Looking back at the stories to remember from the past week:
1. AT LEAST 292 KILLED IN MINE FIRE, EXPLOSION IN TOWN OF SOMA IN WESTERN TURKEY
Turkey’s worst mining disaster Tuesday set off protests and public outrage at alleged poor safety conditions at its coal mines, widespread corruption and what some perceived as government indifference. It stirred new hostility toward Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. The government and mining company officials vehemently denied that negligence was at the root of the disaster.
2. INDIA’S OPPOSITION PARTY HEADS FOR LANDSLIDE WIN
Narendra Modi of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party will be the next prime minister, winning India’s most decisive election victory in more than a quarter century and sweeping the long-dominant Congress party from power, according to results Friday. A record turnout of 66 percent of India’s 814 million eligible voters cast ballots in the six-week election, which began April 7 and was held in stages.
3. STEELWORKERS IN EASTERN UKRAINE JOIN POLICE TO QUIET LAWLESSNESS
After two pro-Russian regions declared independence following contentious referendums, groups of workers opposed to the insurgents joined police Friday to clear barricades in Mariupol, an industrial port. Ukraine’s richest man, billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, organized the patrols of steelworkers. Previously, government forces have had only limited results in quashing the unrest that has divided Ukraine.
4. GENERAL MOTORS IS FINED $35 MILLION OVER DEADLY DEFECT
The record fine was imposed on the automaker Friday for taking more than a decade to disclose an ignition-switch problem in millions of cars that has been linked to at least 13 deaths. Under an agreement with the Transportation Department, GM admitted it was slow to inform regulators, promised to report problems faster and submitted to more in-depth government oversight of its safety operations.
5. NASA SPOTS WORRISOME MELTING OF ICE SHEET IN WESTERN ANTARCTIC
Two new studies show that the ice sheet is starting a slow collapse in an unstoppable way. Alarmed scientists said Monday that means an even higher rise in sea levels than they had feared. Scientists say that over hundreds of years, the ice melt that has started could eventually add 4 to 12 feet to current sea levels.
6. LAKHDAR BRAHIMI RESIGNS AS JOINT U.N.-ARAB LEAGUE ENVOY TO SYRIA
The former Algerian foreign minister, who quit Tuesday, tried for nearly two years to end a civil war that has claimed more than 150,000 lives. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon blamed the failure of the peace effort on the warring parties, but especially the Syrian government. He also blamed the deeply divided Security Council and countries with influence on the fighting sides.
7. SEPT. 11 MUSEUM OPENS TO FAMILY MEMBERS, SURVIVORS AND RESCUERS
President Barack Obama dedicated the museum beneath ground zero Thursday, calling it a symbol that says of America, “Nothing can ever break us.” Its artifacts range from the monumental, like two of the fork-shaped columns from the World Trade Center’s facade, to the intimate: a wedding ring and a victim’s voice mail message.
8. EX-PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL GETS 6 YEARS IN PRISON IN BRIBERY SCANDAL
Ehud Olmert was sentenced Tuesday after being convicted in a wide-ranging case that accused him of accepting bribes to promote a real-estate project in Jerusalem. He was charged for acts while mayor of Jerusalem and national trade minister, before he became prime minister in 2006. Olmert denies wrongdoing and his lawyer said he would appeal.
9. WASHINGTON MONUMENT REOPENS TO PUBLIC FOLLOWING 2011 EARTHQUAKE
Engineers spent nearly 1,000 days making repairs to the 130-year-old, 555-foot-tall obelisk. It opened to the public Monday for the first time after the earthquake chipped and cracked the monument, and the National Park Service is offering extended hours to visitors through the summer.
10. WATERGATE CONSPIRATOR JEB STUART MAGRUDER DIES AT AGE 79
He served seven months in prison for lying about the involvement of Richard Nixon’s re-election committee in the 1972 break-in that eventually led to the president’s resignation. Magruder, who later became a minister, died May 11 in Danbury, Connecticut, a funeral director said Friday.
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