Portal:Current events/2019 April 25

April 25, 2019 (Thursday)

Arts and culture

The parliament of Ukraine passes a language law in a vote of 278 to 38 that will secure the use of Ukrainian as the country's only official language. (RFE/RL)

Disasters and accidents

Tornadoes of 2019
- Tornadoes spawned by severe weather in Texas and Louisiana cause at least five deaths and over 17,000 power outages. (USA Today) (CBS News)
An ammonia leak in a Chicago suburb hospitalizes 37 people. (Time)
A Texas semi truck driver with no criminal record is arrested and faces 4 counts of vehicular homicide after he told police his brakes were failing on I-70 as it descended from the mountains in Colorado and caused a 28 vehicle crash. (CBS Denver)

International relations

War in Donbass, Russian military intervention in Ukraine
- Russia announces it will fast-track citizenship applications from people living in conflict areas in eastern Ukraine. The European Union calls the move an attack on Ukraine's sovereignty that would undermine any peace agreement. (Reuters)
The Washington Post reports that in June 2017 President Donald Trump secured the release of Otto Warmbier, a dying prisoner of North Korea, by agreeing to pay the regime in that country $2 million, described as a payment for hospital bills. (The Washington Post)

Law and crime

Abortion in the United States by state
- A federal district court in Washington State issues a preliminary injunction against enforcement of an initiative by the Donald Trump administration ("gag order") that would have restricted doctor-patient communications about abortion in family planning clinics that receive U.S. taxpayer funding. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Science and technology