10 Things to Know: This Week's Takeaways
By The Associated Press, Associated Press
Apr 19, 2014 5:43 AM CDT
Clergy and community officials gather on stage for a prayer during an Interfaith Service of Unity and Hope at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kan., Thursday, April 17, 2014. Frazier Glenn Cross, 73, is charged with the killings Sunday of Dr. William Lewis Corporon and his grandson, Reat...   (Associated Press)

Looking back at the stories to remember from the past week:

1. DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS FAIL TO DISLODGE PRO-RUSSIAN INSURGENTS IN UKRAINE

Talks involving Ukraine, Russia, the U.S. and the European Union produced an agreement Thursday to take tentative steps toward calming tensions in Ukraine. But insurgents occupying government buildings in more than 10 cities said they won't leave until Ukraine's interim government resigns.

2. FERRY SINKING OFF SOUTH KOREA LEAVES 32 DEAD, MORE THAN 270 MISSING

The ship, with 476 people aboard, was sailing to the southern island of Jeju and began sinking Wednesday. Among the passengers were high school students on a class trip. Investigators were looking at whether the ferry made too sharp a turn that caused the vessel to list and if the evacuation was not ordered quickly enough.

3. NOBEL LAUREATE GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ DIES AT AGE 87

Garcia Marquez, who died Thursday, was one of the most revered and influential writers of his generation. His works — among them "Chronicle of a Death Foretold," ''Love in the Time of Cholera" and "Autumn of the Patriarch" — outsold everything published in Spanish except the Bible. The epic 1967 novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" sold more than 50 million copies in more than 25 languages.

4. COLLEGE BOARD RELEASES SAMPLES OF NEW SAT TEST QUESTIONS

When the new test is rolled out in 2016, the essay section will be optional and will require a student to read a passage and explain how the author constructed an argument. Another big change revealed Wednesday is that relatively obscure vocabulary words such as "punctilious" and "lachrymose" are unlikely to appear on the test.

5. LAWYERS FOR OSCAR PISTORIUS TRY TO ROLL BACK PROSECUTION'S MOMENTUM

On Tuesday, the disabled athlete ended five days of withering cross-examination by the prosecutor who pounced on apparent inconsistencies in his testimony about the night he killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The defense team is trying to bolster his account that he shot her by mistake, thinking she was a dangerous intruder. The trial is now adjourned until May 5.

6. WAVE OF VIOLENCE BY SUSPECTED ISLAMIC MILITANTS SWEEPS NIGERIA

A bombing Monday at a bus station in the capital of Abuja killed at least 75 people. Extremists kidnapped 129 female students Tuesday, although some of them reportedly escaped. On Wednesday, gunmen attacked a northeastern village, killing 18. The unprecedented violence has many questioning the ability of Nigeria's military to contain the 5-year-old Islamic uprising.

7. SIX WEEKS AFTER FLIGHT 370's DISAPPEARANCE, STILL NO SIGN OF PLANE

Aircraft, ships and a robotic submarine continued searching in the southern Indian Ocean for the Boeing 777 that disappeared with 239 people on board en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing on March 8. Signals believed to be from the plane's flight recorders were last detected April 8, about the time the batteries on the beacons would have failed.

8. BUBBA WATSON WINS HIS SECOND MASTERS

He kept his poise Sunday during an early burst of birdies from 20-year-old Jordan Spieth, who was trying to become the youngest winner in the history of the golf tournament. Watson coasted to a 2-under 69 to win the Masters by three shots over Spieth and Jonas Blixt of Sweden.

9. SHOOTINGS AT JEWISH COMMUNITY SITES IN KANSAS LEAVE THREE DEAD

An avowed white supremacist, Frazier Glenn Gross, was charged with the killings Sunday of a doctor and his 14-year-old grandson outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City. He also is accused of killing an occupational therapist at a Jewish retirement complex.

10. AVALANCHE ON MOUNT EVEREST KILLS AT LEAST 13 NEPALESE GUIDES

Friday's disaster was the deadliest on the world's highest peak. The Sherpa guides had gone early in the morning to fix ropes for other climbers when the avalanche hit. Four survivors needed to be airlifted to a hospital in Katmandu. Three other guides were missing.

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