Armed conflicts and attacks

• Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea
  • Pirates kidnap some crew members of a Danish-owned ship which they later abandon near São Tomé and Príncipe. (Al Arabiya)

Disasters and accidents

• Tornado outbreak of March 31, 2023
  • The Storm Prediction Center issues a high risk convective outlook, the first high risk issued in over 2 years, ahead of an expected severe weather outbreak across the Mississippi River valley in the United States. (Storm Prediction Center)
    • A large tornado causes catastrophic damage to the Little Rock, Arkansas metropolitan area, with 24 people injured. (KTHV-TV)
    • A suspected tornado causes the roof of a theater in Belvidere, Illinois, to collapse during a concert, causing multiple injuries. (AP)
• Indore stepwell collapse
  • At least 35 people are killed and 18 others are injured when a stepwell collapses during prayers at a Hindu temple in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. (BBC News)
• Four people are killed by avalanches in Northern Norway. (AFP via Barron's)
• More than a dozen people are injured in separate incidents after two trains derail during a storm in Switzerland. (AP)

Law and Crime

• Indictment of Donald Trump
  • According to his defense attorney, Joe Tacopina, the former president Donald Trump will not be handcuffed when he surrenders to face criminal charges in New York next week. (Reuters)

Science and technology

• Italy's Data Protection Authority blocks ChatGPT on suspicion of breaching data protection rules and for failure to verify that its users are at least 13 years old. (Reuters)

April 1: April Fools' Day; Iranian Islamic Republic Day (1979)

• 1833 – Mexican Texans met at San Felipe de Austin to begin the Convention of 1833.
• 1865 – American Civil War: The Union Army under Major General Philip Sheridan (pictured) inflicted more than 2,900 casualties on the Confederates at the Battle of Five Forks.
• 1879 – The Inland Customs Line, established by the British for the collection of the salt tax in India, was abandoned.
• 1922 – Under the South Seas Mandate, Japan set up a government in Koror, precipitating large-scale Japanese settlement in Palau.
• 1990 – The longest prison riot in British penal history began at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, lasting for 25 days.