Morning Digest: Parliament passes Waqf Amendment Bill 2025; RS confirms imposition of President’s rule in Manipur, next meeting soon, says Amit Shah, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on April 4, 2025

Parliament in the wee hours of Friday (April 4, 2025) morning cleared the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025, after nearly 14-hour debate in Rajya Sabha by 128 members voting in favour and 95 against. 

Canada said it would impose a 25% tariff on tens of thousands of vehicles imported from the United States, retaliating against U.S. President Donald Trump's levies that came into effect on Thursday (April 3, 2025). Prime Minister Mark Carney announced "25% tariffs on all vehicles imported from the United States that are not compliant with CUSMA," using the Canadian acronym for an existing North American free trade agreement.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday (April 4, 2025) that both the communities in Manipur should understand that dialogue is the only way forward and the Union government is not in favour of continuing President’s Rule in the State even for a single day. 

At least eight people lost their lives on Thursday (April 3, 2025) allegedly from inhaling a toxic gas when they entered a well to clean it in Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa district, police said. According to the Police, the incident took place at around 4 p.m. in Kondavat village under Chaigaon Makhan police station limits when three men had entered a well on the outskirts of the village, in view of the ongoing Gangour festival and idol immersion which was to take place on Friday. 

The Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed the ban on sale, production, and manufacture of firecrackers in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) as “absolutely necessary”. A Bench by Justices A.S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan dismissed applications filed by traders to reconsider the ban on crackers or reduce the prohibition to three or four months a year.

The tussle between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party government over the issue of power cuts continued on Thursday, with the Opposition party alleging that the Capital has witnessed several instances of frequent and prolonged power outages since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in February.

A special court in Bengaluru has declined to discharge former Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna in an alleged sexual assault case while pointing that there are enough material to frame charges against him.