CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. I`m Carl Azuz. Today is Earth Day and we`ll tell you what that means in a few minutes. But we are starting in Ukraine.

There`s a crisis in the country, and it`s not calming down. Yesterday, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital. He promised more U.S. assistance, money mostly for the struggling Ukrainian government. One challenge it faces is a lack of funds, another the fact that many people in eastern Ukraine don`t support their new government. In about a dozen Ukrainian cities and towns, protesters have taken over buildings demanding closer ties with Russia. That country has been accused of stirring up these protests and planning to take over more parts of Ukraine.

Russia denies this saying it has no sway over the protests in Ukraine.

Next up, mourning in South Korea. More than 80 people lost their lives when a ferry sank off the country`s coast on Wednesday. But more than 200 others are still missing. And hopes are fading for rescuing any other survivors. South Korea`s president says the action of the captain and some crew members were like murder. The captain has been charged with a number of crimes, from the poor sailing that caused the ship to sink to failing to help passengers escape. The captain says the cold water temperatures and fast currents made him hesitant to tell people to abandon ship. 174 people were rescued after the accident. No survivors have been found since April 16. Still, divers continue to search the submerged ferry in the hopes that some passengers might have found an air pocket.

At the 2014 Boston Marathon yesterday, a year after a terrorist attack at the same event, the race announcer told 36,000 runners take back that finish line. And for the first time since 1983, an American won it. 38- year old Meb Keflezighi of the U.S. was the first man to cross having run the 26.2 miles in two hours eight minutes and 37 seconds.

For the women, 33-year old Rita Jeptoo from Kenya crossed first. Her time was two hours 18 minutes and 57 seconds. That`s a course record for a woman.

At least two had more competition to beat. There were 9,000 more runners than in 2013. An another example of Boston Strong, the event`s largest crowd ever was expected to cheer them on.