Matthew Schofield

The United Kingdom appeared early Friday to have survived the threat of being ripped apart, as early vote returns showed Scottish voters rejecting independence even in areas thought likely to endorse it.

As the Berlin Wall was chipped into souvenirs, what used to be known as West Germany won a World Cup soccer championship. It was to be a last great separate accomplishment, as East Germany and West Germany were at the time in the process of becoming simply Germany.

After being injured fighting the Syrian government, 31-year-old Mohannad reached his home in Frankfurt, Germany, with a simple plan: rest, recuperate, then rejoin the fight with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

The last known components of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal steamed away from that war-torn nation Monday. While their removal came a bit behind schedule, it was hailed by experts as a major milestone that makes the world a safer place.

In the 25 years since the Berlin Wall fell, historian Ralf Wendt has watched much of his former life vanish.

Just before noon Thursday, German rescuers brought spelunker and physicist Johann Westhauser into the light, ending an 11 day rescue effort that had millions in this nation holding their breath, and debating the difficulty of keeping him alive as a rescue team moved from bivouac to bivouac deep under the Bavarian Alps.

The kickoff of the first game of the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament Thursday in Brazil is supposed to begin a sort of global vacation, a month when people across the world forget about the complications of modern life and focus instead on the simplicity of what’s called “The Beautiful Game.”

Almost a year after news surfaced that the United States had been spying on German communications, Germany’s top prosecutor announced Wednesday that he’s launched a criminal investigation into the tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone.

If you want to know what the real western European view is of the Ukraine crisis, instead of looking for reaction to President Barack Obama’s strong words Tuesday in Warsaw, look at the recent elections that put anti-European Union nationalists into the EU Parliament.

In eastern Ukraine, among pro-Russian separatists, the notion that elite American fighters are prowling the backroads and slag heaps of their region is oft repeated. After first surfacing in March, the rumors sounded like the sort of paranoid fantasies created in a war zone where anti-Americanism is rampant.

After dealing with the outrage of what they insist without any actual proof is fascism in Ukraine, Russians are turning their gaze upon what they see as the latest abomination: Conchita Wurst, the cross-dressing winner of the 2014 Eurovision Song contest.

Understanding the depths of the crisis Ukraine faces today takes only a visit to historic St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral.

Calling this “an important year in the annals of Sevastopol and our whole country” Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday set foot in Crimea for the first time since the March occupation and annexation of the Black Sea peninsula.

After two months of piling pressure on the Ukrainian government, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday appeared to strike a conciliatory tone, calling on pro-Russia separatists to cancel a referendum on autonomy they’d set for Sunday and insisting that Russian troops have pulled away from Ukraine’s eastern border.

As chaos and tension continue to rack Ukraine, two notions are coming into focus. The first is that for there to be hope of a unified Ukraine, the May 25 presidential elections have to go well. The second is that the election is unlikely to go well.