Ferry Disaster: A ferry carrying 462 people, mostly high school students on an overnight passage to a tourist island, sank off South Korea this morning and 280 of the passengers are now missing.  Video showed passengers clinging to the rails and jumping into the sea. Survivors say they felt a jolt and the captain made an announcement to stay in place, but never gave an order to abandon ship. Dozens of ships and helicopters gathered to rescue the passengers, but the ferry rolled and sank. The majority of passengers, 325 of them, were students from a high school in Incheon who were going on a four-day trip.

Ukraine: The Ukrainian government announced that it launched an “anti-terrorist operation” yesterday to clear pro-Russian occupants from government buildings, but it appeared to consist mostly of landing two helicopters full of soldiers at an air field in Eastern Ukraine. The soldiers dodged into barracks buildings after civilians manning barricades made it clear they weren’t welcome.

Ukrainian troops entered the city of Sloviansk in armored vehicles, then promptly surrendered them to pro-Russian militants who took the combat vehicles joy-riding in the streets.

World: About 100 girls were abducted Monday night from a Nigerian boarding school by militants from the Boko Haram Islamic group. Some girls who escaped said the gunmen burst into dormitory rooms promising no harm. Residents near the school reported hearing gunfire and explosions. At least 170 homes were reported burned down. Boko Haram, which fights against the influence of Western education, has previously attacked schools and killed students.

Nation: In a signal that the post 9/11 hunt for terrorists may be changing, the New York City Police Department has disbanded the intelligence unit that gathered information on Muslims in the city and nearby towns. Members of the Orwellian-named “Demographics Unit” blended into Muslim communities listening to conversations and keeping track of peoples’ movements. They mapped where Albanian men played chess, Egyptians watched soccer, and South Asians played cricket. After gathering information on innocent people for years, the department admitted that the unit never generated a lead toward actual terrorist activity.

>The number of dead from the March 22 Washington State mudslide is now 37. Searchers are still looking for seven more people listed as missing.

>In Boston yesterday on the anniversary of the Marathon bombing, police detonated two bags left near the finish line after memorial services. One belonged to a man dressed in women’s clothing who claimed to be an artist. His bag contained a pressure cooker filled with confetti. The other bag belonged to a journalist and it was filled with photo equipment that was reduced to small parts.

Feed the Athletes: Just a week after a member of Connecticut’s NCAA championship basketball team claimed he sometimes went to bed hungry, the NCAA has approved unlimited meals, snacks, and a bigger food stipend for Division 1 athletes. Previously the athletes were granted three meals a day with their scholarship, but an player at that level burns a stunning amount of calories. Shabazz Napier, the MVP of the tournament, had  said he and other athletes didn’t have enough money for food.

Fresh Air: The City of Munich has established six naked zones where it’s legal to take off all your clothes and lie in the sun. Healthy, robust Germans have had nude beaches since the 1920s. The urban zones are only minutes from some major city centers but are intended to be secluded, until they gather a crowd.

Crime and Punishment: Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to a year of community service for his tax fraud conviction. A suggestion for his public service …. staying out of government.

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