John Bowers works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday in New York. The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Facing a global market meltdown, President Donald Trump on Wednesday abruptly backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days even as he further jacked up the tax rate on Chinese imports to 125%.

It was seemingly an attempt to narrow what had been an unprecedented trade war between the U.S. and most of the world to a showdown between the U.S. and China. The S&P 500 stock index jumped 9.5% after the announcement, but the drama is far from over as the administration prepares to engage in country-by-country negotiations. In the meantime, countries subject to the pause will now be tariffed at 10%.

The global economy appeared to be in open rebellion against Trump’s tariffs as they took effect early Wednesday, a signal that the U.S. president was not immune from market pressures. By early afternoon, Trump posted on Truth Social that because more than 75 countries had reached out to the U.S. government for trade talks and had not retaliated in meaningful ways, “I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately.”

Oil prices fall to four-year low, then recover

WASHINGTON — Oil prices swung wildly on Wednesday, sinking to a four-year low in anticipation of slowing economic growth due to a burgeoning trade war, before jumping 2% after President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on most of his tariffs.

The Marathon Garyville Oil Refinery in Reserve, La., is seen on April 7, 2025. Associated Press file photo

U.S. benchmark crude followed U.S. markets higher in the afternoon rising 2%, or $1.20, to $60.79 per barrel after the latest reversal by the Trump administration.

That’s after it declined 4.3% to $56.98 per barrel as late as midday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had fallen further earlier in the day to levels not seen since February 2021, the depth of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Energy prices have mostly been in decline since Trump’s inauguration in January, with the cost of a barrel of oil sliding about $20 since the start of the year. At this time last year, a barrel of U.S. crude cost $85. A barrel was going for around $71 at the beginning of April, before tariffs were launched.

Trump: Israel would be ‘leader’ of Iran strike

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Israel would be the “leader” of a potential military strike against Iran if Tehran doesn’t give up its nuclear weapons program.

President Donald Trump listens as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference on Feb. 4 in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Associated Press file photo

Trump made the comments ahead of this weekend’s scheduled talks involving U.S. and Iranian officials in the Middle East sultanate of Oman.

Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian again pledged Wednesday that his nation is “not after a nuclear bomb,” going as far as dangling the prospect of direct American investment in the Islamic Republic if the countries can reach a deal.

The comments represent a departure from Iran’s stance after its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, in which Tehran sought to buy American airplanes but in effect barred U.S. companies from coming into the country.

“His excellency has no opposition to investment by American investors in Iran,” Pezeshkian said in a speech in Tehran, referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “American investors: Come and invest.”

Americans convicted in Congo of a botched coup attempt now face US charges

Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun (left) Marcel Malanga (center) and Tyler Thompson, all American citizens, attend a court verdict on Sept. 13, 2024, in Congo, on charges of taking part in a coup attempt in May 2024. Associated Press file photo

SALT LAKE CITY — Three Americans repatriated to the United States from Congo this week were charged Wednesday by the U.S. Justice Department with staging an elaborate coup attempt aimed at overthrowing the African nation’s government, with a fourth man alleged to be a bomb-making expert was also charged for aiding the plot.

The complaint stems from allegations that led to three of the defendants being detained in Congo and receiving death sentences that were later commuted to punishments of life imprisonment.

Following a long-running FBI investigation, the Justice Department accused the men of providing training, weapons and other support to a rebel army that was formed to try to overthrow the government last year.

Among the three Americans is 22-year-old Marcel Malanga, son of opposition figure Christian Malanga, who led the coup attempt that targeted the presidential palace in Kinshasa.

Israeli strike on Gaza apartment building kills at least 23, officials say

Palestinians hurls a stone at Israeli forces on Wednesday following a military raid in the West Bank refugee camp of Balata. The Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli aircraft struck a residential block in war-ravaged northern Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 23 people, health officials said, as the renewed fighting in the devastated Palestinian enclave showed no signs of slowing.

The Al-Ahly hospital said at least 23 people were killed in the strike, including eight women and eight children. The territory’s Health Ministry confirmed the figures.

The strike hit a four-story building in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City, and rescue teams were searching for victims under the rubble, according to the Health Ministry’s emergency service. The civil defense, a rescue group that operates under the Hamas-run government, said other neighboring buildings were damaged in the strike.

German parties agree to form a new government

BERLIN — German election winner Friedrich Merz sealed a deal Wednesday to form a new government that aims to spur economic growth, ramp up defense spending, take a tougher approach to migration and catch up on long-neglected modernization.

Markus Soeder, chairman of Bavarian's Christian Social Union party, Friedrich Merz, Christian Democratic Union party chairman and the Social Democratic Party co-leaders Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken, address the media after reaching an agreement between their parties on a coalition for a new German government at a news conference on Wednesday in Berlin, Germany. The Associated Press

The agreement paves the way for new leadership in the 27-nation European Union’s most populous member and Europe’s biggest economy.

Merz is on track to become Germany’s new leader in early May, replacing outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Pope Francis meets privately with King Charles and Queen Camilla

ROME — Pope Francis met privately with King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Wednesday at the Vatican during the royal couple’s four-day state visit to Italy and on the occasion of their 20th wedding anniversary, the Vatican announced.

It was the first known meeting since the pope’s return to the Vatican after five weeks in the hospital for life-threatening double pneumonia. The visit was only confirmed Wednesday morning. The mid-afternoon visit lasted about 20 minutes and included a private exchange of gifts. Discussions continue about a future visit by the monarch to the Vatican.

The Vatican statement said the pope wished Charles and Camilla a happy anniversary, and the king and queen in return wished the pope a speedy recovery.

Officials scramble to identify victims of club roof collapse

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — A crowd of people grew increasingly agitated Wednesday as they waited at the Dominican Republic’s forensic institute for news of their loved ones still missing a day after a roof collapsed at an iconic nightclub, killing at least 124 people and injuring hundreds more.

National Institute of Forensic Pathology officials read the names of 54 victims they have identified so far.

“We cannot wait until nighttime!” said one woman who was waiting for news of a relative whose name she did not hear. “We’re going to go crazy!”

Officials called for calm, saying they have already delivered 28 bodies to their families, but do not yet have a tally of all the bodies recovered. Officials said more than 250 people were hurt.

Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla greet people on Wednesday on the street in Rome. The Associated Press

Rescue workers search for survivors on Wednesday at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two nights before during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The Associated Press