence groups to send warning messages, instil fear and mark territory.”

Coatti was travelling alone in South America, visiting Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador before arriving on 3 April in Santa Marta, which is surrounded by beaches and mountains and is a gateway to some of Colombia’s most popular tourist destinations. His disappearance was reported the next day.

Coatti was born in Italy’s northern Emilia-Romagna region, where his parents live in the town of Alfonsine, close to Ravenna. He was planning to return to Italy for Easter, his uncle Giovanni told the Italian press. “Alessandro was a good, happy person and a brilliant biologist,” he told the local news site Il Resto del Carlino. “He loved to travel and discover the world.”

He added: “We are shocked, what happened is surreal. We have entrusted ourselves to the Italian and Colombian authorities. We want the truth. Alessandro was only 38 years old, with a life ahead of him. We cannot understand why this happened to him, and in that way.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is aware of at least 155 Chinese nationals fighting for Russia and accused Beijing of turning a blind eye to their recruitment and allowing them to participate in the invasion of his country.

Officials released two dossiers naming, and in some cases picturing, Chinese men who were said to have signed up, though Ukraine did not suggest this meant Beijing was seeking to enter the war alongside Russia.

The president told reporters in a briefing that he was not aware that China “gave some kind of command” to those now fighting for Russia. Still, he did say Beijing must have been aware some people were joining another country’s military in return for payment.

“We record that they [China] knew about it,” Zelenskyy said. “We record that these are Chinese citizens, they are fighting against us, using weapons against Ukrainians on the territory of Ukraine. Their motivation, money or not, politics, etcetera, is not yet known to me. But it will be known.”

Zelenskyy said he believed the US was “very surprised and believes that this is unacceptable” at a time when Washington and Beijing have become embroiled in a tariff trade war.

Compiled by Ukrainian intelligence, one of the documents pictured 13 Chinese soldiers aged between 19 and 45, with their passport details; while the second document listed names, dates of birth, their Russian unit and in some cases information about where they had been recruited.

“The ‘Chinese’ issue is serious. There are 155 people with names and passport details – 155 Chinese citizens who are fighting against Ukrainians on the territory of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said, adding: “We believe that there are more, much more.”

Comments from Chinese officials earlier on Wednesday suggested people were joining up on their own initiative, though officials in Beijing added the idea that significant numbers were involved in the war was “totally unfounded.”

Lin Jian, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said: “The Chinese government always asks Chinese citizens to stay away from conflict zones, avoid getting involved in any form of armed conflict, and especially refrain from participating in any party’s military operations.”

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

Russia was seeking to recruit Chinese fighters by openly advertising on TikTok and other Chinese social networks, Zelenskyy said, arguing that “Beijing is aware of this”. They then travelled to Russia, typically Moscow, where they were first given medical examination over a three- to four-day period, he added.

The recruits are then given one or two months of training and asked to fight on occupied Ukrainian territory. They received official migration cards from the Russian authorities and were given access to an official payment system to receive money, Zelenskyy said.

Kyiv also named the two Chinese prisoners that previously had been announced as being captured on the battlefield on Tuesday as Wang Guangjun, born in 1991, and Zhang Renbo, born in 1998, and said it would be willing to exchange them for Ukrainian prisoners held by Russia.

Ukraine’s relationship with the US had become fraught as Donald Trump tries to persuade Kyiv and Moscow to agree to a ceasefire to halt their three-year war, but Zelenskyy may be hoping that the US president’s antipathy to China will improve his negotiating position.

The former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams is considering legal action against Meta because it may have used his books to train artificial intelligence.

Adams said the tech company included at least seven of his books in a vast trawl of copyright material to develop its AI systems. “Meta has used many of my books without my permission. I have placed the issue in the hands of my solicitor,” he said.

Sinn Féin said in a statement on Wednesday that the titles included its former leader’s autobiography, Before the Dawn; a prison memoir, Cage Eleven; reflections on Northern Ireland’s peace process, Hope and History; and other memoirs, a cookbook and a short story collection.

Adams is the latest author to join a backlash against the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

A group of authors made a US court filing in January alleging that Meta had approved the use of Library Genesis, a “shadow library” known as LibGen, that contains more than 7.5m books.

The group, which includes Ta-Nehisi Coates, Jacqueline Woodson, Andrew Sean Greer, Junot Díaz and the comedian Sarah Silverman, claimed that company executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, were aware LibGen was a database believed to contain pirated material when they sanctioned its use.

The Atlantic magazine republished a searchable database of titles contained in LibGen last month, which led to many authors identifying works Meta may have used to train its AI system, Llama.

Authors including Kate Mosse and Tracy Chevalier, and other publishing industry professionals, protested outside Meta’s London headquarters last week and sent a letter to its US headquarters.

The chair of the Society of Authors, Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, said Meta’s actions were shocking and devastating for writers. “A book can take a year or longer to write. Meta has stolen books so that their AI can reproduce creative content, potentially putting these same authors out of business.” The SoA has asked the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, to summon Meta executives to parliament.

The novelist Richard Osman said copyright law was not complicated. “If you want to use an author’s work you need to ask for permission,” he posted on X. “If you use it without permission you’re breaking the law. It’s so simple.”

A Meta spokesperson said: “We respect third-party intellectual property rights and believe our use of information to train AI models is consistent with existing law.”

The company launched its open-source AI app last July. Llama is a large language model, or LLM, similar to Open AI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. LLMs underpin AI tools such as chatbots and are trained on vast datasets that enable them to mimic human language and computer coding.

Adams, 76, who led Sinn Féin from 1983 to 2018, and denies ever having been a member of the IRA, served as MP for Belfast West and represented Louth in the Dáil, Ireland’s parliament. He is a prolific author who has written fiction, reminiscences, history, political tracts and quirkier offerings, such as My Little Book of Tweets.

Other Northern Ireland authors in the LibGen database include Jan Carson, Lynne Graham, Deric Henderson, and Anna Burns, who won the Booker for her novel Milkman, the BBC reported.

France is to tighten its ban on the use of mobile phones in middle schools, making pupils at the ages of 11 to 15 shut away their devices in a locker or pouch at the start of the day and access them again only as they are leaving.

The education minister told the senate she wanted children to be fully separated from their phones throughout the school day in all French middle schools from September.

Élisabeth Borne said: “At a time when the use of screens is being widely questioned because of its many harmful effects, this measure is essential for our children’s wellbeing and success at school.”

In 2018, France banned children from using mobile phones in all middle schools – known as collèges. Phones must remain switched off in schoolbags and cannot be used anywhere in the school grounds, including at break-time.

Schools have reported a positive effect, with more social interaction, more physical exercise, less bullying and better concentration. But some did report a few children would sneak into the toilets to watch videos on phones at break.

Now the government says it is necessary to go further, fully separating children from their devices for the entire school day.

This enforced “digital pause” – as the French government calls it – has been tested in a pilot scheme in about 100 middle schools for the past six months, with children giving up their phones on arrival – placing them a locker or box, or in a special locked pouch that can only be unlocked by an electronic system at the school gates as they go home.

Devices are banned in primary schools.

Borne told the senate: “All the feedback from the trial is positive, namely on improving the atmosphere in schools, and there has been massive support from parents and teachers.”

After some unions questioned the cost and logistics of organising the scheme, Borne said it would be up to headteachers to choose a format – for example lockers or pouches – adding that it would cost no more than a few thousand euros.

Borne, who quoted a study last month by the French National Book Council, said: “A young person now spends on average five hours a day in front of a screen, but they only spend three hours a week with a book … Not only is reading going down, but for those who do read, half of them are doing something else on their phone at the same time. All that is damaging to students’ success.”

A report by scientists and experts commissioned by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, last year concluded that children should not be allowed to use smartphones until they were 13 and should be banned from accessing conventional social media such as TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat until they were 18.

No child should have a phone before age 11, the report said, and they should only have a handset without access to the internet before 13.

Macron has said he favoured taking steps to limit children’s exposure to screens.

The moves come as the leader of England’s largest teaching union calls for a statutory ban on phones in schools. A survey of more than 15,000 schools found that 99.8% of primary schools and 90% of secondary schools in England had some form of ban.

A woman has given birth to another person’s baby after their fertility care provider mixed up their embryos.

Monash IVF, which operates across Australia, has apologised after a patient at one of its Brisbane clinics had an embryo incorrectly transferred to her, meaning she gave birth to a child of another woman.

The error was identified in February after the birth parents requested their remaining embryos to be transferred to another IVF provider.

“Instead of finding the expected number of embryos, an additional embryo remained in storage for the birth parents,” the company said in a statement.

Monash IVF said an investigation confirmed an embryo from a different patient had been incorrectly thawed and transferred to the birth parents.

It was blamed on human error.

The birth parents were notified of the mistake within a week of the incident being discovered.

Monash IVF chief executive, Michael Knaap, apologised for the bungle and said the company would continue to support the patients.

“All of us at Monash IVF are devastated and we apologise to everyone involved,” he said.

“We have undertaken additional audits and we’re confident that this is an isolated incident.”

The IVF provider asked Victorian senior counsel Fiona McLeod to investigate the incident and committed to implementing any recommendations in full.

The incident was reported to the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee, the Queensland assisted reproductive technology regulator.

Monash IVF reached a $56m settlement with more than 700 former patients in August after it allegedly destroyed embryos during faulty genetic screening.

The class action claimed about 35% of embryos found to be abnormal through the fertility provider’s flawed genetic testing were normal.

Monash IVF Group confirmed it had reached the settlement through mediation but noted it had made no admission of liability.