GERMANY — Running and hugging, scoring and hugging, falling and hugging — why can’t war be like this? Leverkusen’s Granit Xhaka, left, is embraced by Jonathan Tah as the team celebrates after Josip Stanisic scored in the last minute during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen in Dortmund, Germany, Sunday, April 21, 2024. The match ended 1-1; Leverkusen is unbeaten for a record 45 matches. Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund are both teams based in western Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state. Leverkusen sits between Cologne and Düsseldorf to its north, while Dortmund is more than an hour by car to the northeast of Düsseldorf.

A 2014 article by Steve Taylor published in Psychology Today points out that “Sport satisfies most of the same psychological needs as warfare, and has similar psychological and social effects. It certainly provides a sense of belonging and unity,” but by replacing destruction with much more constructive athletic excellence.

CHATTANOOGA — An emotional issue — growth of a union in the South: Volkswagen automobile plant employee Vicky Holloway becomes emotional as she celebrates after employees voted to join the UAW union Friday, April 19, 2024, in Chattanooga, TN. Workers voted overwhelmingly (73%) to join the United Auto Workers, which is expanding from its original Detroit base into the U.S. South and West. UAW’s win makes the factory in Chattanooga the first automobile plant in the South to unionize since the 1940s. A majority of eligible workers cast ballots in favor of the union, with the final tally on Friday at 2,628 to 985, or 73% for joining the UAW.

The landslide win makes the Chattanooga factory the first auto plant in the South to unionize via election since the 1940s and the first Southern plant that is foreign-owned to do so.

CHINA — Determined to build a stronger navy and to tell the world about it: Chinese sailors sit in rows during a tour arranged for foreign journalists a day before the opening of the West Pacific Naval Symposium in Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong province, Sunday, April 21, 2024. Established in 1953, the Academy has trained more than 100,000 naval officers and sailors for the Chinese Navy, and over 80% of submarine staff graduated or were trained there, according to China’s official People’s Daily. The Associated Press reports that representatives (partners of China and competitors), including Australia, Cambodia, India, France, Chile and the U.S., have attended the two-day talks, during which time tensions have increased over what many nations consider China’s aggression, particularly toward Taiwan.

International law does not recognize many of China’s territorial claims; however, Beijing has tended to ignore any rulings not in its favor.

UKRAINE — Life goes on in war-torn homes and villages: Olga Bezborodova calms her 20-month-old son, Mykola, in her home, which has no electricity, in the village of Rubizhne, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Since then, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a massive military aid package that will help Ukraine, with a Senate vote and President Biden’s signature expected by Tuesday, April 23. Western leaders, particularly NATO countries who have struggled to fill the void that the stalled U.S. aid had also praised Congress for acting. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the resumption of aid and weapons “makes us all safer, in Europe & North America.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov disagreed, however, claiming that the aid package “will make the United States of America richer, further ruin Ukraine and result in the deaths of even more Ukrainians…”

MOSCOW — Harking back to Russia’s transformative military history: Two men in Russian Cossack uniforms pose for a selfie after visiting the Mausoleum of the Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin, marking the 154th anniversary of his birth in Red Square, with the Historical Museum in the background in Moscow, Russia, Monday, April 22, 2024. The Cossacks are described as a Slavic and Orthodox Christian group of people who gave military service to Russia in exchange for privileges. The Cossacks were also anti-communist forces that made up the White Movement during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and the Russian Civil War that followed.

Interestingly, historical documents mention a group of Ukrainian Cossacks dating from the 15th century, describing them as a multi-ethnic set of tribes of burghers (prosperous members of the middle class of that period), as well as peasants and escaped serfs who settled in the steppe region. However, the Russian Empire during the late 18th century abolished the autonomy and rights of the Ukrainian Cossacks.

THE WOODLANDS — Man-made lake and a sport, welcoming women: Nelly Korda jumps into the lake after winning the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. The 25-year-old Korda has now secured her fifth consecutive victory and her second major title at The 2024 Chevron Championship women’s tournament that concluded on Sunday. She also won the Olympic gold medal at the women’s individual golf event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

Nelly Korda hails from a family of athletes; she is the daughter of retired Czech tennis players Petr Korda and Regina Rajchrtová. Both her father and her brother Sebastian have won titles at the Australian Open, some two decades apart.

MUMBAI — Earth Day or Trash Day, how can we tell? A man walks on a railway track littered with plastic and other waste materials on Earth Day in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 22, 2024. This year’s Earth Day is focusing on the threat that plastics pose to the environment. The theme of Earth Day 2024 is ‘Planet vs Plastics’, stressing the urgency of not only protecting the environment but also bringing awareness to the dangers of plastics to natural habitats and the water supply. Environmental groups are urging the public to stop or avoid using household items such as detergent pods that leave “forever chemicals,” particularly plastics, into the drinking water supply.

Part of Earth Day 2024’s mission involves advocating for a 60% reduction in the production of all plastics by 2040.

TALLADEGA — This is what people come to see (not the crash, the cleanup): NASCAR Cup Series drivers Ryan Preece (41), Josh Berry (4) and Corey LaJoie (7), upside down, crash on the final lap during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Sunday, April 21, 2024, in Talladega, AL. According to Associated Press writer Paul Newberry, Tyler Reddick won the NASCAR Cup victory, with the crash actually “a gift” to him. Front-runner Michael McDowell, who was swerving in a move to block Brad Keselowski, wound up crashing with the finish line in sight Sunday.

Meanwhile, Fox Sports reported that Corey LaJoie became involved in a last-lap crash; thanks to the specially outfitted cars, he lived to tell of his ordeal of being pinned against the wall in his overturned Chevy and even came across the finish line in 18th place.

ISRAEL — ‘Close but no cigar’: A photojournalist looks at part of the intercepted ballistic missile that fell near the Dead Sea in Israel, Sunday, April 21, 2024. The suspected Israeli killing of Iranian generals at an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria on April 1 prompted Iran’s retaliatory barrage last weekend of more than 300 missiles and drones that the U.S., Israel and regional and international partners helped bat down without significant damage in Israel. And then came Friday’s apparent Israeli strike. Foreign ministers convening at a European Union Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on Monday, April 22, discussed sanctions against Iran, the Washington Post reports. E.U. foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced that a “political agreement” has been reached to “enlarge and expand” sanctions against Iranian weapons programs. Iran on April 13 had launched a barrage of more than 300 missiles, which Israel and the U.S. were able to shoot down.

The BBC reported late Monday that rescue workers saved a Palestinian infant from his dead mother’s womb after an Israeli strike on Rafah killed the baby’s other family members.

SPAIN — If we’re having confetti, let’s make it green: Basque EH-Bildu party General Secretary Arnaldo Otegi, center and Pello Otxandiano, left, the candidate for EH-Bildu celebrate election results during the Basque regional elections in Bilbao, Spain, Sunday, April 21, 2024. Reuters reports that the coalition government ruling Spain’s Basque Country will probably stay in power, but there is no majority. The Basque Nationalist Party (moderate right-wing PNV) and EH Bildu (left-wing “Basque Country Unite”) each earned 27 seats, falling considerably short of the requisite 38 needed to attain a majority in the regional parliament.

Spain’s fragile and fragmented parliament needs the support of both parties from the Basque region. Meanwhile, the party of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez came in with 12 votes.

CHICAGO — Coming into home headfirst: Chicago Cubs’ Nico Hoerner is tagged out by Miami Marlins catcher Nick Fortes at home during the fourth inning of a baseball game in Chicago, Sunday, April 21, 2024. The Marlins, with a dismal record of only six wins to 17 losses so far this season, welcomed Sunday’s win against Chicago (13-9 record). The Marlins’ Jesús Sánchez hit a massive solo homer and an RBI single to help snag the win.

After Monday night’s game, these two National League teams won’t be playing each other again until Aug. 23, according to the MLB schedule — unless some of their players are selected for the All-Stars game on July 16.

ECUADOR — Referendum on criminal gangs (and the cute doggie outfits that repel them): A voter marks questions on the ballot of a referendum proposed by President Daniel Noboa to endorse new security measures aimed at cracking down on criminal gangs fueling escalating violence in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, April 21, 2024. AP reports that a quick count showed a major victory for Noboa. Ecuador’s fledgling president got a resounding victory Sunday, with the majority of Ecuadorians voting “yes” to all nine questions focused on tightening security measures. Voters approved President Noboa’s call to deploy the army in the fight against the gangs, to loosen obstacles for extraditing accused criminals and to lengthen prison sentences for convicted drug traffickers.

Neighboring Colombia’s cocaine trafficking has spilled into Ecuador, traditionally a peace-abiding nation.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Freedom of expression — more than just showing up at the beach: Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro speaks during a demonstration calling for freedom of expression, spurred by Brazilian court orders to suspend accounts on the social media platform X, in Copacabana beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, April 21, 2024.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee last week published a staff report that revealed dozens of decisions that Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had handed down, ordering X to suspend or remove around 150 user profiles from its platform in recent years.