President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 31, 2026 directing federal agencies to compile lists of verified U.S. citizens eligible to vote and to tighten rules on mail‑in ballots. The order tasks the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration and other agencies to use federal records — including the controversial Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database and Social Security data — to produce state-by-state voter lists. It directs the U.S. Postal Service to send absentee ballots only to those on approved federal lists, mandates barcoded, trackable ballot envelopes and urges the Justice Department to prioritize prosecutions of officials who issue ballots to ineligible individuals. The White House said noncompliant states could face withheld federal funding. The move prompted immediate legal challenges: Democratic leaders, the DNC and several states vowed to sue within days of the order, arguing it is an unconstitutional encroachment on state authority over elections. Election experts and secretaries of state across parties warned of data inaccuracies and the risk of disenfranchising lawful voters, while noting prior court rulings have blocked similar executive actions.

A powerful undersea earthquake of magnitude 7.4 struck the Northern Molucca (Maluku) Sea off Ternate, Indonesia, on April 2, 2026, the US Geological Survey said. The quake, later revised down from earlier estimates of 7.8, occurred at a depth of about 35 km with an epicentre roughly 120–127 km west-northwest of Ternate. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and US tsunami authorities issued alerts for coastal areas within 1,000 km, including parts of Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia; local agencies recorded small tsunami waves up to about 0.75 m in North Minahasa and smaller sea-level changes elsewhere. Indonesia’s meteorology agency and disaster authorities reported building damage in Ternate, Bitung and Manado, and at least one fatality in North Sulawesi. Dozens of aftershocks were recorded, the largest around magnitude 5.5. Warnings were later lifted after the immediate tsunami threat passed, but authorities urged continued vigilance in coastal communities.

Spanish police opened an investigation after sections of the crowd at Espanyol’s RCDE Stadium in Cornellà-El Prat chanted Islamophobic and xenophobic slogans during Spain’s 0-0 friendly with Egypt on March 31–April 1, 2026. Video and social media footage show fans booing the Egyptian national anthem and shouting a chant translated as “whoever doesn’t jump is a Muslim.” The Mossos d’Esquadra said they were working with the prosecutor’s office for hate crimes and discrimination to identify those responsible; sanctions under Spain’s anti-violence laws or criminal charges are possible. Authorities and football bodies including the Spanish Football Federation, La Liga chief Javier Tebas and Spain coach Luis de la Fuente condemned the behaviour. Barcelona and Spain winger Lamine Yamal, a practising Muslim who was affected by the scenes, posted that the chants were “disrespectful and intolerable.” The episode prompted wider concern about racism in Spanish stadia, with at least one further alleged racist incident reported the following day in the second division, and raised questions about reputational damage ahead of Spain’s role as a 2030 World Cup co-host after reports Morocco has sought to relocate the final.

Utah authorities announced on April 1, 2026 that new DNA testing has definitively linked serial killer Ted Bundy to the 1974 abduction and killing of 17‑year‑old Laura Ann Aime. Aime disappeared after leaving a Halloween party on Oct. 31, 1974; hikers found her body about a month later in American Fork Canyon. She was bound, severely beaten, unclothed and investigators found a nylon stocking used to strangle her. Investigators had preserved evidence from the original inquiry and, using forensic methods acquired by the state crime lab in 2023 that can extract usable profiles from small or degraded samples, isolated a single male DNA profile that matched Bundy in a national law‑enforcement database. Bundy, executed in 1989, had previously acknowledged involvement but offered no verifiable details; the new match allowed officials to close the cold case. Utah County sheriff’s officials said the profile will be available to other agencies examining unsolved deaths potentially linked to Bundy. Family members expressed relief that investigators continued work on the case decades later.

A U.S. federal judge on April 1, 2026 permanently blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order directing all federal agencies to cut funding to National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), ruling the measure unlawful and unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss found the order represented viewpoint discrimination and unlawful retaliation in violation of the First Amendment. The ruling does not erase the operational damage already done — Congress previously moved to defund public broadcasting and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has effectively shut down — but Moss said the executive order swept beyond the CPB and barred agencies from funding NPR and PBS regardless of program merit. Plaintiffs included NPR and several local member stations; their lawyers hailed the decision as a significant win for press freedom. The White House called the ruling “ridiculous” and indicated it would seek further legal remedies. NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS chief Paula Kerger praised the judgment. The case is expected to be appealed, and practical effects on remaining program-specific grants and emergency funding remain to be litigated and clarified.