06/03/2014 ABC World News with Diane Sawyer

In 20 minutes, the rest of the day's news. But now it is time to

catch up with the news has seen across the United States.

Welcome to ABC World News. Tonight, big change in American rite of

passage. The test so many take hoping to get into college. They

fare? The urgent talks to push Vladimir

Putin back from the edge. Incredible video of a cough or have

children heading into the site and the strangers who got them out. -- a

car full of children. Good evening. It is a rite of

passage and today we learned it is getting an extreme makeover. The

SATs, the test millions of hike schoolchildren take. -- high school

children. But are they fare? We look at the big news.

It is the test taken by millions of Americans every generation of eight

years. Now changing to become more modern. Skilled vocabulary words

that only ever seem to come up in multiple-choice test questions,

gone. Words like these. That means, not easily excited. Replaced by

words people actually use in college classrooms and on the job. It will

instead focus on the words students will use over and over again. The

changes take effect in 2016. They are meant to level the playing

field. Some courses can run as high as $20,000. Now tutoring videos are

available for free. We need to cement the advantages to find out

the secrets. If there are no more secrets, it is hard to pay for them.

Other changes make it more like its biggest rival, the ACT. His 80

leading passage is now often seen obscure. Replaced with significant

moments like the declaration of Independence. Anxious high school

should not just celebrate yet. Algebraic formulas are not going

anywhere. The top prize for the SATs will once again be 1600.

But if these changes are about fairness, why not mediate them?

Essentially this is to give teachers and students time to prepare. A lot

of the changes could make this already difficult test even tougher.

The call is for children of all economic backgrounds, thank you. We

turn to the crisis in Ukraine. The superpowers are talking. But the

danger of a Russian invasion is still living. -- looming.

Flashpoints in a crisis. After Putin's forces took over part of

Ukraine, today thousands of demonstrators show to the world

their support for Russia. Storming past Wright police to take over a

government building. To the south, a similar scene. A mob of armed men

threatening a UN envoy. With the crowd bearing Russian flags,

charging behind them. America trying to find a way to end this dangerous

stand-off. One hope is the talks in Paris and getting the Ukrainian and

Russian foreign ministers to meet. We did not anticipate that we were

going to resolve that this afternoon. The bigger goal is to

convince Putin that is at once into Crimea was bad enough, but advancing

further would bring the right of the world. But after a day of

diplomacy, all Russia agreed to was to talk further. I would rather be

where we are today than yesterday. The Russians in earnest about

talking or is there a some kind of cover? What we are on is it

diplomatic treadmill. We keep talking, they keep talking. The US

is carefully watching any Russian movements. There have been

provocative movements over the past couple of days. The Russian troops

to remain in Crimea. They did have military exercises just across the

border. I do not think there is a lot of trust. No additional troop

movements? Not at this point they are just not leaving Crimea. Thank

you so much again. From Ukraine we had to Egypt to show you the images

of journalist in cages. They are on -- trial of working with a terrorist

group. -- journalist. -- --journalists. A big headline, the

heat is on the gun debate in America. We learnt Facebook and

Instagram will crack down on illegal guns sold online. Some of them are

weapons bought by children. Al correspondent shows us what is

behind the decision. -- Our. You are looking at the sale of an

AK-47 in a parking lot in Arizona. He came in power after our reporter

saw it for sale on the intranet. No background check, no questions

asked. Critics say social media sites are becoming virtual gun

stores, giving easy access to juveniles and criminals. The

intranet dwarfs the gun shows in America as a source of firearms. It

is difficult to police. Check out Instagram, Gunns to choose from.

Handguns and assault rifles are a touch or click away. -- guns. A

series of steps have been in place to make sure sellers obey the law.

The head of the end are a affiliate warned the policy could be used to

silence and enthusiasts on social media. -- gun. But others said it

might save lives. For instance when a 15-year-old Kentucky boy report

this gun through Facebook and took it to school.

Out of Washington, the White House announces its official, if you like

your healthcare plan, you can keep it for another two years even if it

does not meet the new requirements under Obama care. The deadline had

already been extended by a year, now to two years. Next, strangers

intervening in time, a scene with everyone holding their breath as a

mother with three children in her minivan drove into the ocean into

the crashing waves. The children were waiting for help.

Correspondence shows us how some passing strangers saved the day. --

Our correspondent. They weren't going to let it happen.

A car headed for the ocean. It began like this, a good Samaritan driving

down the beach sees the minivan and his children screaming. Believe your

eyes, that is a child waiting out the window. This man in the green

jacket comes out of his car, his wife recording it all with the young

boy waiting. One kid in the back seat was screaming, saving help us,

my mum is trying to kill us. This other person runs into the water as

the car falls into the sea. By the time I ran over a noticed the boy

was trying to snatch at the wheel. He said the mother kept driving.

When I spoke to her, her eyes were wide. He uses the power windows to

get the windows down and his arms around two of the children, the surf

up to his chest. He told us he wished he had three hands because he

saw a baby in the back. Lifeguards struggled to open the front door.

That is the mother trying to stop them. What the struggle, then the

mother walks away and seconds later they get the baby out through the

back of the minivan and one of the lifeguards inside barely got out in

time. Seconds later, look closely, a wave nearly pushes the car out to

see. If it was minutes longer the outcome would have been different.

Police identified the mother as Ebony Wilkerson from South Carolina,

and police say she was pregnant. Family called earlier in the day

warning she had mental issues. Police say they reached out to her

but she had done nothing wrong and few hours later she ended up in the

beach. Her children, three, nine and ten are in state custody and are

alive because a few men decided to get involved.

We moved next to the surprise testimony of the trial of Oscar

Pistorius. On trial for shooting his girlfriend in South Africa. Today,

another athlete introduced a twist in the case. Correspondence is in

the court room tonight. -- our correspondent. He is a professional

boxer and friend of Oscar Pistorius and is now a witness in his nerve at

trial. A month before her killing, they were together with friends at

this restaurant. One passed a gun to Oscar Pistorius and then.

Amid the chaos, he asked his friend Darren Fresco, who passed the

pistol, to take the blame. This is the -- denied by the

athlete. While it could help prove firearms charges he faces and could

hurt credibility, it does not prove he murdered his girlfriend. Crucial

to proving that is the sequence of events on the night he allegedly

killed his wife his girlfriend. It matters, because it is alleged the

couple were arguing before the shooting. This is the view of the

trial that Oscar Pistorius has. A hind him is his family and before

him his defence team and the judge who will decide on his fate. He

denies all the charges. On this ash Wednesday, Pope Francis

makes headlines with an interview. He reaffirmed Church opposition to

contraception and gay marriage but said different situations of

cohabitation must be evaluated. This was interpreted as the church being

open to civil unions. The Pope said when he was young, a girl once said

his head and heart spinning but he went to confession and it ended. He

also warned against portraying him as a superman.

Are indexed begins with the reality check, you might think you have the

worst con yet but the results are in. The top ten most gridlocked

cities in America. Commuters spend 64 hours stuck in

traffic each week. That is longer than a lot of work weeks. With three

Californian cities in the top ten, else into the is with the West Coast

tonight. A curve ball for the extreme athletes in the gruelling

race across Alaska. This year it is not so frozen. Unseasonably warm

weather. A lot of sunshine has melted the snow and maybe trails

dangerous. It is 30 degrees out there but it is a minefield with the

roughest trail they have ever seen. The sled hitting tree stumps and

dogs with battle wounds. They make their way to night. And finally, we

have songs that remind us of special times in our lives. It led one

social worker toward a new mission, to awaken memories in Alzheimer's

patients with used iPods and songs from their youth. The man who is

America Strong. 93-year-old Richard loves big band.

The first thing after breakfast it makes my day. His playlist is

awakening his past and researchers think music touches so many areas of

the brain that it makes connections and might have the power to stir

memories and understanding that is otherwise lost. After three hours

each week someone will score 50% better than their previous exam.

This social worker, who thought what if we take old iPods and took them

to others. This wife says the barbershop music rings back glimpses

of the man she married. Sometimes we get to see him in that. His goal is

to collect 1 million music layers. Do you still dans? Sure. Edna loves

Andy Williams. A nice world 's. It is the simple pleasures of life near

the end of life. -- wlatz. -- waltz. Thank you for watching. Good night.

Rein in the forecast today but the weather situation is quieter kneeing

as we move into the weekend. Things are looking promising. For here and

now we have this weather front producing more in the way of cloud.

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