Morning digest: Rebel NUG in Myanmar accuses junta of attacks in earthquake-hit region;’ U.S. President Trump says reciprocal tariffs will target all countries, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on March 31, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday (March 30, 2025) reciprocal tariffs he is set to announce this week will include all nations, beyond just a smaller group of 10 to 15 countries. Mr. Trump has promised to unveil a massive tariff plan on Wednesday, which he has dubbed "Liberation Day." He has already imposed tariffs on aluminum, steel and autos, along with increased tariffs on all goods from China.

One person died and three others sustained injuries when the Bangalore-Kamakhya AC Superfast Express derailed near Nergundi Station, 10 km from Cuttack, in Odisha on Sunday (March 30, 2025). The incident occurred at 11:54 a.m. when 11 coaches of the train bound for Kamakhya station in Assam’s Guwahati went off track. As the train had slowed down after crossing a bridge over the Mahanadi River, the impact on passengers was minimal, officials said.

The Prime Minister of Greenland pushed back on Sunday (March 31, 2025) against assertions by U.S. President Donald Trump that America will take control of the island territory. Greenland, a huge, resource-rich island in the Atlantic, is a self-governing territory of Denmark, a NATO ally of the United States. Mr. Trump wants to annex the territory, claiming it’s needed for national security purposes.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened that Iran will be bombed if it persists in developing nuclear weapons.“ If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” NBC News said the President told one of its correspondents in an interview late Saturday (March 29, 2025). It said he also threatened to punish Iran with what he called “secondary tariffs. Mr. Trump’s language represented a sharpening of his comment a few days earlier that if Tehran refused to negotiate a new nuclear agreement, “bad, bad things are going to happen to Iran.”

Myanmar’s resistance forces on Sunday (March 30, 2025) accused the military junta of launching attacks on rebel targets in the earthquake-hit areas in the country’s Sagaing region and Shan state. According to the sources in the rebel National Unity Government (NUG), the junta’s aircraft carried out bombing raids in various locations on Sunday (March 30, 2025) close to the epicenter of Friday’s earthquake. 

An explosion at a mosque in the Ardhamasla village of the Beed district in Maharashtra in the early hours of Sunday (March 30, 2025) triggered outrage and panic in the area. Police have arrested two people who reportedly committed the crime over a dispute with people from the Muslim community. The explosion occurred around 2.30 a.m. and was reportedly caused by gelatn sticks.

President Donald Trump said a deal with TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the short video app used by 170 million Americans would be struck before a deadline on Saturday (April 5, 2025). Mr. Trump set the April 5 deadline in January for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a U.S. ban on national security grounds set to have taken effect that month under a 2024 law.