The Week in Pictures: March 7 - 14 2019, NBC News

源济

Crab trap

A crab is trapped inside a discarded cup in Verde Island Passage, the epicenter of global marine biodiversity, in Batangas City, Philippines, on March 7, 2019.

According to a data from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), Filipinos dispose 163 million pieces of single-use plastic packets daily. An underwater exploration conducted by Greenpeace in Batangas, found packets between, beneath, and on the corals and seabed of Verde Island Passage.

— Noel Guevara / Greenpeace

Crash site

Rescue workers comb through debris at the scene of an Ethiopian Airlines crash near Bishoftu, south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on March 11.

Eight Americans were among 157 people killed when a plane crashed shortly after takeoff in Ethiopia on Sunday morning.

The Ethiopian Airlines flight was headed from Addis Ababa en route to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, with 149 passengers and eight crew members on board, the airline said.

— Mulugeta Ayene / AP

Mourner's pain

A mourner throws dirt in her face after realizing there are no remains of her relative to be recovered at the Ethiopian Airlines crash site near Bishoftu on March 14.

— Mulugeta Ayene / AP

Birds of a feather...

A flock of starlings flies through a nature reserve close to the river Danube in Daugendorf, southern Germany, on March 13.

— Thomas Warnack / dpa via AFP - Getty Images

Varsity blues

Actress Felicity Huffman inside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Los Angeles on March 12.

Hollywood actresses Lori Loughlin and Huffman are among 50 people charged in a $25 million college entrance exam cheating scheme in an investigation named "Operation Varsity Blues."

The alleged scam focused on getting students admitted to elite universities as recruited athletes, regardless of their athletic abilities, and helping potential students cheat on their college exams, according to the indictment.

— David McNew / AFP - Getty Images

School shooting in Brazil

A mourner touches the hand of one of the victims killed in a shooting at Raul Brasil School, during their collective funeral in Suzano, Brazil, on March 14.

Two armed men wearing face masks entered a Brazilian elementary school Wednesday and shot and killed at least six children who were on their snack break, as well as two school officials, before fatally turning their guns on themselves, police said.

Ten people, including the gunmen, were killed in total, Sao Paulo police said.

— Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters

Victims remembered

Mourners pay tribute to victims of the elementary school shooting in Suzano on March 13.

— Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters

Super bloom

Wild poppies blanket the hills of Walker Canyon near Lake Elsinore, California, on March 12. Heavier than normal winter rains in California have caused a super bloom of wildflowers.

— Mario Tama / Getty Images

Blackout

A family sits around a table lit with candles in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 10, during the third day of a massive power outage which left the capital and much of the country without communications, water and electricity.

— Matias Delacroix / AFP - Getty Images

Caracas water shortage

People collect water from a broken pipe flowing into a sewage canal at the Guaire river in Caracas on March 11, as a massive power outage continues to affect parts of the country.

— Cristian Hernandez / AFP - Getty Images

Relaxing in North Korea

People swim in an indoor pool in Pyongyang, North Korea, on March 13.

— Dita Alangkara / AP

Free range horse

Jenny the horse nuzzles Raphael Wollstein' baby in Frankfurt on March 8.

Jenny's owner opens the stable door every day for his 22-years old Arab mare with  a sign on her holster that reads, "My name is Jenny. I haven't escaped, just taking a stroll."

— Boris Roessler / dpa via AFP - Getty Images

Beto's in

Former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke speaks at a coffee house in Burlington, Iowa, on March 14, the first event of his 2020 campaign.

O'Rourke's campaign tried to keep the details of his first-ever trip to Iowa secret, but word leaked, and the coffee shop was mobbed by the time O'Rourke arrived.

— Daniel Acker / Reuters

ISIS enclave

Children sit next to their injured mother near the village of Baghouz in Syria on March 7.

U.S.-backed Syrian fighters said a "large number" of ISIS militants and their families are surrendering after intense fighting in Baghouz, the last speck of land the extremists still hold in eastern Syria.

— Rodi Said / Reuters

Yemen's war drags on

A woman who was injured in airstrikes lies in a hospital bed in Sanaa, Yemen, on March 12.

Yemen has been caught up in a power struggle between the Saudi-backed government and Houthi rebels since late 2014.

— Khaled Abdullah / Reuters