In an April Fool's Day joke that would alarm both his critics and his supporters, Donald Trump said on Monday that he would suspend his 2024 presidential campaign.

       The spurious announcement went out to supporters by email on Monday morning, with the subject line "I’m suspending my campaign…"

       A similar text message read “From Trump: I'm suspending my campaign”, with a web link to a “confidential memo”.

       Of course, users who clicked through to the email or the memo saw the message: “Happy April Fool's Day! I will never stop fighting for the American people. I will never surrender!”

       Both missives concluded with an appeal for funds, which Mr Trump needs if he is to dislodge his opponent President Joe Biden from the White House this November.

       Mr Trump was among several public figures and corporations who joined in the festivities on Monday, ranging from Honda to the British TV duo Ant and Dec.

       Krispy Kreme announced that customers could now come in and glaze any object they desired; paint maker Dulux announced a new line of "scratch and sniff" colours; and DuoLingo claimed it would launch a multilingual musical on ice.

       A historic London theatre proclaimed the discovery of a lost Shakespeare play, while The New York Times used emojis instead of words in its widely-played puzzle Connections.