May 31: Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who has been held prisoner by the Taliban for five years, is released. In a tradeoff, the United States returns five top Taliban leaders.
June 3: Bashar al-Assad is re-elected to a third seven-year term in Syria, taking about 89% of the vote. However, votes were only cast in government-controlled areas.
June 5: A Sunni militant group known as ISIS begins their offensive through northern Iraq, aiming to overthrow the Shiite government.
June 7-8: Maria Sharapova wins the French Open for the second time in three years. Rafael Nadal wins the men's trophy for the ninth time overall and fifth time in a row. The win ties him with Pete Sampras for the second most grand slam championships.
June 15: The San Antonio Spurs win their fifth NBA championship after defeating former champions Miami Heat. All five championships for the franchise have been won under the coaching of Gregg Popovich and the leadership of player Tim Duncan.
July 5-6: Petra Kvitova wins the Wimbledon and her second women's singles title against Eugenie Bouchard, while Novak Djokovic beats Roger Federer to win his second Wimbledon men's singles championship.
July 13: The FIFA World Cup, which began on June 12, is won by Germany in extra time by a score of 1-0. The team emarrassed host Brazil in the semifinals 7-1 after Brazilian star Neymar went out with a fractured vertebrae.
July 16: Karl Albrecht, Germany's richest person and co-founder of Aldi, dies at 94.
July 17: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashes in Ukraine after being shot down over a rebel-held area by a missile. Russia is blamed for the attack that killed nearly 300 people.
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