The legendary Jet Set club in Santo Domingo was packed with musicians, professional athletes and government officials when dust began falling from the ceiling and into people’s drinks.
Minutes later, the entire roof collapsed. Concrete slabs killed more than 113 people and trapped dozens of others on a dancefloor where hundreds had been dancing to a lively merengue concert early Tuesday. More than 255 people were injured, authorities said.
The victims include merengue icon Rubby Pérez, who had been singing to the crowd before disaster struck. His body was found early Wednesday, said emergency operations director Juan Manuel Méndez.
The U.S. stock market is quivering but holding relatively steady in early Wednesday trading after other markets worldwide swung sharply as President Donald Trump’s trade war keeps escalating.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 34 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1% higher.
Wall Street’s latest moves came after Trump’s latest round of tariffs kicked in after midnight for imports from around the world. That included a 104% tax on things coming from China.
Such aggressive tactics between the world’s two largest economies is raising fears among economists and investors that tariffs will stick around for a while.
Ukraine’s claim that significant numbers of Chinese nationals are fighting alongside Russia’s invading army is “totally unfounded,” a Beijing official said Wednesday.
This comes after President Zelenskyy announced Tuesday that the Ukrainian military had captured two Chinese men fighting alongside the Russian army. It was the first time that Ukraine had made such a claim about Chinese fighters amid Russia’s almost three-year invasion.
Jake Slack can be reached at jrslack@stthomas.edu.
