Since the collapse of the roof at the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo in the early hours of Tuesday, the death toll has climbed steadily.

The popular club, which has operated for fifty years, was hosting a merengue concert attended by politicians and athletes when the roof of the one-storey building caved in and fell onto the busy dancefloor.

98 people have now been confirmed dead, among them popular Dominican singer and star of merengue Rubby Pérez, who was performing on stage during the incident.

Around 160 people were injured.

While rescue crews were still searching for survivors in the rubble, crowds anxiously gathered at the venue to hear news from missing family members.

Many people were also waiting at the Institute of Forensic Science to identify bodies.

The Dominican authorities have not yet commented on the incident, although an investigation into the causes of the roof collapse is expected.

The new 30% tariffs set to be imposed on South Africa by the Trump administration will threaten 35,000 jobs in the country’s citrus-growing sector and the economies of entire towns, a farmers group said Tuesday.

The Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa said the impending reciprocal tariffs, due to come into effect on Wednesday, will be deeply damaging to South Africa’s largest agricultural export.

The group said the tariffs would likely make South African citrus fruits cost $4.25 more per carton for American consumers. South Africa provides citrus to the U.S. market when it is out of season there.

South Africa is the second-biggest exporter of oranges behind Spain and the world’s fourth-largest exporter of soft citrus fruits, according to the World Citrus Organization.

South Africa sends around 5%-6% of its citrus exports to the United States, which is more than 6.5 million cartons per year, the growers’ association said, but some rural towns were specifically geared to and heavily dependent on the U.S. market.

The farmers’ group cited the case of the town of Citrusdal, near Cape Town, and said it faced major job losses and “maybe even total economic collapse” because it was built on exporting citrus to the U.S. It said there were other rural towns like it.

“There is immense anxiety in our communities,” said Gerrit van der Merwe, the chairman of the Citrus Growers’ Association and a citrus farmer near Citrusdal.

The group said the tariffs were due to come into effect the same week the first citrus fruit of the South African season was being packed to be exported to the U.S. It said it was urgently calling on the South African government to prioritize negotiations with the U.S. on tariff reductions or exemptions on citrus.

“Citrus is not produced in a factory,” Citrus Growers’ Association CEO Boitshoko Ntshabele said. “(South African) citrus growers do not compete with U.S. citrus growers. Quite the opposite. Our high-quality produce sustains consumer interest when U.S. local citrus is out of season, eventually benefitting U.S. growers when we hand over at the end of our season.”

South Africa, the most diverse economy in Africa, has been especially hard-hit by the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump’s cuts to U.S. foreign aid removed significant funding from South Africa’s AIDS program, which is the largest in the world and treats around 5.5 million people. Trump has also issued an executive order stopping other federal funding to South Africa over what he said was the South African government’s mistreatment of white minority farmers, many of whom could now be negatively impacted by his new tariffs.

Lt. Gen. Tadesse Werede was named the interim president of the Tigray region on Tuesday, replacing Getachew Reda. 

Before his appointment, Tedese acted as the deputy president of Tigray’s interim administration and head of the cabinet secretariat for peace and security. 

He has been mandated to ensure the full return of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to their original homes.  

In a one-page document he signed, he is also expected to ensure the swift disarmament and reintegration of former combatants in line with the Pretoria Agreement. 

The swearing-in ceremony was attended by key dignitaries from the government and the newly elected Chairperson of the African Union (AU), Mahmoud Ali Youssouf. 

There were concerns in the region that the widening political split within the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) could lead to a full-fledged civil war like the one that ended in 2022 with the signing of a peace agreement. 

The party has been calling for the firing of Reda and others since last year, attempting to appoint a new set of its endorsed candidates and removing him and some cabinet members from party membership. 

In March, armed soldiers loyal to the party took over the administrations of key towns, including the region’s second biggest city, Adigrat, in what Reda termed as a “coup,” and with escalating conflict, he fled to the capital, Addis Ababa.