German Chancellor Angela Merkel returned to the international stage on Friday with a path to her fourth term opening up and her enemies in retreat.
A week that began with the collapse of coalition talks, intrigue and finger-pointing ended with her telling her European Union partners that Germany is back to business as usual.
The Social Democrats, her government partner during two of her three terms, backed off from their not-this-time attitude to another coalition deal, and polls suggest Merkel's popularity among party supporters is intact.